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Birmingham Anglers Association

Viewing 1 to 15 (15 Total) river fishing
Ronnie Total Posts: 15 Joined: June 15, 2017	are you allowed to fish rivers. my mates in london tell me that people are fishing the thames every day by where they live. Tags: Posted on May 23, 2021 at 10:53 AM

KenL Total Posts: 280 Joined: December 27, 2015	Re: river fishing You can legally fly fish or spin for salmon and trout and I believe you can still ledger with worms for eels. Not sure whether targetting the salmon with a prawn or worms on a float is legal in England, but general feeder or float fishing for coarse fish is a big no-no until the 16th of June. If you're concerned about illegal fishing, call the EA incident line: 0800 80 70 60 / 03000 65 3000. Posted on May 23, 2021 at 1:38 PM
Ronnie Total Posts: 15 Joined: June 15, 2017	Re: river fishing kenl thanks for you reply i will pass this on to my mates in london. they are not fly fishing Posted on May 23, 2021 at 6:39 PM
MrChub Total Posts: 45 Joined: April 1, 2020	Re: river fishing As a BAA member based (close to) London, I am not surprised to read this. My own club where I am secretary has witnessed increased poaching and out of season fishing on our (and neighbouring) stretches of the upstream Middle Thames over the past 5 years and club members based near London report daily infringements in full public view on a regular basis. You can report it but.... The EA is responsible for policing the rules. For various reasons (including massive staff cuts over the past decade, a lack of urgency and inept management) it is not up to the task. I know, am in regular frustrating dialogue with them! The truth is that covid -19 was the last spanner in the works as far as EA enforcement on the angling front is concerned. A nationally known informed angling specialist representing an official angling body described the Thames in 2020 as the 'wild west'. EA enforcement officers rarely check licences on the Thames (or any coarse river) preferring to concentrate on commercials - it keeps the numbers up and looks good. I have no quarrel with individual EA enforcers who do a difficult job and lack the support they need but we have allowed a systematic reduction in resources to facilitate what is now blatant widespread law breaking. Between March and September 2020 EA enforcement officers checked no licences on the Thames. I am not aware of any related prosecutions of angling offences in that 6 month period. Where there is no evidence of consequence, law breaking becomes endemic. You may think, 'well that's London and here in the Midlands we are safe from the issue'. Remember where London leads the rest follows. When was your licence last checked and when did you last see an EA enforcement officer? Posted on May 24, 2021 at 6:33 PM
Ronnie Total Posts: 15 Joined: June 15, 2017	Re: river fishing Mrchub cant remember the last time i was asked to show my licence . i now have a phone number which i will pass on to my mates and they will pester the enforcement office Posted on May 24, 2021 at 6:59 PM
KenL Total Posts: 280 Joined: December 27, 2015	Re: river fishing If the EA do nothing, ring your local police and tell them that you are reporting it as a wildlife crime. The police got a ton of money for dealing with these crimes a few years ago, and it would be bad form for them to be seen ignoring it. Posted on May 25, 2021 at 5:52 PM
Re5erv0irReg Total Posts: 681 Joined: September 18, 2020	Re: river fishing Hello fellow d’anglers, I was asked to show my BAA Card and EA Licence on our Fladbury and Bolehall stretch two seasons ago. Keep on Fishing Posted on May 25, 2021 at 10:20 PM
Genex Total Posts: 10 Joined: August 4, 2020	Re: river fishing Hi Guys I was asked last October on the Apley stretch of the Severn. Quite an official and pleasant chap who had all his documentation to prove he was a bailiff. Even gave me a few tips on the peg i was in. Would be nice to be asked more but especially with the size of the waters that the BAA covers I can imagine it being quite difficult to police them all. Posted on May 26, 2021 at 1:39 PM
MrChub Total Posts: 45 Joined: April 1, 2020	Re: river fishing My earlier post referred to EA Enforcement Officers, who i understand as a matter of policy will not usually ask you for a BAA or any other identification permitting you to fish a particular water; merely for a document that confirms your legal right to be using a rod- the rod licence. Coarse fishing on rivers between 15 March and 15 June inclusive is not within the terms of the licence. EA Enforcement Officers will check your EA rod licence and sign and date the back of it to confirm the check. They have no right to investigate whether you have a right in law to fish that particular water as that resides with the fishery owner. Fishery owners who find people poaching their water will have to bring a prosecution themselves unless they can involve the police because other offences (trespass, violent conduct etc) have been committed as part of the incident. If you were asked to show a BAA ticket and given advice on the swim, my guess is that you were seen by a BAA bailiff, not an EA official. FYI I estimate I have fished on all waters an average of 50-60 times a year over the 10 years; so somewhere in the region of 500-600 occasions and have 1 licence check on a commercial in 2013. Posted on May 26, 2021 at 6:56 PM
