Environment Agency checking Rod licences

chrissh · Aug 28, 2016

It’s nice to see the environment agency out and about I have had my licence checked twice last week once in Lincolnshire & again in yorkshire the bailiff did say that they are on a purge … I won’t name the fisheries I was checked on so the dodgers no where they have checked .

Peter Jacobs · Aug 28, 2016

In the 5 decades or more that I have been buying a license I have never, ever once been checked by an EA bailiff.

I came close once at Witherington Farm Lakes when a couple of EA bailiffs came into the tackle shop (resplendent in their stab vests) but as I was only there to buy bait and not fish I wasn't checked . . . . . .

In my opinion, every club, syndicate and commercial fishery should be required to check for a valid license before being allowed to join, or fish the venues, and defaulters should be reported to the authorities.

thecrow · Aug 28, 2016

chrissh said:
It’s nice to see the environment agency out and about I have had my licence checked twice last week once in Lincolnshire & again in yorkshire the bailiff did say that they are on a purge … I won’t name the fisheries I was checked on so the dodgers no where they have checked .

I would bet money that where they were being checked was easy access, in 60 years I have been asked twice, once on the Hampshire Avon some 45 years ago and once on a local still water by a severn trent bailiff who had come to scrape (steal) bloodworm he was sent on his way with a flea in his ear.

Just a tax on fishing.

chrissh · Aug 28, 2016

thecrow said:
I would bet money that where they were being checked was easy access, in 60 years I have been asked twice, once on the Hampshire Avon some 45 years ago and once on a local still water by a severn trent bailiff who had come to scrape (steal) bloodworm he was sent on his way with a flea in his ear.

Just a tax on fishing.

You would have won the bet on both of the checks

rayner · Aug 28, 2016

I mostly fish at Aston Springs, it's on the A57 Sheffield.
I have fished there on and off since I was a kid in the 50s. I have never seen a water bailiff or an EA bailiff there, had my licence checked once on the river Till in Lincolnshire one January in the 70s I think.
I class EA bailiffs the exact same as snow leopards, apparently they exist but they are never seen.

I can't see any commercial fishery owners especially around here checking licence before selling a ticket.
The EA should definitely employ enough bailiffs to cover checks, not expect people to do it for free.
I'm strongly against the volunteer ethos that abounds in todays society.
If anyone puts time in to do a job they should be paid their worth.
The worst thing as I see it regarding regional waterway or the now EA licence was to take them from tackle shops and give them to post offices.

chrissh · Aug 28, 2016

rayner said:
I mostly fish at Aston Springs, it's on the A57 Sheffield.
I have fished there on and off since I was a kid in the 50s. I have never seen a water bailiff or an EA bailiff there, had my licence checked once on the river Till in Lincolnshire one January in the 70s I think.
I class EA bailiffs the exact same as snow leopards, apparently they exist but they are never seen.

I can't see any commercial fishery owners especially around here checking licence before selling a ticket.
The EA should definitely employ enough bailiffs to cover checks, not expect people to do it for free.
I'm strongly against the volunteer ethos that abounds in todays society.
If anyone puts time in to do a job they should be paid their worth.
The worst thing as I see it regarding regional waterway or the now EA licence was to take them from tackle shops and give them to post offices.

The EA were at aston last Thursday

floatfish · Aug 28, 2016

The E A like most Government department has been subject to cost cutting.
So fewer officers try to do more with less,as they say.!
Been checked a couple of times in past couple of years. Interesting to see as the man goes round the venue odd anglers,after he passes and checks packing up in a hurry with glum faces.!
In once case someone I thought of as a regular.!

rayner · Aug 28, 2016

chrissh said:
The EA were at aston last Thursday

I don't doubt what you say, I did say I don't see them.
They perhaps were checking the state of the water at Aston Park after the recent KHV.
I fish there 2 or 3 times a week and have never been checked.

john step · Aug 28, 2016

Difficult to remember when, but have only been checked 2 or 3 times max since the 60's.

trotter2 · Aug 28, 2016

In and around were I live the EA have been checking the free waters but they really need to check the club waters as well.

flossy · Aug 28, 2016

First time this year ,which was good too see ,last time was around 8 years ago.

sam vimes · Aug 28, 2016

The EA are, quite sensibly, going to check places that they can do quickly and easily. Places where they are going to get the maximum number of individuals in the shortest time possible. The reality is that it means busy match type commercials, big carp day ticket waters, popular stretches of river with good access (or boat access) and big matches.

I've been checked in all of those situations, from the Trent (where they arrived by boat) to a 48hr carp match. If you fish little club waters, or stretches of river, miles from anywhere, the chances of being checked are minimal.

If I wanted to find the greatest number of anglers, I certainly wouldn't be walking the banks of my local rivers, nor would I trawl the local club stillwaters. Chances are that I could walk and drive for miles and wouldn't find a soul. I know full well that I could drive twenty odd miles to two of the biggest commies in the area (they are just a few miles apart). On the average weekend, or bank holiday, I'd get several hundred anglers in a couple of quick and easy hits. Even midweek on a foul day, you'd probably see more anglers than you'd see in a week on thirty miles of the local river.

mikench · Aug 28, 2016

You are right! Many of the small waters I fish are difficult to find and I supposedly know where they are! I checked out some lakes run by my home town club. I have lived here 30 years and I had never seen them before and I struggled to find them even when parked close by! But for a brolly bearing the name Sensas and a sign on the gate I would(and did) just drive past.

trotter2 · Aug 28, 2016

Yes that's very true about the venues the EA regularly check licences .

