Incident in Ireland

bullmoose_jackson said:

Last Sunday was my first opportunity to fish since November. While Ireland has been experiencing flooding, rain and storm-force winds, I decided that some time by the river was well-needed, and well-deserved.

I was fishing in a canal that had flooded, and had a reasonable bag of fish, given the coditions - about ten pounds of roach, hyrbids and dace.

Further along the canal from me were three fishermen, all extremely well-equipped and reasonably proficient. One member of the group walked towards me and asked, in a European accent, how I was getting on. We didn't talk much, and he returned to his friends shortly afterwards.

I am inhernelty suspicious of eastern-European fishermen; before anyone accuses me of profiling, racism or zenophobyia, please bear in mind that I have witnessed countless incidents of poaching in Ireland over the previous ten years, all of which have been conducted by eastern-European anglers. Because of my concerns, I spent the remainder of the day with one eye firmly on the group. They were catching reasonably well, and all three were deopisiting each fish (mainly small perch) into a single keepnet.

As I was packing up, two men from the local fishing club came by to chat. We shared a couple of cigarettes and a chat about the day. I noticed that the eastern-European anglers had removed their keepnet, and the three of us began to watch for the fish being returned...

...which never happened. The keepnet and all of its contents were folded into a netbag, which was zipped and placed beside the car.

We confronted the men before they could drive away with the fish. In the sealed netbag were approximately one hundred small perch, dace and roach, some already dead.

We photographed the fish, the men, their car and their gear, and then called the local waterkeeper. He arrived, took identification details and warned the men that they would most likely receive a court summons.

They all pleaded ignorance. One began to cry slightly. They claimed they needed the fish to feed their children, but were driving an expensive BMW.

What surprised me most about this event was the equipment and ability of the men in question. Usually, the poachers I have come across use Lidl or Aldi rods, crude tackle and basic accessories, at best. These men were sitting on Mosella seatboxes, using top of the range Daiwa poles, wearing high-end bibs and braces.

I just thought I'd share - still very angry about the incident, and glad we managed to return most of the fish alive to the water.

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sbc_1974 said:

Happens on the upper Trent, there used to be an excellent chub swim that would regularly produce 5lb chub, alas now all in an eastern European belly. the swim no longer produces and is not worth fishing (who would eat chub?!)

I have also chatted to an estate manager on a country estate that borders the Avon, who gave reports of swans going in the pot! sounds unbelievable but looking how pis**d off he was I figure it was accurate info

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mick b said:

What a stroke of luck a few friends came along at the right time.
Well done for taking the required action.
I just hope you never allowed the criminals to retain the fish that had died?

I have caught quite a few fish thieves, often while operating alone, and I have always confiscated all the dead fish.

People stealing live fish (with the exception of baitcatchers) can sometimes be a problem, because they do know exactly what they are doing, especially as they are often English.

On one occasion in the '80s I visited a water to be met by two unhappy Pike anglers who reported that a guy further down the bank had a decent twenty in a keep sack which they thought he was going to steal it because he was a known (to them) fish thief.
I approached the angler, asked what he had caught and listened to his reasoning for sacking the fish (deeply hooked and was awaiting his friend to help him unhook it) ignoring his comments I removed the fish from the sack, unhooked it myself without any problems and asked him if he wished to return it himself (always the acid test for fish thieves Ive found) .....of-course he said no, so back it went undamaged from the experience.
The angler in question never returned to that fishery, nor did I meet him again, but I doubt he hasn't stopped fishing.
This potential thief was English born and bred and like a few others I have caught, was trying to steal the fish for stocking into another water.

With the rise in fish theft of all sorts, its is vitally important that we all remain alert and suspicious of anyone who is doing anything out of the normal sphere of angling activities.

Certainly they know we are looking at them, and hopefully the more we look the less they will feel inclined to ruin our fisheries.

Keep alert, your fishery needs you!

.

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mick b said:

Hi tinker,
This incident was in the 80s when the transfer/relocation of Pike (and Carp) was quite common.
Around the same time Grapham was opened to Pike fishing all fish 10lbs and over went to someone who was establishing a specialist Pike fishery, I dont know anything about the success of the venture, but Ive since learnt that the transfer of large Pike is nothing but a death sentence to the fish concerned.

I held Water Aurtority transfer licences for most of my working life, and once a water and its fish have been cleared by a health check I could move fish as and when they became available and I know that no dead fish turned up on some of the waters I stocked big Pike into (they were patrolled daily) but they could however have just sunk to the bottom so who knows because (unfortunately) none were tagged.

As an angler of considerable experience you probably remember the 'seeding' of new waters that used to be common practice until the Carp diseases appeared.
Fish in those days were just carried around in galvanised dustbins in the backs of vans, but they survived as many waters bear testimony.

Personally I think the possesion of any live fish without an official receipt of sale should result in the confiscation of the fish and prosecution of the criminals.....without exeception.

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