Someone's illegally fishing in my river I think. Do I need to report it.

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BBH

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As above really. Someone has lopped trees down either side of my riverbank and cleared away the overgrowth to the banks.

I asked a local farmer what he thought and he said it sounds like people have cleared it away so the sunlight brings fish to the top and then the lopped off trees are to secure nets over for catching the trout.

Never had this problem in London so anyone know whats going on.
 
On a more serious note, I'd seek advice from the river authorites apart from fishing illegally
they are doing damage to the environment and habitat of wildlife flora and forna.
 
LOL very good :D

Spoke to DEFRA who were as good as useless. Gave me a number to report it to and it was the number for the ' Change for life group'.

Perhaps they're hinting :D
 
Ha Ha deffo change for life :D

Quite what thats about I don't know but didn't hang around long enough to find out.
 
BBH said:
As above really. Someone has lopped trees down either side of my riverbank and cleared away the overgrowth to the banks.

I asked a local farmer what he thought and he said it sounds like people have cleared it away so the sunlight brings fish to the top and then the lopped off trees are to secure nets over for catching the trout.

Never had this problem in London so anyone know whats going on.
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Do you own both sides of the river and if so, do you own the fishing rights to both sides of the banks? If you do own them both then it's trespass and damage and you need to find out who did this without your permission.
Think your farmer friend was stringing you along with a fishy tale though, allowing light in fair enough but not securing nets, no way.
 
If they have caused damage they don't care. So therefore they are possibly setting illegal nets. Might be kids who can't afford the extortionate price of a season ticket at the local fishing club or syndicate.

On a different tack.
I have a river going through mine here in France the law is different here and much more relaxed for access. If someone wants to fish in any river. they can (as long as it's not in the spawning season). They just have to let you know. They aren't allowed to do any damage though. The trouble with the UK is it's so restrictive there's nowhere to fish. Too much 'get of my land'. If all rivers were open there would be so much water to choose from the chances of anyone fishing in your bit would be remote. I've been here for nine years and have never had anyone fishing in 'my :rolleyes:' river. I've had a visit from the bailiff every year to see if we've had any problems. They have the attitude here that, a river doesn't belong to you as it's been there for thousands of years.and everyone has the right to access.
 
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Maesfen said:
Do you own both sides of the river and if so, do you own the fishing rights to both sides of the banks? If you do own them both then it's trespass and damage and you need to find out who did this without your permission.
Think your farmer friend was stringing you along with a fishy tale though, allowing light in fair enough but not securing nets, no way.
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Yes, yes and yes.

If not nets why go to the trouble of clearing so much overgrowth away for the odd chance of a line caught fish. Some of the branches were a fair size so in my mind not some day tripper who happened upon a bit of river with a penknife and a rod. Haven't got a cats chance of catching them as has been done after dark.

Bloomin nuisance really although its saved me paying someone to clear it myself I guess.
 
Sunlight will not bring the fish to the top, quite the reverse. What it will do is increase the amount of light getting into the water, which in turn increases the insect life in that stretch of the river and increases the number of fish.

If it's poachers, then they will not go to all that trouble, they wil just use whattever they can to get as many game fish (trout, sea trout and salmon) as quickly as they can.

Find the nearest fishing tackle shop and also the local fishing clubs. It could well be that someone has made a mistake and think that they have the rights to fish your section of the river, as that sounds like an awful lot of work, clearing both banks. I know when I used to fish that getting volunteers to do 'bank clearing duty' was always very hard work.

You could also try contacting the angling trust:http://www.anglingtrust.net

They have a network of regional officers (much like the BHS) who will know all the clubs and associations in your area.
 
lazybee said:
If they have caused damage they don't care. So therefore they are possibly setting illegal nets. Might be kids who can't afford the extortionate price of a season ticket at the local fishing club or syndicate.

On a different tack.
I have a river going through mine here in France the law is different here and much more relaxed for access. If someone wants to fish in any river. they can (as long as it's not in the spawning season). They just have to let you know. They aren't allowed to do any damage though. The trouble with the UK is it's so restrictive there's nowhere to fish. Too much 'get of my land'. If all rivers were open there would be so much water to choose from the chances of anyone fishing in your bit would be remote. I've been here for nine years and have never had anyone fishing in 'my :rolleyes:' river. I've had a visit from the bailiff every year to see if we've had any problems. They have the attitude here that, a river doesn't belong to you as it's been there for thousands of years.and everyone has the right to access.
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Am glad I don't live in France as hate people traipsing on my land. Buy you're own bloomin river if you want to fish :rolleyes:
 
millreef said:
Maybe it was cleared for a different reason. Somewhere romantic... secluded .... get my meaning? Nod nod, wink, wink??
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Ha Ha well funnily enough I did find naked sunbathers down there when i first bought it . A couple of men and a woman.