But unfortunately the undesirables know this and move on to places were there is very little chance of being pulled. While I agree its good they come out and do there bit it so far too easy for the poachers to avoid them.
Doing the regular rounds consistently week in week out is only helping the licence dodgers to avoid being caught. More waters should be covered.

thecrow · Aug 28, 2016

Why should anglers have to pay a fishing tax? I fished for years without paying it and I knew I wouldn't be caught, the EA do nothing for me.

tigger · Aug 28, 2016

sam vimes said:
The EA are, quite sensibly, going to check places that they can do quickly and easily. Places where they are going to get the maximum number of individuals in the shortest time possible. The reality is that it means busy match type commercials, big carp day ticket waters, popular stretches of river with good access (or boat access) and big matches.

I've been checked in all of those situations, from the Trent (where they arrived by boat) to a 48hr carp match. If you fish little club waters, or stretches of river, miles from anywhere, the chances of being checked are minimal.

If I wanted to find the greatest number of anglers, I certainly wouldn't be walking the banks of my local rivers, nor would I trawl the local club stillwaters. Chances are that I could walk and drive for miles and wouldn't find a soul. I know full well that I could drive twenty odd miles to two of the biggest commies in the area (they are just a few miles apart). On the average weekend, or bank holiday, I'd get several hundred anglers in a couple of quick and easy hits. Even midweek on a foul day, you'd probably see more anglers than you'd see in a week on thirty miles of the local river.

That's all true Sam but, the majority of anglers who have no EA tax ticket will be on the places where you need to walk a little. The reason the EA bailiffs bailiff busy commercial or more public waters where there are more bodies on the bank is because every time they check someone they write their name and their EA tax ticket number in their book, the more numbers collected the better it looks to their boss's (they've been working hard) even if they haven't booked anyone for not having a tax ticket. If these EA bailiffs wandered the lonelier stretches of river (where everyone knows it's crammed with scrotes who will deffo have no EA tax ticket) it wouldn't look like they where working very hard as they'd only be able to show a small number of checks....but in reality they'd be doing a better job.

---------- Post added at 20:09 ---------- Previous post was at 20:07 ----------

thecrow said:
Why should anglers have to pay a fishing tax? I fished for years without paying it and I knew I wouldn't be caught, the EA do nothing for me.

I agree with you Crow, there should be no tax on anglers, we pay more than enough tax into the governments pockets already when we buy all our tackle, bait etc etc. Anglers keep a whole industry going that makes mega money for the government without being beaten up with a freekin' rod tax ffs.

sam vimes · Aug 28, 2016

tigger said:
That's all true Sam but, the majority of anglers who have no EA tax ticket will be on the places where you need to walk a little. The reason the EA bailiffs bailiff busy commercial or more public waters where there are more bodies on the bank is because every time they check someone they write their name and their EA tax ticket number in their book, the more numbers collected the better it looks to their boss's (they've been working hard) even if they haven't booked anyone for not having a tax ticket. If these EA bailiffs wandered the lonelier stretches of river (where everyone knows it's crammed with scrotes who will deffo have no EA tax ticket) it wouldn't look like they where working very hard as they'd only be able to show a small number of checks....but in reality they'd be doing a better job.

Perhaps your proximity to large urban areas makes a difference. In my part of the world, they catch more unlicenced anglers, doing it the way they are, in a single bank holiday weekend than they'd see if they patrolled twenty miles of river every day for a month. Chances are that they'd miss a few anglers anyway and those determined enough can easily give them the slip. It's simply not cost effective to search miles and miles of waterside for little or no return. It'll come down to a simple case of man hours per collar. I can't really blame them for that. If it cost them thousands to collar one scrote in the middle of nowhere, and they don't even get those costs covered by fines, what's the point? They may as well not have bothered.

However, the best way forward I can see is to do away with the licence and negate the need for costly enforcement in one fell swoop.

tigger · Aug 28, 2016

sam vimes said:
However, the best way forward I can see is to do away with the licence and negate the need for costly enforcement in one fell swoop.

Absolutely Sam, but I don't think that will ever happen unless angling is banned at which point the government would simply add the loss of the anglers tax to the general council tax bills and then start to tax canoeists etc.

rayner · Aug 29, 2016

Angling tax made me smile.
As for being banned why on Earth would angling be banned. Far too many people are employed in the trade, far too much tax is being generated by the trade.
It isn't costing the government a great deal.
It's nothing like the cost of treating those addicted to smoking or alcohol and the amount of folk addicted to drugs is ridiculous.

thecrow · Aug 29, 2016

rayner said:
Angling tax made me smile.

It makes me bloody annoyed. Even more annoying was the Angling Trust being in cahoots with the EA to hike up the cost of the tax.

Environment Agency checking Rod licences

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