Brown trout and sea trout
A brown trout is golden-brown, with a dark back and a pale yellow belly. Its back and sides carry dark, reddish spots with pale borders, according to the Wildlife Trusts. No two match.
A sea trout is the same species. It spends most of its life at sea and returns to fresh water to spawn. A brown trout stays in fresh water all its life. The British record committee keeps two brown trout records for that reason: one for migratory fish and one for the rest.
Rainbow or brown?
Stocked stillwaters hold plenty of rainbows, so it helps to tell them apart. The Wildlife Trusts note that a brown trout has a plain, dark tail fin and no purple stripe along its side. A rainbow has both a spotted tail and that coloured band.
Under the GOV.UK rod fishing rules, you can fish for rainbow and brown trout on most enclosed stillwaters all year. Game fishing on rivers carries on through the coarse close season, though some areas restrict lures and baits.
Atlantic salmon
An Atlantic salmon is silvery, with a few dark spots on the back and sometimes a pink flush to the belly. Mature males can grow a hooked lower jaw, the kype, in the breeding season (Wildlife Trusts).
Adults spend most of their lives at sea, then return to the river where they hatched. They run upstream from November to February and spawn in gravelly headwaters. The young can stay in fresh water for up to six years before heading out.
For the fly angler
Fly anglers have a long tradition of fish pictures, and plenty of them can name the river and the fly from a single photo. Many keep a print in the room where they tie flies, and a single plate framed at A3 suits that kind of space well. A pair, trout and salmon, suits a hallway. For a set, keep the frames and sizes the same.
Sizes for a fly room or a lodge
A brown trout plate at A3, framed in natural wood, sits well on a small wall above a fly-tying bench. For a bigger room, a salmon on a 50x70 cm framed canvas has the length a salmon needs. Framed canvas comes in black, dark wood or natural wood.
Hanging in a fishing hut or a room that gets damp? Keep paper and canvas out of it. Dry rooms only. Our print sizes guide gives every size in millimetres, with the outside measurements of each framed canvas.
Before a first trip
Anyone aged 13 or over needs a rod licence to fish for salmon, trout or freshwater fish in England and Wales. That includes private water. GOV.UK says children under 13 don't need one. Junior licences for 13 to 16 year olds are free. Worth knowing if a print is part of a present for a young angler starting out, alongside a first licence.
Your own trout or salmon
Game anglers often photograph a fish in the net, in the water, before it goes back. They print well. Angling Times points out that the kindest way to handle a netted fish is not to lift it out at all.
Print it as it is, or see it in a house style first. The pencil study handles water and reflections well. Our catch photo guide has tips, and fishing gifts for men covers presents for a fly angler.