I was traumatised / gutted

they were really ugly :D

Whilst I agree I wouldn't want nettles up me bum nor would I want to clear it in the buff so to speak. Can't see it meself.
 
BBH said:
Am glad I don't live in France as hate people traipsing on my land. Buy you're own bloomin river if you want to fish :rolleyes:
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I'm sure if it's kids they will start saving their pocket money:rolleyes:

Oh you're so English:D :D
I think you may have missed my point there. All rivers are open so no one bothers with my bit next to the house. Not in nine years anyway. I do have another field about 1/2mile away with another river in it. this one gets fished occasionally. Never had any litter or damage though. The law is quite strict for that sort of thing.
I know none of this is relevant to your situation though ;) I just feel sorry for kids who can't enjoy the countryside as I did when I was growing up.
 
"For cod's sake" I've haddock up to here with fish puns. I'm sorry to carp on, but surely there's a time and plaice for this sort of language. I feel quite eel …
 
lazybee said:
I'm sure if it's kids they will start saving their pocket money:rolleyes:

Oh you're so English:D :D
I think you may have missed my point there. All rivers are open so no one bothers with my bit next to the house. Not in nine years anyway. I do have another field about 1/2mile away with another river in it. this one gets fished occasionally. Never had any litter or damage though. The law is quite strict for that sort of thing.
I know none of this is relevant to your situation though ;) I just feel sorry for kids who can't enjoy the countryside as I did when I was growing up.
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I didn't miss your point, I understand that in France no-one owns the rivers therefore people can fish where they please but it doesn't work like that here. Also they weren't enjoying the countryside they were ripping it up.

It may be that in France things are better cared for and respected whereas here I've had loads of litter and some kind soul even chopped down some post n trail fencing to burn to keep warm whilst they downed their cans of lager so unfortunately I am wary of people's motives.

Don't mean to sound harsh but its not always the romanticised enjoying of the country these days, a lot of people are really responsible on land but some aren't and they are the ones causing real damage spoiling it for everyone.
 
lazybee said:
"For cod's sake" I've haddock up to here with fish puns. I'm sorry to carp on, but surely there's a time and plaice for this sort of language. I feel quite eel …
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LOL these are just briliant.

HHOers are deffo a talented bunch :D
 
BBH said:
Ha Ha well funnily enough I did find naked sunbathers down there when i first bought it . A couple of men and a woman.

I was traumatised / gutted

they were really ugly :D

Whilst I agree I wouldn't want nettles up me bum nor would I want to clear it in the buff so to speak. Can't see it meself.
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All this fish about and you where GUTTED lol
 
Have the scales dropped from your eyes OP about living in the countryside?

Eel be expecting that oil this carping on will get to you, unless you whitebait, although if you do, no doubt you'll be kippered and get a monk on.

I'm off before I make any more flounders.
 
Are you sure an angling club doesn't have rights to your river? It may well be that the local club do fish the river and have been doing some maintenance. Deffo contact local clubs and find out.
It's easy to fish rivers in the UK tbh, generally you just pay a tenner to join the local club, ensure you have a rod license, and so long as you are in season to fish running water you go along and fish. On stretches of the Avon you don't need to be a member of a club, anyone can fish there so long as they have a rod license.

Our local clubs have rights to fish all the other major rivers, as a land owner you just may not know about this.
 
siennamum said:
Our local clubs have rights to fish all the other major rivers, as a land owner you just may not know about this.
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If it's your property then all the details of the river and any fishing rights it has should have been included in your bill of sale along with any fixed conditions so if an angling club had bought the rights to your bit of river that would have been noted by your solicitors/estate agents. Most (but admittedly not all) properties would retain a couple of rods for their own personal use even if they sold or leased the basic fishing rights to a club. There should be no way of the rights having been sold or leased before you bought the property not being declared at the time of sale; if that happened then someone has slipped up very badly - the estate agent for not divulging the fact to you before completion of sale (I've known sales fall through for less!) and the solicitor for not informing you of the fact. If it's either of those reasons then heads should roll but there might not be an awful lot you could do about it if the rights were sold beforehand. Hope that's not the case for you.
 
Get yourself some green electric fencing wire and hook it up the a battery..put a line of it across the path into where they have cleared it and sit back and wait for the scream...Bingo poachers caught.lol
 
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