I've been reading with interest some comments concerning getting good value from your club memberships.

I suppose the best value is when the cost is £0.00 per visit.

Firstly, does this free access really exist? I mean fishing accessed through property that is not private e.g. a public highway. I seem to remember various references to "free" fishing in magazine articles and think that this was through town centres, parks etc..

How can you find out about this and check that it is free? Would this be through the local council? To be clear I am not including in the definition any fishing that is owned but the owner doesn't mind you having a go for free like a friendly local farmer.

Once defined I think it would be a good idea to find out about local free fishing but to avoid any legal issues the defintion should be sought first!

Some stuff here

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Jim

My only worry is that when I die,my wife sells my fishing gear, for what I said I paid for it

There is good, free trout fishing on the Wear at Durham - sea-trout and salmon too at the right time of year, and excellent free trout and grayling fishing on the Tees at Barnard Castle. Both are relatively scenic too.

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http://www.a-c-a.org

Interestingly no entries for the Midlands region, Upper Trent which is my area. I think I know of a couple already

Check out my Wandle Piscators link below ......... free chalk stream fishing in the South of England.

Lower Thames is free as well, mostly eels though (not that I have tried)

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Carl

http://www.wandlepiscators.net/
http://teiseangling.co.uk/index.htm

TOMORROW THE TRENT COULD BE YOUR FISHERY! When are YOU going to JOIN THE ANGLING TRUST?

The Water of Leith in Edinburgh is free - fishing is controlled by Edinburgh City Council. They issue permits but at no charge Its got trout and grayling.

Free fishing on a trout stream in the middle of the city - you'd think there would be no fish left in the water but its far from the case. Sort of puts a boot into the argument about charging for access to prevent eradication of stocks

Its truly free - no need for a rod license in Scotland.

Norm

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0rWxCCHSCM

Interesting reading your mention of public areas. On the Dee in Chester there were many 'public area's' that gave free fishing. Public as in council owned. Then some beauraucratic w***** decided he would lease the fishing rights to a well known club (PAA). So all of a sudden man and boy free fishing public access areas become effectively out of bounds to anglers. However dog walkers could chuck their sticks in canoists could launch.... you get the picture.
It took the local tackle shops, under the guise of the Dee Anglers Association, to petition parliament to get the lease for themselves. Now DAA don't really care who fishes the waters they lease from the council in public areas. That's my spin on it anyway.

Canals are a similar case. Effectively free recreational areas for walkers, dogs cyclists etc, but an environmentally concious angler gets hit in the pocket.

Anyway, these free fishing areas are absolute gems. If they are public recreational areas, then why charge the angler?

So Fishcake, it would be nice to know when fishing is truely free

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Don't care what your name is. No-one walks on the water where I'm fishing!
http://pedrosonthefly.blogspot.com/

there is some free fishing on Henmore Brook I believe - not sure where though, is it through the town of Ashbourne?. Might be entertaining - I have seen wild brownies in the bit of river next to Somerfield. Does anyone know?

And I found this website
Do Free Fishing - not good, but maybe would be better with more contributions.

The other cool aspect is to get stuck in with some detective work and exploration. A lot of people who have dug out small free fishing "gems" will be hard pushed to spill the beans!
There are a couple of examples that I can think of that I've seen during train journeys that I aim to follow up this year with a rod in hand. As for ownership/access it's a case of finding out whether you can access the riparian land without any problems, looking for "Private fishing" notices and knocking on local doors (and perhaps grabbing the odd dog walker to see if they know who leases or owns particular bits of river).
Usually, if it looks like it should hold trout (and the invertebrates are there) then it probably will.

If a public footpath, as shown on an o.s. map, follows the bank of a stream through a farmers field with no signage regarding private fishing, is it free fishing without authority?

Gaz

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I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.