Rivers of North East Fife

The River Eden

The Eden is the major river of Fife. It rises at the extreme western boundary of the region near Burnside and slowly makes its way to the sea at Guardbridge (north of St Andrews) via the Howe of Fife and Cupar.

In living memory the Eden was subject to some pretty intense pollution problems. Over-enrichment, coupled with pollution escapes from industrial sites led to the eradication of migratory fish runs. But the salmon and sea trout started to come back in the sixties when the radical clean-up operations which were adopted by riparian owners and interests started to take effect.

The Eden has always maintained a good head of brown trout. The brown trout of the Eden offer some of the finest dry fly fishing in Scotland, and many of the river international competition come to the Eden to practice their skills. It is looked upon as a difficult but rewarding water.

Occasional spring salmon enter the river, but the bulk of the fish come with the grilse run in July. It could be argued that the Eden is one of the few Scottish rivers to take three distinct runs of salmon, as it always has a back-end run of fish, and the season was adjusted to take account of this run. Unlike other waters in its region it is allowed to stay open until the 31st October. The sea trout runs peak in July, but the first fish can be expected in June. Since the pollution problems were sorted out, runs of migratory fish, especially sea trout, have improved markedly.

The Eden is not a fast river over most of its length, and the best of its salmon water is in the Kemback to Nydie Mill stretch. The estuary produces some very good sea trout catches, and Dairsie to Eden Mouth has the best of it. The river above Cupar is lazy in the extreme and, although good quality trout inhabit this area, the best fly water is in the Edenwood and Dairsie stretches.