Please excuse my delay in response. I have had a hectic past 4 weeks guiding and with the schools, no time for much else, not even got to go kill a deer as yet.
Ok, l can help you with all you need so far as the UK is concerned, Locations for fishing, rivers, lakes, lochs etc. Fly shops and dealers there.
I have fished all over that country in my lifetime there. England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The UK fly fishing scene is a very different one to that you know here for many reasons.
The water systems differ a great deal and many of the techniques used there differ somewhat to what you may well know here in the USA.
Particularly for the lakes and stillwater systems.
Most rivers contain wild Brown trout, and many of the lakes do also.
Rainbows are stocked in both man made and natural lake systems.
Rivers vary from small rain fed systems, (free stone) to very large rivers systems that are influenced by both rain fall catchment and also outflow from lakes or resevoir systems above the headwaters.
There are very few tailwaters as you know them here.
There are no warmwater species in UK waters, but there are some that trout are not found in for one reason of the other.
Access to fish is normally by way of purchasing a day permit from the leasing agent for that water or by a daily fishing permit, such as you would find on many of the public resevoir systems.
There is no shortage of available water to fish, dispite the American train of thought that it is all private, no more so than state water here that you have to obtain a state licence for to fish.
Let me know the exact location that you will reside at while in the UK and l will give you some further details to follow up with.
April to May can be very good there in the UK, but you may also have some adverse weather conditions at that time.
Davy Wotton
