The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I was planning a mullet fishing trip for next Tuesday, 11 June. I checked the tide and the weather and started sorting out my tackle when it occurred to me that I might not be allowed to fish for them until 16 June. I had planned to fish a tidal river about 2 miles inland. It is not a club water, it is free fishing.

I have just checked the EA website but it is not much help, it just refers to 'rivers'.

Any comments ? When does an estuary become a river ? I have always believed that up to the highest reach of the tide, you can fish freely without a licence and all year round. Is this correct ?

Have a read of this..

http://www.sacn.org.uk/Articles/Do_I_Ne ... cence.html

As I understand it from a web search (I have no personal knowledge), it's the species which you are targeting which decides on whether you need a licence or not.

If you are fishing in an area that could contain both fresh water and sea fish, :-

"Given that for some species, the same tackle and baits will catch both freshwater and saltwater fish, particularly when fishing for bass and mullet in a tidal river, it might be advisable to carry a freshwater licence and, when fishing during the coarse fishing close season for rivers, be prepared to show evidence that you are fishing for saltwater species (such as membership of the National mullet Club or BASS)"

http://www.sacn.org.uk/Articles/Do_I_Ne ... cence.html

OOPS ! Snap !!!

Thanks guys. It appears that it is up to the EA baliff as to whether I am committing an offence !

I think my best option, if challenged, would be to converse in Hungarian :-)

I asked this question of EA some time back. I live by a tidal section of the Tamar (Salmon and Trout - no coarse fish). However, the tidal section does contain some eels, as well as the usual mullet, flounders etc. The lady I spoke to at EA gave this answer. If you are fishing the tidal portion of the river, you do not require a license, unless you are fishing for migratory trout and salmon. So it would be possible to fish for the eels and normal sea species without an EA license. However, if challenged, it would be difficult to prove what you were fishing for. For example, using a worm for eels may be construed as fishing for salmon. I would imagine using bread for mullet or rag/lugworm would be fine, as these are not accepted tactics for sea trout and salmon. Not very satisfactory and open to dispute and interpretation.

We've had the same question on Christchurch Harbour where the fishery owners Sembcorp and the club that can fish it Ringwood DAA (also day ticket) now allow fishing with bread (non legal bait in rivers in close season) for sea fish (mullet) during the close season below a certain point in the harbour (not the rivers part). At this point and below for a fair way there are dace, roach, bream and perch, possibly odd carp depending on flows/tides. I've decided to wait until the 16th as I seem to catch mainly dace and roach! I have fished down there with ragworm which solved the problem.

We have checked with the EA and their advice is that if someone starts catching coarse fish regularly then they should either cease fishing or move seawards, certainly not stand there pulling out roach for several hours with no sign of catching mullet.

Legally you need a freshwater licence for freshwater eels and the close season applies to them but the line they seem to take is to not pursue sea anglers on these points.

I'm not bothered about the licence issue because I have one ! I have decided to postpone my trip until after 16 June to avoid any confrontation. The advice from EA is not very helpful. Thanks for the information everyone.