I knew this would happen..

[corydoras]

So what you are saying is that if I am fishing from the shore then I should have a rod licence with me anyway just in case a EA bailiff comes along and claims that my peeler crabs are salmon bait?

 

Why do English anglers put up with this cr@p. We don't have rod licences in Scotland, nobody misses them.

 

[ 15. June 2004, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: corydoras ]

[Guest sslatter]

Leon Roskilly: "It also emphatically gives an answer to those who believe that fishing without the appropriate licence on the seaward side of a sluice, or in an estuary where the freshwater might push a long way out to 'sea', is OK."

 

Ummm..no it doesn't. Nothing "emphatic" about it whatsoever. It's very cloudy. What it seems to mean is you can merrily fish for sea species (barring eels, salmon and sea trout) wherever you want, as long as the EA accepts that you are fishing for sea species. Even if the EA doesn't accept this in certain cases, it doesn't mean that the angler is necessarily in the wrong. He just has to show reasonable (to a Magistrate) justification that he was NOT fishing for freshwater species. Anyway.. the onus of proof ought to be on the prosecution side (innocent until proven guilty etc).

 

..which all goes a long way from the original gist of the thread: why didn't the EA make it CLEAR to ONE AND ALL that the EA Rod Licence only applies to coarse fish which (barring rare flukes) live in freshwater? Nothing to do with fishing for sea species like bass, mullet, flounders etc.

 

Have another listen to the adverts, and prepare for some idiot to come and ask to see your licence when you're out bassing, mulleting, or fishing for flounder.

 

[ 15. June 2004, 04:06 PM: Message edited by: Graham X ]

[Newt]

corydoras - is This pretty much the extent of the fishing regulations for Scotland?

[corydoras]

Newt

 

That is about it.

 

Corydoras

[Leon Roskilly]

corydoras:

Why do English anglers put up with this cr@p. We don't have rod licences in Scotland, nobody misses them.

I went mullet fishing with Jim Murray in the river at Ayr.

 

We were pounced upon by a bailiff from the Salmon & Trout board!

 

Had a difficult time convincing him that our target was mullet (I don't think that he could get his head around why anyone would want to fish for them!).

 

Showed him our 6lb line and bread for bait, and he reluctantly decided not to take it further, but his demeanour still suggested that he was deeply suspicious that we were up to no good.

 

Don't know why you put up with that up there Corydoras

 

Tight Lines - leon

[corydoras]

Leon Roskilly:

 

(I don't think that he could get his head around why anyone would want to fish for them!)

---

Well that bit I can believe. Even in France I have had peculiar looks when I have admitted to actually targetting mullet.

 

A lot of bailiffs in Scotland would treat course anglers in a similar fashion for the same reason.

 

Don't forget though that water bailiffs in Scotland have full powers of enforcement, entry, search and arrest, just like a policeman.

 

[ 16. June 2004, 12:05 PM: Message edited by: corydoras ]