Is it illegal to take home coarse fish and eat them

Why Gudgeon???
"Derek.Moody" wrote in message
...
In article .com, Russ
wrote:
So if you are fishing a, "free" water, i.e. a stretch of water which
isn't owned by a club/sole owner etc, then theoretically you can take
home any fish you catch. Or would you have to contact the environment
agency instead as i would assume they become the default owner?

Ianal

Paraphrasing from "Anglers' Law", Millichamp, Black. 1987.
(I don't know whether any more recent legislation applies)

Fish in a completely enclosed water in single ownership belong to the
owner
of the water. Taking them without permission is theft.

Fish in a water that is not completely enclosed - eg, a river, a lake
connected to a river without a fish-proof barrier, the sea - belong to
no-one, even if stocked they become creatures released into the wild.

As they have no owner it is impossible to steal them. They belong to the
captor. Laws, bylaws and local regulations may restrict what you can do
with your property just as they restrict what you can do with your car.

When you are given permission to fish you agree a civil contract with the
proprietor and that will include further restrictions - breach of these is
a
civil law matter.

/Ianal

As far as eating coarse fish goes - about the only one's I'd bother with
now
are gudgeon.

Cheerio,

--

re-ordered to convention.

In article , misterP
wrote:
"Derek.Moody" wrote in message
...

As far as eating coarse fish goes - about the only one's I'd bother with
now
are gudgeon.

Why Gudgeon???

Flavour and texture. When you buy 'goujons' of plaice or sole they're an
attempt to recreate true gudgeon with easier to get sea fish.

Cheerio,

--

In article , Alec Powell
wrote:

to be very popular years ago. Now sadly even the gudgeon is becoming
scarce in some rivers.

I've noticed them come and go - they seem to be very dependant on the nature
of the bottom. There's a stretch near here where dredging more or less got
rid of them and now after some more bottom work, they are becoming common
again. All the while another stretch of the same river has had plenty.

Cheerio,

--

Well thanks for all you comments. Very interesting.

I'm off fishing tomorrow morning. The drains near Ramsey, so hopefully
a few pike, roach, bream will be the catch of the day. And you never
know, maybe even a Gudgen!

Enjoy your fishing.

Russ

Derek.Moody wrote:
In article , Alec Powell
wrote:

to be very popular years ago. Now sadly even the gudgeon is becoming
scarce in some rivers.

I've noticed them come and go - they seem to be very dependant on the nature
of the bottom. There's a stretch near here where dredging more or less got
rid of them and now after some more bottom work, they are becoming common
again. All the while another stretch of the same river has had plenty.

Cheerio,

--

On Sat, 24 Sep 2005, Russ, gave forth these words of wisdom:
I'm off fishing tomorrow morning. The drains near Ramsey, so hopefully
a few pike
Good luck Russ, and if you manage a 3-4 lb. jack then take it home.
Poach it in plain water with a few herbs added to give it a bit of a
flavour and serve it with a Hollandaise sauce. Lovely! Very
underestimated fish is the pike as far as eating is concerned, (although
some Irish and Polish think more highly of them than salmon :-)
Good luck and tight lines!
Alec
--
Alec Powell
Watlington Oxon. UK

In article , Alec Powell
wrote:
On Sat, 24 Sep 2005, Russ, gave forth these words of wisdom:
I'm off fishing tomorrow morning. The drains near Ramsey, so hopefully
a few pike
Good luck Russ, and if you manage a 3-4 lb. jack then take it home.
Poach it in plain water with a few herbs added to give it a bit of a
flavour and serve it with a Hollandaise sauce. Lovely! Very
underestimated fish is the pike as far as eating is concerned, (although
some Irish and Polish think more highly of them than salmon :-)

Imo that's a bit small - still rather soft fleshed and not a lot of flavour.
Roughly 7lb is about right. The problem with pike (and most other coarse
fish) is that they pick up taint from their food - so unless you can get one
that you know has been eating clean-gravel feeders it's often disappointing.

Middle sized trout stream pike are often OK. (And the best size to take to
control the population.) There are a few waters around here where they allow
coarse fishing during the game closed seasons on condition that all pike are
killed. If you actually do kill the big ones you get hundreds of jacks.

Cheerio,

--

After gutting always leave overnight in salt water this removes that muddy
flavour.
John.

In article , John
wrote:
After gutting always leave overnight in salt water this removes that muddy
flavour.

Trouble is it takes away all the other flavour as well :-(

Cheerio,

--

I have beenfishing in the Middle East, Asia and Africa where we used to catch fish to take home and eat!! It is the pleasure of catching the fish plus the pleasure of then cooking and eating them fresh. Much better than the frozen stuff you buy from a fishmonger!! Of course small fish or fish that I do not intend to cook and eat must be released as quickly and as gently as possible.
The culture in the UK seems completely contrary to my perspective and understanding of fishing as I have known it in my 65 years of life, and the whole objective is lost to me!! I may be wrong. However, before I venture out and get myself a rod license and get myself "kitted out" I would like to be sure that, in the process of pursuing one of my hobbies, I break no laws and step on nobody's toes.
In this very interesting thread I have noticed that nobdy seems to know for sure what is and what is not legal!!
I was hoping to be able to go out fishing and bring home a few fish for domestic private consumption!! This could be bream, bass, trout, pike, or eel. I do not like carp as they are too bony!!
Any information and/or guidance in this matter to my email: would be greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by Russ

I am a keen angler and fish throughout the entire year. I'm a big
believer in returning fish as quickly as possible with the minimum
amount of disruption and distress towards the fish. But...
A work college asked if i ever took my catch home to eat, which i
replied absolutely not. He then asked is it against the law, and i
said, well..

So i started to do some research on the subject and i can't find
anything which states you can or can't take fish home to eat. From
rivers that is. The only thing I've found out is that it's illegal to
fish using crayfish as bait, and you can't take fish from private
waters, i.e. poaching.

Maybe there are byelaws for particular areas? Maybe you can take
certain types of fish home, perhaps eels? What about live bait? Can you
fish for say, small roach on rivers and use them in the same area for
live/dead bait? If you can take fish home then what about clubs who
"own" that section of water. Do they have rights to stop people
taking fish home to eat? If anyone can point me in the right direction
then please let me know.

I would like to point out that i'm not advocating or trying to promote
the idea for taking fish home. I'm just curious.

There is no law against eating coarse fish. What you need is for the owner of fishing, which is unlikely to be forthcoming with coarse fisheries management agreement. Of a game to take rough fish fishery manager's attitude may be completely different.