Fish thefts.....again!

[bungral]

Wow you lot not worn out your keyboards yet? I've worn out my eyes reading it all

 

Someone should write a novel about it as a fishy thriller!

[gozzer]

Wow you lot not worn out your keyboards yet? I've worn out my eyes reading it all

 

Someone should write a novel about it as a fishy thriller!

 

This is just part two mate, you should look back at threads from a couple of months ago!

[bungral]

This is just part two mate, you should look back at threads from a couple of months ago!

 

lol naaaaaa i'll be alright I think. Reckon i've got the jist of it from this.

[Brian Carragher]

That something happened at the sheds is to my way of thinking j=highly probable, exactly what that was is open to conjecture. If Bob had made known originally the things he has now with the three sheds being affected and the amount of fish scales strewn over such distances then I think local anglers to him might have give more support at that time than he recieved

 

Two things

 

Firstly what I think has got Bob so wound up is the fact that given the fish were there and then dissapeared, moved or whatever and the circumstancial evedence that was there at the time I get the feeling he was given the bum's rush from those in the EA who are legally charged with looking after and enforcing fishery legislation. Some of the words used by Bob in his posts on this and the other topic leads me to think that if real and irrefutable evidence had been give by the EA then he would not have persued this agenda item in the way he has. He feels fobbed off and from what I can gather would like to see substciated evidence to back up the EA's claim that otters and mink were largely responsible

 

Secondly

 

I'm still not convinced on the deadbait issue, far too many imponderables and variables in the collection and sorting of correct bait sampling to make the stealing of river stock for deadbaits a commercially viable criminal proposition. Fish packed tightly would be of varying sizes and the majority would be either too large or to small for a freezing and packing company to be able to package and sell to the trade.

 

The amounts of fish that would have to be plundered in order to make it financially viable for fish thieves would have to be on a scale that most of us would find hard to comprehend. The amount of money they would recieve per ton of fish would be so small as to make their efforts nearly negliable given the low costs of legitimatly available baits from fish farms that firms could then offset against costs in their tax returns. Fish bought for cash without reciepts would for most firms not be worth it due to the risk involved and the low cost of legitimate stock.

 

It's worth remembering that at the time that these fish went missing that there was'nt a great demand from fisheries and clubs for stock fish and that the prices for those fish were low

 

 

It's with the above in mind that I don't think the deadbait market was a target for the fish rustlers if indeed it happened, but if it did I would think that the sale of live fish mixed in with health certified stock would be more of an option and something that just about no one could prove had happened.

There are rumours flying around about fish farms and one in particular that seems to have a problem with stock dying and infecting established fish stock that were perfectly healthy prior to any stocking taking place and this seems to be an area that has'nt recieved any comment of note just the standard deadbait theory

 

It's worth noting that since this event new regulations have come into force from DEFRA that concerns the registration of buyers and sellers of fish(primarily to control the sale of blackfish) that also apply to the sale and purchase of deadbaits and there is a traceble record of the sale and subsequent purchase of all fish now so a deadbait freezing and packing company would be an easy target for ministry officials to scrutinise and expose any dodgy dealings

 

If fish thefts has ocurred then highlighting the problem in the way Bob has can only do anglers good as healthy fish stocks are what we all want, as a roach angler I want to see rivers full of good healthy stock and as a pike angler I want to see good fit healthy specimens not scrawny starving stock devouring scraps. Shame the argument sometimes swung that way and I would have preffered not to have seen that happen but more a coming togrther as anglers to either stop or prevent any percieved threat to stock whether real or not

[StuMac]

That's a good point - money! Criminal enterprises thrive on money, if there;s no money in it there's no point in breaking the law. Salmon poaching is virtually unknown now simply because farmed salmon is so cheap that there's no point in taking the risks involved in netting rivers illegally.

 

My local tackle shop has a fairly small freezer for all of its bait. About half of this is shellfish for sea fishing, about half pike baits. Of the pike baits about half are coarse fish, so there are probaly a couple of hundred coarse fish in there at most. How much is that stock worth in terms of profit to the buissness? How much extra profit will the shop owner make by selling illegal fish?

 

One hundred *live* 4 - 6 inch roach / rudd / bream cost 50 quid from a fish farm. Dead they'd almost certainly be a lot cheaper. Don't take my word for it, ring up a fish farm, tell them you're a pike angler and ask if you can buy 10 kg of dead assorted coarse fish and how much would it cost. Not a lot would be my bet.

 

Small roach, rudd bream etc are produced in huge numbers up and down the country and are basically cheap. I have been to pike fishing events where the orgaisers were giving dead trout away free. Neville Fickling will sell you 3.6 kg of 4 - 6 oz roach for £21.

 

Once distribution / packing come ni then I doubt there 's enough money in the whole buissness to make this sort of thing worth while.

[Bob Bradford]

When Budgie posted this thread I knew that if I contributed I would be accused,slated even indirectly called a liar, but against my instincts and what I know of some of the posters on here I thought the subject worthy of a post or two, let me put a few things into perspective .... on a scale of 1-10 the events of 18 months ago rate as a 1 in my life, maybe even a little less, I am pursuing the guy that tried to butcher me with an Axe in broad daylight, he got away with it because of an inept Cambridgeshire police force, I am currently employing a solicitor, who in turn is in dialog with the Home Office,Cambridgeshire police, my local MP and of course myself, this issue consumes a lot of my free time, I still match fish but nowhere near the level I did before the attack, I have a wonderful wife and 2 fantastic grown-up children, I am blessed with the light of my (reprieved ) life Ethan, he is my only Grandchild, he is only just turned two and there is nothing I would not do for him.

 

I run my own small business in the construction industry, I own my own house and I have a piece of land with stables , we currently own one horse now....my life is full..but I am going through the mill in pursuit of justice,

 

I do not need or ask for more controversy, argument or publicity, I am not a liar , nor do I fantasize or make things up to be noticed, I have not financially gained from my reports of the wetsheds ( the reverse is true) , I have no hidden agenda, I have nothing against Pike anglers or any other legal and legitimate branch of our sport/pastime, I have absolutely nothing to gain from raising this issue, I am honest, sometimes brutally honest but what you see is what you get, some people are uncomfortable with the truth.....and the truth is all I seek.

 

I deeply resent being called a liar and I cannot express on here my honest views of some of the posters involved in this thread... I would be expelled, so I will say nothing.

 

Regards Bob.

[gozzer]

I've had a think, and I might have 'sussed ' how just a couple of men could take a lot of fish, from between boats in a boat yard such as Woods. If I'm right, then it could have very little financial outlay, and could be done over a few nights. It would also explain the scales found on the walkways. The results of the method I'm thinking about has been touched on in another thread about live baiting.

[Peter Waller]

Bob, if you were to explain everything then your name would be seen to be good. But all this guessing malarky is hardly helping your case.

 

Eel nets might provide an answer, I know, I have lifted some over the years. But we know it is not netting.

[GlennB]

Bob, if you were to explain everything then your name would be seen to be good. But all this guessing malarky is hardly helping your case.

 

Exactly. It's hardly conceivable that disclosing the method used is going to encourage people to take up a marginally profitable, but very illegal, activity.

[gozzer]

I've been looking for the other thread, where someone mentioned buying dead baits, with hook lengths coming from their mouths but I can't find it.

Long lines left in between the boats, either suspended or sunk, with upwards of 50 baited hooks on each one. Three sheds, 4or5 lines of boats each, would make 700-1000 baits left over night.

If only 30% were successful, that's still a lot of fish in one night. It would only take 2/3 people say 30mins to an hour to set them, if baited in advance. No need to stick around, just leave them to 'fish' on there own. Outlay, a few quid on line and hooks, bait with worm free. If the boatyard is not busy then leave it a couple of days. A couple of hours to bring them in, mostly dead, into sacks and away, unhook later. Whether they would be used as food or sold as dead baits, I don't know, probably a bit of both.

 

Seems feasible to me, or am I missing something?