Birmingham Anglers Association

Andy, BAA Rules and Regs state;

C.3 Removal of Fish Stocks

No coarse fish shall be removed from Association waters. Members may retain caught fish (with the exception of carp) in a suitable keepnet or keepsack, provided they are returned alive to the water with as little injury as possible, on or before the completion of fishing. Members may remove game fish from Association waters subject to Environment Agency byelaws.

C.4 Prohibited Equipment and Bait

No member shall use on the Association's waters:

(a) any double or treble hooks, except when fishing for pike, zander or spinning for game fish,

(b) any gaff,

(c) any luncheon or similar meat as bait on rivers during the coarse fish close season, except on Association pools which may be open for fishing.

(d) any live fish as bait.

(e) more than two rods at any time and that any rod used must be under the immediate physical control of the angler.

NOTE: for the purpose of this Bye-Law the term rod shall be deemed to represent any instrument to which is attached line for the purpose of catching fish and includes poles and whips.

(This Bye-Law does not affect BAA Contest Rules which state that only one rod may be used at any time during Association run contests.)


In summary;
- you can't remove and kill fish from BAA waters for use as dead baits.
- you can't use live baits.

The majority of anglers will therefore use frozen dead baits supplied by tackle shops, which we would expect come from fish farms which can guarantee the supply of disease free fish.

Catching fish from another non BAA fishery and then using them as dead baits on one of our fisheries carry's the risk that disease can be spread into our fishery via this route, hence the EA limitation on moving fish that you mention in your post. It's all about responsible fishing.