Fishychris Total Posts: 246 Joined: December 1, 2020	Re: river fishing I was asked by an EA official on the KFAA side of Hampton loade a few years aago. My only ever sighting of the great crested EA official. I've also only seen BAA bailiffs on Knowle sands and the tewkesbury venues. I'd like to see a lot more of both. I am one of those 'armchair fishery managers' who can't commit to being a full time bailiff, but I respect the commitment and efforts of all our bailiffs. I think there must be things the club can do to support the bailiff teams though. For example whilst I can't be out full time, I tend to fish up to last light on summer evenings, so accompanying a bailiff on night checks wouldn't be an issue, and where possible I would be happy to make other journeys. Especially public access venues where I could take the dog, as I could get her evening walk in too! I think members accompanying bailiffs would be a very sensible scheme to implement, given the level of arsehole you're likely to run into these days. I challenged some people down the bottom end of the Brook section a few years ago. Its not a stretch I fish often as it's too busy for my liking, so it was very early and I was right at the bottom boundary. I asked some people coming through the gate if they were members. They said they'd paid at the pub. I told them the unicorn stretch was further downstream (not that I believe they'd actually paid there either), and that past the gate was private fishing and you had to be a member. I got to f@#$ off and mind my own business. These were all easily 50+ too! Posted on May 27, 2021 at 9:23 AM
stew83mul Total Posts: 663 Joined: May 30, 2015	Re: river fishing The trouble is Chris we ask for more volunteers every year and the vast majority who pledge their support to help us with bailiffing never follow it up.On my middle Severn team we have a good,reliable group that are out most weekends during the season of a night,sometimes until past midnight but we can always do with more help,even if you can’t commit to being a regular bailiff the help is always appreciated as obviously the more people there means we can cover more water. Feel free to private message me and you can have my number if it’s something that interests you. Posted on May 28, 2021 at 7:11 AM
Fishychris Total Posts: 246 Joined: December 1, 2020	Re: river fishing I'll drop you a message now Stu. Asking for small commitments may help. Similar to my philosophy of if I'm there anyway, spending 30 minutes (most of which would be on the way to and from my own swims) isn't much of a problem. Driving 30 minutes to and from a stretch every night or on multiple nights to spend an hour checking cards and going home again is not so appealing, and difficult to commit to. Maybe there's some milleage in setting something up like a group online or WhatsApp etc where people can comment if they're going out, and offer to assist a bailiff. This means there is more support, its easier for people to commit to and if it gets taken up you'll have an idea of who to expect on the water anyway. Also bailiffs could publish which nights they plan on doing checks. I also think free night fishing permits for volunteers would be worth looking into. The fact is people do nothing for free these days, so whilst the club may lose a bit of revenue, it hasn't actually cost anything, and it puts people on the water who can be trusted. Posted on June 1, 2021 at 6:07 PM
flintthe Total Posts: 25 Joined: September 29, 2015	Re: river fishing Great Idea Chris, But you may need to re address the 30 min estimation though. I patrol the Brook section and it usually takes well over an hour. The same can be said for Fladbury too. Personally I would welcome any help that is offered, Especially for night patrols, safety in numbers and all that. Stu as well as some other bailiffs do arrange night patrols on a regular basis, so it might be worth joining one of these to see if it's for you. Hopefully see you on the bank sometime soon. Dave Posted on June 2, 2021 at 11:39 AM
stew83mul Total Posts: 663 Joined: May 30, 2015	Re: river fishing As above Chris some great ideas but most of them are already in place in one way or another.I have a WhatsApp group already with my team on and other trusted,reliable bailiffs where we share information and make arrangements for upcoming patrols. Posted on June 2, 2021 at 3:33 PM
Fishychris Total Posts: 246 Joined: December 1, 2020	Re: river fishing I'm more than happy to come on a few night patrols. I agree safety in numbers is the way to go these days. Posted on June 2, 2021 at 6:13 PM

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