Who Owns The Rivers

[nod 285]

How do I find out who or which angling club rent the riverbanks and how much they rent, also am I right in thinking that's it's only the bank they rent and not the actual water?

[toby63 1,236]

go to your local tackle shop they will tell you . and if you join a club they will probably give you maps on were there club streaches are

[Tiercel 6,986]

Who ever owns the land on the banks of a river also own the fishing rights. Sometime they keep them for themselves, and sometimes they let them out to angling clubs.

 

TC

[chrismdd 787]

However, the fishing rights can belong to someone else other than the land owner regardless if there is a public right of way. Used to fish for the barbel up on the Wye and a chap used to own a lot of bankside land before selling it off but he kept the fishing rights for others to come and fish. Our own fishing club down here has about eleven miles of river and we have the co-operation of the landowners and just charge £15 for a season ticket. At xmas all the landowners get a card, booze, chocolates and biscuits to keep them happy. The club also legally owns the fishing rights on a couple of fields where there is no footpath and these rights can never be taken from us which is good news as it is our wild brown trout section.

 

Just spent the last few hours of daylight stret-peg fishing for roach with very little success, the same time last week it was a killer method - oh well that's fishing.

[Tiercel 6,986]

However, the fishing rights can belong to someone else other than the land owner regardless if there is a public right of way. Used to fish for the barbel up on the Wye and a chap used to own a lot of bankside land before selling it off but he kept the fishing rights for others to come and fish. Our own fishing club down here has about eleven miles of river and we have the co-operation of the landowners and just charge £15 for a season ticket. At xmas all the landowners get a card, booze, chocolates and biscuits to keep them happy. The club also legally owns the fishing rights on a couple of fields where there is no footpath and these rights can never be taken from us which is good news as it is our wild brown trout section.

 

Just spent the last few hours of daylight stret-peg fishing for roach with very little success, the same time last week it was a killer method - oh well that's fishing.

You are quite correct. Fishing rights do not automatically come with the ownership of the land. I was stating in general. But as a valuable commodity fishing rights are usually sold separately to the land when they do become available. However, when a piece of land with fishing rights on a good river does come up for sale, or indeed just the fishing rights themselves there is usually a free for all at the auction.

 

Footpaths do not come into the equation, they just give people the right to walk along that particular piece of land, nothing more, nothing less.

 

TC

[comanche 3,061]

Fishing rights automatically come with the ownership of land bordering surface water. They are part of the Riparian Rights that allow an owner use of the water abutting their land . Riparian Rights go with the land and cannot be divested of.

However,the owner can lease ,give or sell a strip of land next to a water to a third party or club in which case they will effectively become Riparian owners for the course of the agreement and may also use the water for purposes other than angling .The owner can also simply allow access or sell permission for fishing in which case the anglers will have the right to fish but do not become Riparian owners and have access for fishing and no other purpose.

 

There are places where the enduring right to fish has been granted to clubs as part of a agreement but this does not override the Riparian owner's absolute rights. When a nature reserve was declared on some wetlands in my area it was understood from the beginning that part of the deal was that people living in the parish would still be allowed free fishing. The reserve owners also allow,for a fee, a club from outside the area to fish there as well.

The above refers to non-tidal rivers and still-water.

In England at least, there is a public right to fish and navigate tidal waters but this does not give them the right to fish from or access private land adjoining the river.

In other words a fee-paying angling club member or landowner could be fishing from the bank of a tidal river while someone quite legally exercises their right to free- fishing from a boat mid-stream . The boat user is not supposed to anchor or moor to so much as an overhanging tree in theory, as it can be construed as part of "The Land" from which there is no automatic right to fish. They also have to find a public launch site or seek permission to launch their boat from private land.

Or be light on their feet whilst lugging a boat on their shoulders along with rod and tackle box