Fishing on the Tweed

The River Tweed is a 100 mile long stretch of water that separates England and Scotland along the Scottish Borders. The Tweed is famous across the world for its salmon fishing. In 2010 and 2011 the Tweed had two record breaking years, making it one of the top ranked Salmon rivers in the whole world.

The Salmon season on the Tweed runs from 1st February through 30th November. Licenses are very reasonably priced. Outside of the salmon season the Tweed and other contributing rivers in the area also host Sea trout during the summer, and through the winter offer a great challenge for keen fishermen looking to land Greyling and wild Trout. You can find much more information about the Tweed, including catch records, water levels, and much more from Fish Pal, or from the Tweed’s dedicated site tweedbeats.com.

St Mary’s Loch and Loch O’ The Lowes

St Mary’s Loch is located only 35 miles from Smailholm, on the A708, and provides a fantastic day of fishing. The loch is home to the St Mary’s Loch Angling club who manage boat and bank permits for both St Mary’s Loch and Loch O’ Lowes in Selkirkshire. Both lochs are interconnected by The Little Yarrow River and it is an easy walk between the two.

St Mary’s Loch Angling Club lease both Trout and Coarse Fishing rights for St Mary’s Loch and for Loch O’ the Lowes The lochkeeper is Ian Fernyhough, and can be contacted on 07724 523777 or by emailing lochkeeper@stmarysanglingclub.org.uk. It is useful to save this information, so that you can contact Ian if you encounter any issues while on the Loch.

The loch is over 150ft deep in some areas and is over a half mile from bank to bank. St Mary’s has an area of 640 acres, and offers a challenge for fishermen of any skillset. The Loch’s are close to 800ft above sea level, and have a prevailing south-westerly wind. Even on a warm day at Smailholm the air at the Loch’s is still cool and therefore fish will still rise in most conditions. The lochs are home to a wide variety of fish including Salmon, Sea Trout, Brown Trout, Pike, Perch, Eel, and 3 Spined Sticklebacks.

The Lochs run a fairly relaxed set of rules, so you are welcome to enjoy yourself at your own leisure, but the lochkeeper requests that you follow basic etiquette when fishing on the loch. There is, however, a zero tolerance policy with regards to littering. The Lochkeeper also requests that if you catch a fish that you are not explicitly fishing for if you could return it to the water, to preserve the natural stock.

You can find more information about St Mary’s Angling Club on their FishPal.com page, or from the Loch’s dedicated GoogleSite.

Why not come and learn how to fly fish with instruction from one of the finest in the business www.eoinfairgrieve.co.uk.

Favourite Fishing Spots

  • Makerstoun
  • Dryburgh
  • Merton
  • Teviot Trout fishing

You can also find some more regional Sea Fishing locations by viewing the Google Map below:


View Fishing spots near Smailholm Mains in a larger map