Catch and Release: Best Practice, Welfare and the Law

By Alex Clayton · Updated 24 October 2026

More than 95% of rod-caught wild Atlantic salmon in Scotland now go back into the water, according to Fisheries Management Scotland, which has recorded releases since 1994. That figure only counts as a success if the fish survive.

Catch and release means returning a fish to the water alive and with as little harm as possible. In England it is not optional for every fish: the law already says fish you cannot keep must go back unharmed, foul-hooked fish must be released straight away, and every eel you catch must be returned.

Below you’ll find what the law requires in each UK nation, a release routine for the bank, the conditions and species that need extra care, and what the evidence says on fish welfare. That last part covers both sides of the two questions anglers hear most: do fish feel pain, and is catch and release cruel?

Keep or Release? How to Decide on the Bank

Three questions settle it, and you can answer them before the fish is even unhooked.

Does the law say it must go back? Foul-hooked fish, eels and anything outside the size and take limits have no choice in the matter.
Does the fishery or club say it must go back? Many still waters are strictly catch and release, and club rules often go further than the law. Read your ticket or club book.
Is it within the limits, and do you actually want it? Being allowed to keep a fish is not a reason to keep it.

For context, the national daily take limit on English rivers is one pike of up to 65cm, two grayling between 30 and 38cm, and up to 15 small fish of up to 20cm from the listed coarse species. Salmon cannot be kept before 16 June, and local byelaws vary for salmon and trout. The full detail is on our fish size and take limits page.

Stocks are the other reason. Atlantic salmon in Great Britain were reclassified as Endangered by the IUCN in December 2023, and every fish returned in good condition is a fish that can still spawn.

If in doubt, put it back.

Catch and Release Laws in the UK: What Is Actually Required

Is catch and release the law? Mostly no, but parts of it are, and getting retention wrong in England can mean a fine.

England: the national byelaws

The Environment Agency’s national byelaws apply wherever you fish in England:

Fish you cannot keep must be returned unharmed, to the same water, with as little injury as possible.
Foul-hooked salmon, sea trout, trout and freshwater fish (hooked anywhere other than the mouth or throat) must be released immediately and cannot be kept.
Eels, apart from conger, must be released alive to the same water.
Gaffs and tailers are banned.
Fish in a keepnet or keepsack that you cannot legally keep must be returned alive to the same water, and leaving fish in a net after you have finished fishing is an offence.

Keepnets and keepsacks have exact legal specifications (GOV.UK):

Retainer	Legal requirements in England
Keepnet	No knotted or metallic mesh; over 2m long; mesh holes under 25mm; rings or frames under 40cm apart and over 120cm in circumference
Keepsack	Soft, dark, non-abrasive and water-permeable; at least 120 x 90cm, or 150 x 30 x 40cm with a frame; one fish at a time

The coarse close season on English rivers and streams runs from 15 March to 15 June inclusive (see fishing seasons). The full text is on the national byelaws page.

Salmon: different rules in each nation

Salmon is where mandatory release bites. In Scotland, keeping salmon has been banned since 1 April 2026 under SSI 2016/115 as amended by SSI 2025/390. In Wales, all rod-caught salmon must be released. In England, none can be kept before 16 June, and some rivers are no-kill by local byelaw. Our salmon fishing rules page has the detail.

Sea fish, barbless hooks and the other nations

Bass have their own retention rules, covered in bass fishing regulations. Barbless hooks are not a national legal requirement, but many fisheries insist on them, so check the venue’s rules and read our barbless hooks guide.

The English byelaws above do not apply in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. For coarse and trout rules, check with Natural Resources Wales, the Scottish Government or DAERA in Northern Ireland, and always read the local fishery rules.

How to Release a Fish Safely: A Bank-Side Routine

A fish that swims off weakly and then turns belly-up a few metres downstream is the outcome every angler wants to avoid. Most of the causes are fixable before you even cast, and good catch and release starts with what is on the bank beside you.

Follow this routine every time:

Set up before you cast. Unhooking mat, forceps or a disgorger, wire cutters and a landing net with soft mesh, all within arm’s reach.
Use tackle strong enough to land fish quickly. Line that is too light for the venue means long fights and an exhausted fish.
Unhook in the water or in the net where you can.
If you lift it, kneel low over a wet mat. Wet your hands first and never use a towel, which strips the protective slime.
Cradle it with a cupped hand. Support the belly and avoid any pressure behind the gills.
Never tear out a deep hook. If it won’t come free easily, cut it rather than force it. The Pike Anglers’ Club advises carrying cutters for exactly this.
Revive it upright in the water. Hold it until the fins ripple and it swims off strongly under its own power.

On Windermere, I unhook pike in the net with long forceps and keep cutters in my pocket rather than in the bag. It makes the whole job calmer, for me and the fish.

Photos and weighing are where routines fall apart, so keep the fish low and be quick. The River Spey has gone further. Since 15 July 2024, its fishing reports only publish salmon photos that follow its guidelines, and in most of them part of the fish must be touching the water, because even brief air exposure can significantly reduce survival.

