Cornwall Fishing

Cornwall, fishing can be enjoyed all year round, and the mild Cornish winters ensure that it is not too much of a hardship. The salmon and trout season depends on the river and runs from April or May to October or November (check with the phone numbers given for exact details)

Newquay makes a good base for the fisherman, with half a dozen well stocked lakes within ten minutes drive from the centre of Newquay, and if you drive an extra half hour there are several more, on a range of lakes and rivers offering both coarse and fly options.

I have done my best to draw together the various bits of information on the different locations, any suggestions or additions are  welcome. Click on the buttons for further information.

Beach Angling

• As long as the beach fisherman is careful to avoid bathers and seaweed, the experiences off the North Cornish beaches can be very good
• Bude breakwater and Crackington Haven have various flatfish, dogfish and mackerel.
• Widemouth Bay, Crooklets, Northcott Mouth and Maer can all be fished for flatfish for about two hours either side of low water
• Constantine, Mawgan Porth, Watergate Bay, Crantock, Holywell and Perranporth all can be fished for flatfish and rays

Rock Angling

• Care should be taken because of the strength of the waves. But flat fish and rays plus mackerel and pollock can be found at the following spots
• Trenance, Trevose, Park Head, Rumps Point east of Padstow, Daymar Bay, Godrevy Point, Navax Point and Rumps point near St Agnes

Rivers and Lakes

• Upper Tamar between Kingford Mill and Bridgerule. Tickets are required for brown trout
• Lower Tamar Lake is run by SW Water. Permits for Brown and Rainbow Trout are available from on site machines - 15th March to 12 October. tel the ranger on 01 288 312262
• Upper Tamar Lake near Kilkhampton is 80 acres stocked with coarse fish.   81 acres, SWW fishery with brown and rainbow trout; fly only. Season mid March to mid Oct. day £5, 4 fish limit, £3 conc. Bank sites mainly, limited boat option. Permits from self-service unit at reservoir dam.
• Permits required for sea trout and brown trout on the Tamar, Ottery, Inny and Carey Rivers.

• Colliford Lake, Liskeard. 900 acres. SWW fly fishery, with natural brown trout. Day ticket £7. Self service tickets in Simonstone car park. No boats. Open 1mid March to mid October. Once again provided some excellent sport with the hard fishing brown trout, many of which were between 1 ½ lbs. and 1 ¾ lbs. Most  fish fell to small flies such as soldier palmers and bibio's fished just below the surface. So far this season there has been an absence of daddy long legs which were so prolific last year.  The nearby small fishery at Temple always carries a good stock of well conditioned fish and the Jones family will give advice on tactics and flies. This year a rainbow weighing 7 lbs 15 oz was taken, plus 3 fish bag weighing 13 lbs on an orange lure. Another fisherman used a muddler on a floating line for his 7 fish bag weighing 15 lbs 15 oz.. The lake was fished and recommended by the renowned Swiss fly fisherman A. Schwab

• Crowdy Reservoir near Camelford has rainbow and brown trout with a permit, 115 acre South West Water trout fishery, stocked with brown trout fry,supplemented with rainbows. Fly, spinning and bait fishing zoned. Season mid March to mid October, day £6 from Spar Shop, Camelford (01840 212356). 

• Siblyback Lake, Liskeard. 140 acres. Fly only, with stocked rainbow trout. Season end Mar to end Oct. Day permits £7, information from Watersports Centre, Siblyback, Common Moor, Liskeard, tel: 01579 346522. A report in August 1998 showed that during August 279 rainbow trout  were caught from 110 returns which included 16 limit bags. The best fish of 9 lbs 6 oz was taken by D. Brackman from Callington using a montana. Mr.Patterson of St. Austell caught a rainbow of 3 lbs 15 oz on a stick fly, while J. Gilran used an imitation of a water boatman beetle to take a rainbow of 3 lbs 14 oz.

• Porth Reservoir, Newquay. 40 acres, SWW fishery, bream, rudd, tench, roach, perch, eels, and carp. Open all year, 24 hour day, day permits £3.50 from self-service unit at car park or from Mrs P Ford, The Bungalow, Porth Reservoir, Newquay (01637 879481).

• Menalhyl, Newquay. Brown trout. Contact. Sec, Mawgan AC or The Merrymoor, Mawgan Porth for tickets, wt £5.

