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Rod Fishing Byelaws

Please read our rod fishing byelaws before you go fishing.

Byelaws protect fish stocks and fisheries in England and Wales. They apply to all waters, whether they are owned by angling clubs, local authorities or private individuals. Owners may impose additional rules, but they cannot dispense with any byelaws that apply to their water.  

National rod fishing byelaws

There are national byelaws that apply across the whole of England and Wales, and regional byelaws which only apply locally. You need to read the national byelaws AND your local regional byelaws before you go fishing.

Regional fishing byelaws

Our regional byelaws have recently changed, and we will soon be uploading them below. In the mean time, please make sure you also read the National Rod Fishing byelaws.

South East region rod fishing byelaws

On 1 April 2011, Thames and Southern regions merged to form South East region. We will add the new South East region byelaws as soon as they have been finalised. For the time being, please refer to the Southern and Thames byelaws below:

New fisheries legislation

We have been working with Defra and the Welsh Assembly Government to reform our over-arching fisheries legislation. This mainly relates to net fisheries and fishery management operations (live fish movements, fish passage and so on). It will only affect rod fishing through new byelaws, which will be listed on this page. For more information, please download our newsletter: