I have not returned to fishing again for very long but last Sunday about mid afternoon I decided after a good day catching on a small local commercial that it was time to set sail home. On walking to the car park to young men stopped me and said they were from the EA and they would like to see my License luckly it was in the glove compartment of the car. I did ask with tonque in cheek for ID and where were you last year when I reported 4 men and 1 rod with a little gas burner stove on the local stretch of the River Medway again on a Sunday afternoon out of season, different department was the short reply we are the commercial team, makes no odds all I got was a recorded message at the time anyway.
My concern is after reading a lot of others experience in the weekly angling press and so on about the shortage of baliffs there is evidece of illegal fishing and remains of small fires everywhere you walk around our river , are commercial fishers an easy option when the owners police their own waters anyway, just for the EA to roam around on a sunday afternoon asking for proof of a rod tax is not really getting the job done is it ? surely most commercial anglers have a License or can afford one and the concerns of the river bank are a higher prority.
I would be interested to hear of any others experience regarding this I know there are for and against on the annual license I don't mind paying and it was not a problem producing evidence but are they targeting the wrong people......
My concern is after reading a lot of others experience in the weekly angling press and so on about the shortage of baliffs there is evidece of illegal fishing and remains of small fires everywhere you walk around our river , are commercial fishers an easy option when the owners police their own waters anyway, just for the EA to roam around on a sunday afternoon asking for proof of a rod tax is not really getting the job done is it ? surely most commercial anglers have a License or can afford one and the concerns of the river bank are a higher prority.
I would be interested to hear of any others experience regarding this I know there are for and against on the annual license I don't mind paying and it was not a problem producing evidence but are they targeting the wrong people......