If an estimate will do, our fish weight calculator works out weight from length, so you can skip the weigh sling altogether. Neither Fisheries Management Scotland nor the Spey guidance sets a safe number of seconds out of the water, so keep it as short as you can. Barbless or crushed-barb hooks speed up unhooking, and our guide to unhooking and handling fish covers grip and forceps technique in detail.

Water Temperature and Species: When Extra Care Matters

The Pike Anglers’ Club of Great Britain advises not fishing for pike at all once the water reaches 18C. Fisheries Management Scotland’s salmon guidance, by contrast, gives no numeric thresholds at all.

Warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen, and a fish that has just been played hard recovers more slowly in it. The same fight carries more risk in August than in November, and catch and release in high summer leaves less margin for a slow unhooking. Our guide to water quality and angling explains the oxygen side in more depth.

Species or situation	Care points
Pike	Stop at 18C; unhook in the net; carry cutters; lures are easier to remove than deep-taken baits; keep fights short; no retainers in warm water (PAC)
Atlantic salmon	Keep it cool, keep hands off, keep it under, keep it clean (FMS); follow the Spey photo rule; listed as Endangered in GB
Coarse fish in keepnets	Use a legal net (see the table above); keep retention short in warm weather
Eels	Must be returned alive in England, by law

On Windermere, I stop chasing pike once the lake warms up in high summer and switch to perch or bream instead. The pike will still be there in autumn.

Carry a thermometer and check the water, not the air. The PAC cut-off is a water temperature, so a reading taken at the swim, not the weather forecast, decides whether a pike session goes ahead.

Do Fish Feel Pain? What the Research Says

Two research teams looked at the same question and reached opposite conclusions, and the catch and release debate still turns on that split.

In 2003, Sneddon, Braithwaite and Gentle published a study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B (270:1115-1121) identifying nociceptors on the heads of rainbow trout. These receptors responded to mechanical pressure, heat above 40C and acetic acid. When noxious substances were applied to the trout’s lips, their gill-cover beat rate rose, they took longer to resume feeding and they showed unusual behaviours for a prolonged period. The authors interpreted this as suggesting discomfort.

A later critique by Rose, Arlinghaus, Cooke, Diggles and colleagues, published in Fish and Fisheries (15:97-133, online in 2012), disagreed. They argued the methods could not separate unconscious nociception from conscious pain, that the C-fibre nociceptors linked to pain in mammals are rare in bony fish, and that fish are unlikely to experience pain as humans do.

The distinction matters. Nociception is the detection of a harmful stimulus and the reflex response to it. Pain, in the sense people usually mean, is the conscious experience of suffering, and that is much harder to test in an animal that can’t tell you.

So “fish feel nothing” and “fishing is torture” both go further than the evidence. The question is unsettled. Stress and injury still affect whether a fish survives, so the handling routine above is justified on welfare and stock grounds alike.

Is Catch and Release Cruel? Mortality, Welfare Law and the Honest Answer

It can be, and that is exactly why technique matters.

Not every released fish survives. A review of 53 release mortality studies by Bartholomew and Bohnsack (2005) found a mean mortality of 18% and a median of 11%, ranging from 0 to 95%. Mortality varied greatly by species, and where the fish was hooked mattered most. It is not a UK figure. Fisheries Management Scotland says salmon survival can be up to 100% under certain conditions but falls with long fights, air exposure and rough handling. A 2017 review by Brownscombe and colleagues sets out best practice on angling tools and tactics.

The welfare law is less clear than either side tends to claim. In England and Wales, under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, causing a “protected animal” unnecessary suffering is an offence. Section 2 defines protected animals partly as those “under the control of man on a permanent or temporary basis”, and the Act’s text does not settle whether a wild fish on the line or in a keepnet falls within that.

Treat avoidable harm as an ethical problem and a possible legal risk. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own animal welfare law, so check with the Scottish Government or DAERA. The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 set up a committee that reports on government policy; it does not set rules for anglers.

The Angling Trust’s Best Practice Guide for Freshwater Angling, launched in July 2025, is the sport’s own standard, and its first principle is caring for the fish you catch.

Catch and release is defensible when you prepare, keep fights short and avoid warm-water stress. When conditions mean fish can’t recover, skip the session.

Frequently asked questions

Is catch and release the law in the UK?

Not as a blanket rule. In England, fish you cannot keep must go back unharmed, foul-hooked fish must be released immediately and eels must be returned. Salmon release is mandatory in Wales and, since 1 April 2026, in Scotland. See the laws section above and our salmon fishing rules for detail.

Do fish feel pain when hooked?

Scientists disagree. Sneddon and colleagues (2003) found nociceptors, receptors that detect harmful stimuli, and lasting changes in behaviour in trout, while Rose and colleagues argue fish are unlikely to consciously experience pain. The question is unresolved, so handle fish to minimise harm either way. See the research section above for both sides.

Is catch and release cruel?

It causes stress and some deaths, and careful handling reduces both. Short fights, unhooking in the water, wet hands and avoiding warm-water sessions make the biggest difference. See the section on cruelty and mortality above for the evidence and the legal position.

What water temperature is too warm to fish for pike?

The Pike Anglers' Club of Great Britain advises not fishing for pike when the water is 18C or above. Warm water holds less oxygen and pike recover more slowly after a fight, so carry a thermometer and switch species in high summer.