• Argal and College Reservoirs SWW fisheries. Argal, nr Penryn: 65 acres, fly only for rainbow trout. Season: beginning April - end Oct. Day ticket £11, from self-service at Hill Farm Barn.  Boats £7 per day, bookable in advance. College, nr Falmouth: 38 acres coarse only, with carp over 30lb, large perch, pike, bream, tench, eels. Day ticket £3.50 open all year, 24 hr day.Permits from self-service unit at Argal Reservoir car park. St from Mrs P Ford, The Bungalow, Porth Reservoir, Newquay (01637 879481).

• The River Camel has sea trout and brown trout. The river rises on Bodmin Moor and flows 25 miles to the sea at Padstow. The wild moorland scenery has ensured that the river is pollution free and that large runs of sea trout and salmon survive Tel 01 208 76484 for details

• The Butterwell Fishery is a picturesque holding of 40 Acres, on the Camel just downstream of Nanstallon Village and
  about a mile above the tidal reaches. It has 8 natural holding pools along the Butterwell stretch, plus a further 12  new pools. The new pools have been built with large granite boulders placed across the river bed to form underwater weirs and they are now proving to be very popular holding pools for both seatrout and salmon.
  
  There is half a mile of double bank water plus half a mile of single bank water and is divided into two equal beats for two rods each, which alternate daily.  The season starts at the beginning of April, with  the main run of seatrout beginning in June and best in July and August. The first good runs of salmon begin in September and carries on until the season closes in mid December. Catches from Butterwell in 1995, 1996 and 1997 for salmon have been 68, 93, 60 and for sea trout in these years 148, 242, 277. The cost of fishing in 1998 is £15.- per rod per day

• Fenwick Trout Fishery, Dunmere, Bodmin can be contacted on 01 208 78296 all year.

• The River Fowey has a season for sea trout and salmon from April 1 to Sept 30 on a 2 mile stretch neat Lanhydrock. Information from 01 208 74281 The Fowey rises near the highest point of Bodmin Moor from which it flows south then turns to the west, and finally south again through Lostwithiel to its long estuary. This is another late salmon river with good sea trout fishing as well.
  
• The East and West Looe Rivers have a salmon and trout season from 1st April to 15 December. 01 503 263535

• Stithians Reservoir,Redruth. 247 acres. SWW brown and rainbow trout fishery; fly, spinning, bait
  fishing zoned. Season mid Mar - mid Oct . Day ticket  £6. Limited boats.Permits from Londis Supply Store, Stithians (01209 860301); Peninsula Watersports Centre, Stithians (01209 860409).

• Drift Reservoir. Near Penzance (3m); sixty-five acres in quiet valley. Wild brown and stocked  rainbow trout (fly only). Limit, 3 rainbows per day, no limit on wild browns. Day ticket £6  from warden on reservoir, by car park, or Mr Terry Shorland, Driftways, Drift Dam, Penzance (01736 63869). 7m from Penzance are 3 carp pools at Tindeen Fishery, day ticket £2. J Laity, Bostrase,Millpool, Goldsithney, tel: 01736 763486. St Buryan Lake carp pool, tel: St Buryan 220.

• Mylor Angling Lakes , Mylor Bridge, near Falmouth. tel 01 326 373975 Open all year from 8.30 am to one hour before dusk Fly  for rainbow trout in Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. £5.50 to fish plus 1.75 per lb

• Bude Canal has coarse  available. Tel 01 288 361399

• Dutson Water near Launceston offers coarse. Tel 01 566 772607
• Tredidon Barton Lake also has coarse near Launceston. Tel 01 566 86288
• Bolingey Lake near Perrinporth is a 4 acre coarse lake where you can fish by the hour.
• Hayle. Fishing stations: Relubbus, Hayle Causeway and Gwinear. Trout and sea trout. Good beach
  fishing near Hayle, and the estuary very good, particularly for bass, mullet and flats; plenty of natural
  bait. Mazarion AC has three coarse pools in St Erth, nr Hayle, tickets from The County Angler, see above.
  Tackle shop: Angoves Sports, Copperhouse, Hayle.
• Bake Lakes offer both coarse and fly fishing in the scenic countryside near Trerulefoot, between Looe, Liskeard and Saltash. www.bakelakes.co.uk
  

For the Sea Fisherman you can visit The Huer's Hut, Newquay. This site is based in Newquay and dedicated to sea angling in the county. It includes the notices and news as a free service. It has more about sea angling than I could possibly tell you

The hotel to stay at when visiting Cornwall is Corisande Manor Hotel, Cornwall find out more about it