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Fishing in Hampstead Heath
Date updated: 15/06/2022
The angling season opens at 12.01am on Thursday 16 June. For information on how to apply for a permit, read on below.
Hampstead Heath is a great place to fish, with five ponds to fish on and carp, bream, roach, rudd, tench, gudgeon, perch and pike to catch.
Fishing on Hampstead Heath
You do need a permit and an Environment Agency rod licence to fish here. Find out how to get these below.
Fishing is allowed on five of our ponds, these are:
- Highgate Men's Pond
- Model Boating Pond
- Hampstead No 2 Pond
- Viaduct Pond
- and Vale of Health Pond
You can find each of our ponds our our Heath map:
Hampstead Heath Map PDF (1MB)
Date submitted: 5/12/19Applying for a permit
You can apply online for a fishing permit. There is a £10.60 charge for this permit.
You also need an Environment Agency Rod Licence
Fishing guidelines
There are a few rules you need to follow when fishing on the Heath. You can read up on these below.
- you must not fish between 15 March and 15 June
- night fishing is not allowed by under 16s unless accompanied by an adult
- you must present your permit and rod licence if it's requested by our staff
- you must not fish anywhere that there's a risk of snagging trees, vegetation or underwater obstacles
- you must put all rubbish in bins or take it with you
- you must not use waders to enter any pond to fish
- you must not put in or remove any fish, animals or plants to any pond
- you can only use three rods at once
- you'll need two Environment Agency rod licences
- you can't leave baited rods unattended in the water
- you can't use bait boats, live bait or bait nuts
- you should use a minimal amount of ground bait to look after the water quality of the pond
- you must take away any unused bait
- you can't use:
- lures
- barbed hooks
- bent hooks
- lead shot
- tethered rigs
- bolt rigs
- or braided lines
- you must have your hook line at a lower breaking strain than your reel line
- you must not have your reel line attached directly to your hook without a weaker link
- your tackle must be free to slide off the line
- if you're pike fishing, your minimum line breaking strain must be 12lb and have a minimum trace of 18" of 20lb wire
- you must remove all broken line to stop waterfowl getting snared by it
- you must handle fish carefully with wet hands and equipment
- you should make sure that watch straps and jewellery don't injure fish when handling them
- you must have a landing net
- you can't use keep nets or carp sacks
- you must use suitable knotless landing nets
- your net should be a minimum 106cm if fishing for carp
- you must have a disgorger and forceps for removing hooks
- you must use hooking mats to unhook large fish
- you must use a weigh sling or bag and hold it above the unhooking mat when weighing
- if you're photographing fish:
- your equipment must be ready before you bring the fish to the bank and you must photograph it as quickly as possible
- the fish should be photographed over the mat as close to the ground as possible
- you must return all fish to the pond as quickly as possible
- you must use a sling or enclosed mat to put the fish back in the water