Fishing Information

Fishing at Endsleigh Beats 1 to 5 General Rules

    1. Tracks
      Please keep your car to the riverside tracks and shut all gates you open. Please do not drive vehicles across fields during periods of wet weather. Avoid low slung vehicles. Use a 4 x 4 if you can.
    2. Dogs
      Keep your dogs (which are welcome) under effective control. On all beats there may be sheep or cows in the fields in which case control is likely to mean keeping them on a lead or in a well ventilated car.
    3. Fishing Methods
      Almost all fish are caught on a fly but spinning is allowed if in the opinion of the river keeper the visibility of the water is less than 2ft. Permission to spin must always be sought from him first. Treble hooks are not permitted. Until 16th June anglers are requested to use single hooks and/or to crimp the barbs.
    4. Trout Fishing
      Anyone who has paid for a salmon rod can fish for Brown Trout, as can any one person accompanying them. Please return small brown trout with care because they may be the sea trout of the future. Trout fishers should avoid the salmon pools. Trout fishing on beat 6 is also best avoided.
    5. Sea Trout Fishing
      It is possible to catch sea-trout on the Tamar during the day and especially in the evening before it gets completely dark. Night time sea trout fishing can be dangerous. It should not be attempted by the inexperienced unless accompanied by someone with experience of night fishing who knows the river.
      Everyone should take the following precautions:
      during the day visit the pools intended to be fished and note the positions of steps, croys, rocks and other hazards. Follow the warnings about wading to be found on the H&S page. It is obviously more dangerous to fish alone, but if you choose to do so, make sure someone knows where you are and when you expect to return.
    6. Sharing a Beat
      If you are sharing a beat with someone you do not know, introduce yourself before you start. Many people find it convenient for one to start at the top of the beat and the other at the bottom. The next day the starting points are reversed.
    7. Safety
      See again the H&S Advice, particularly about wading, which can be dangerous.
    8. Boats
      There are boats at Woodtown, Parsons and Leighwood Waterfall. The boats are padlocked to a stake, the key needs to be collected from the rod room or rivere keeper. Theoars are usually hidden locally to the boat. The keys must be returned afterwards. If you need John Dennis’ assistance in getting the oars to and from the boats then please ask
    9. Guests
      Please ensure that any guests fishing with you have been guided by the above notes

Licences to Fish

It is essential that all persons fishing be in possession of the appropriate Environment Agency licence. It is up to the individual to make enquires for a licence online or at a local post office or at Hotel Endsleigh.

NB. Reporting of incidents /poaching

Should you come across anything that is out of the ordinary, please inform the River Keeper or phone the Environment Agency on 0800 807060 as soon as possible. Your Information may be vital, no matter how trivial it may seem at the time.

Catch and Release

In order to conserve Salmon stocks, a National Byelaw, introduced in 1999, makes it an offence to kill any Salmon during the early part of the fishing season 1st March — 15th June (inclusive).

All Salmon caught during this period must be returned. In addition, the use of knotless meshed nets is required at all times and for all species of fish. The use of knotted mesh nets is now an offence. 

In addition, Endsleigh now requires all salmon and any sea trout of 3lb or more, to be returned. 

This is with the following limited exception, namely that any such fish caught after June 16th may be killed if it is bleeding profusely such that it is very unlikely to survive release.