For Angling.
You must have a rod fishing licence to fish on Middle Level waters – For further information and to buy a licence please see https://www.gov.uk/fishing-licences
The Middle Level rivers provide some of the best coarse fishing in the country and are regularly used for various National Championships.
Of the major watercourses of the Middle Level, some, such as the Old Nene, are regarded as riparian owned and the fishing rights will normally be vested in the relevant land owners.
Others are owned by the Middle Level Commissioners and details of our current fishing Licensees are set out below. In addition there is public fishing adjacent to March Town Bridge.
If you spot any suspected illegal netting/traps on our system, fish in distress or dead or suspect pollution of our waters, please report it to the Environment Agency via their incident hotline 0800 807060
Current fishing Licensees
(178kb PDF)
Fishery length map
(1595kb PDF)
We value our licensed clubs taking care of our banks, channels and natural environment. In particular, we recognise that clubs will want to undertake vegetation management around their pegs, platforms and/or swims. They do so at their own risk.
It is crucial that any activity the club plans is undertaken in an environmentally compliant and safe manner. We have developed the following guidance for this type of maintenance along with a protocol regarding nesting birds. We strongly advise that this guidance is followed.
If a club is wishing to undertake more substantial maintenance, facilities or access improvements works on our land (e.g. install or refurbish platforms, refurbish or create new steps etc), it is essential they engage us very early in the planning as our formal consent is highly likely to be required under our Byelaws, alongside our agreement as landowner and licensing body. Not doing so risks breaching the terms of the fishing rights agreement, our Byelaws and potentially various pieces of important legislation.
We work in partnership with the Environment Agency’s Great Ouse & Fenland Fisheries Team who have an active Facebook group.
Click here to read the latest Middle Level Main Drain fisheries report and here to read the latest fish population survey across the whole system.