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I noticed three people out fishing my local river this weekend (spinning without landing nets) Not only breaking the Covid 19 rules but the rivers are out of season too.
A swift call to the EA to report it however there were even more the following day so I suppose resources are tight and no action was taken?
It boils my boilable stuff!

We have the lads out lamping with dogs around here. We saw four of them crammed into a small 4x4 fly past the other day, up to no good. The Police and local land owers are very aware with the former trying to catch them and the latter blocking every single gap in hedge lines they can find.

Here in NZ the government has officially declared hunting and fishing or indeed any activity where you may possibly need rescue to be verboten. At first Police tried to declare all shooting banned, but the farmers pointed out that they were still entitled to do pest control on their own land, so Police had to back down.

Ripping is a pretty inefficient way of poaching, even in tidal waters with fish waiting to run. Couple of inches of gelignite, a bag of cymag or even a net are far better ways of killing fish.

Lampuki wrote:I noticed three people out fishing my local river this weekend (spinning without landing nets) Not only breaking the Covid 19 rules but the rivers are out of season too.
A swift call to the EA to report it however there were even more the following day so I suppose resources are tight and no action was taken?
It boils my boilable stuff!

Not sure where you are and which river it is on but it is salmon fishing season so it could be folks spinning for salmon, although as you said it wouldn't be advisable due to the lockdown restrictions.........far more likely to be Eastern Europeans spinning for pike for the pot, it's quite a problem round my way with Poles fishing without a licence on a lot of pools with carp in them and knocking everything they catch on the head and taking them home!.Some fisheries spent hundreds of thousands of pounds stocking with decent carp etc and anglers quite often pay a couple of hundred quid a year on season tickets and these sods nick them for the pot!

snayperskaya wrote:Not sure where you are and which river it is on but it is salmon fishing season so it could be folks spinning for salmon, although as you said it wouldn't be advisable due to the lockdown restrictions.........far more likely to be Eastern Europeans spinning for pike for the pot,....

Where I grew up (Perth), the 'spring run' was tailing off around now. The salmon and sea trout season started on Jan 15th on the Tay, and Feb 1st on the Earn, and hundreds would be out spinning on the first Saturday after the 15th on the waters around Perth.

As a schoolboy, a great frustration was being restricted to Saturdays until the Easter holidays. (Sunday fishing was a no-no on these rivers back then, 'work of the devil' and all that.) Inevitably weather and river conditions lost some of those fishing days too. Then come the Easter hols and two weeks on the river, heaven! ...... except that most years the 'run' had finished about a week before and there was only the occasional small sea trout (known locally as 'whitling') left to be caught.

Laurie wrote:
Where I grew up (Perth), the 'spring run' was tailing off around now. The salmon and sea trout season started on Jan 15th on the Tay, and Feb 1st on the Earn, and hundreds would be out spinning on the first Saturday after the 15th on the waters around Perth.

As a schoolboy, a great frustration was being restricted to Saturdays until the Easter holidays. (Sunday fishing was a no-no on these rivers back then, 'work of the devil' and all that.) Inevitably weather and river conditions lost some of those fishing days too. Then come the Easter hols and two weeks on the river, heaven! ...... except that most years the 'run' had finished about a week before and there was only the occasional small sea trout (known locally as 'whitling') left to be caught.

I grew up very close to the Severn in Shrewsbury and never actually fished for salmon but I used to do a lot of lure fishing for pike during the summer months, when they are more active and up for chasing a lure.Then it would be dead-baiting in the late autumn and winter months.For me there isn't much that beats the feeling of anticipation when your bung disappears under the water with the characteristic wiggle that signifies a take or a large dark torpedo-like shape appears from deeper water behind your lure........

snayperskaya wrote: ... a large dark torpedo-like shape appears from deeper water ........

Captain Héctor Bonzo described his feelings of that a little differently....

meles meles wrote:

snayperskaya wrote: ... a large dark torpedo-like shape appears from deeper water ........

Captain Héctor Bonzo described his feelings of that a little differently....

Steering a course for tangent island yet again........

Full speed ahead in the subversion of oomanity !