Leeds and Liverpool Canal

Fancy a canal session rather than a lake full of numbered pegs? This Leeds and Liverpool Canal stretch is managed by Pendle & Burnley District Angling Association, running from the Anchor Inn at Salterforth to the motorway bridge at Hapton. That’s the venue to keep in mind when sorting your ticket. The Burnley access point is part of the picture, not the boundary of the whole fishery.

• 1 lake: Burnley Mile
• Fish: bream, carp, eel, perch, pike, roach, tench
• Tickets from: Canal day ticket — £4
• Find it: Burnley · BB11 2FG

Based on how each lake is set up — not a ranking.

Fancy a canal session rather than a lake full of numbered pegs? This Leeds and Liverpool Canal stretch is managed by Pendle & Burnley District Angling Association, running from the Anchor Inn at Salterforth to the motorway bridge at Hapton. That’s the venue to keep in mind when sorting your ticket. The Burnley access point is part of the picture, not the boundary of the whole fishery.

There’s a decent mix of species listed: bream, carp, eel, perch, pike, roach and tench. The club recommends pole and float fishing for the silver fish, so those are the clearest starting points for planning your approach. It also describes spinning for pike and perch. There’s no need to dress this up as a specimen venue: the appeal is having different fishing options on a club-controlled canal.

For a straightforward day out, the canal day ticket is £4, listed separately from tickets for other club waters. Tickets can be bought from the bankside bailiff. Clubmate day-ticket purchases are available for certain waters, but canal availability needs checking before you rely on buying online. Four quid is an appealing entry price, especially if you’re after a simple float-fishing session rather than a bigger membership commitment.

If you’re thinking about regular trips, annual club memberships give you another route in. Membership runs from 1 April to 31 March and can be bought through Clubmate or the listed local tackle shops. You’ll need a photograph. There are adult, OAP/disabled, junior and predator options, with single-rod and multi-rod choices in the adult categories. Don’t confuse those wider club options with automatic permission to fish this canal at night.

Getting your bearings matters here. The Burnley postcode points to the Finsleygate Boat Yard access area on the Burnley Mile, while the coordinates identify the canal at Finsley Gate Wharf. Neither represents the entire club stretch. Parking is available at various points, but toilets, accessible pegs and dedicated fishery facilities aren’t specified. Best to get the practical bits bob on with the club before choosing where to settle in.

A few rules are worth sorting before packing the gear. Bring a landing net and unhooking tool, return every fish, and leave the keepnet out unless you’re fishing a match. Coarse-fish livebait and deadbait are prohibited; sea-fish deadbait is allowed. Night fishing remains unconfirmed because the canal isn’t among the published permitted night waters. The rules page is labelled 2025/26, so check for changes rather than assuming an old arrangement still stands.

Good background reading. Most of it is a few years old, so treat it as a starting point and ask on the day.

Videos linked by the fishery

• Our read

  Checked Sept '26 — “A proper canal option with £4 day tickets, silver-fish fishing and a chance to target predators. Pendle & Burnley District Angling Association controls the stretch from the Anchor Inn at Salterforth to the motorway bridge at Hapton—not just the Burnley Mile.”

This is our own summary of recurring public feedback and the venue details we checked, not a copied customer review or a promise you’ll catch. Feedback changes, so we keep it separate from the Tackle Index score.