now then mr baillif or should i say E/A fsheries inspector officer,which is the correct term used these days,
when were talking poaching are we onabout ilegal salmon netting in the river,snatching (delibrately foul hooking fish ie salmonoids) sometimes refered to as strokhauling,license dodging or fishing private fisheries with out consent of the owner or who ever leases the water?
firstly i see a dramatic drop on ilegal salmon fishing (snatching delibrately foul hooking fish for the market) thats on the river wear since Durham council have restricted fishing on framwelgate waterside (snatchers row) as for netting thats to as also dropped both in the wear estuary and none tidal parts of the river however gaffing/forking the redds for salmon eggs seems to be still rife in upper weardale.
the problems have only just begun on the tees esp below the barrage,the only thing the tees has going for it at the minute with regards to santching in the tide way is that the majority of people who are doing it are very new to the game and dont really have the know how,now to all you anglers out there who think yer just cast a line with a great big treble hook and get millions of salmon it aint like that as im sure the bailif will verify,firstly useing a fixed spool reel setup as opposed to a salmon fly rod (doublehander) or in slang terms big rod or wing wham rod! only a idiot would use anything bigger than say a 1/0 hook size after that it takes some skill to penertrate into the fishes flesh,but from what ive seen of the newcomers to the tees who practise the art if you like of snatching the tees salmon dont have a lot to worry about,the seal population poses more of a threat,now the ones who use big salmon fly rods with heavey sinking line aint exactly what you would call skilled,unlike some of the legendary names who fished the yorkshire esk or river wear at durham and lesser extent the tyne(s) from what i seen of the ones who use fly rods they are useing flimsy type salmon rods with no backbone if yer like,the most dreadfull hooks,cheap and nasty,theey are under equiped when it comes to nylon leaders useing say only 15lb seems a lot to the course angler or even to the speciman angler but really in salmon fishing terms it still quite light for down the barrge 25lb is whats the norm,as for the line well its more suited to resevoir fishing than salmon fishing im not going to reveal on this website what type of line(s) to use nor how to actually take a fish a cast with both fixed spool methods or fly rod techniques.
the other half who do fish down there who do know what they are doing do it half decreatly i say half as they is over 50 cameras down the barrage,they could if they wanted take a fish a cast,i know of one person who when the barrge first opened 2nd year caught a fish every time the line hit the water for 4 months before they twigged on what he was doing takeing sometimes up to 15 fish per run,fish that come off the tide not residents,when he did fish for the residents the ones that lye up below the barrage between the old river and the pillings he chose his fish,fish to order so to speak would only take what he could sell usually fish between 7-14 lb good sellers anything bigger is usually for wedding etc... or to smoke,once or twice he had a few fish well over the 25lb mark and lost a fish of a life time after 30 years of being bang at it,etimation 40lb+....but poachers like him a true rareity the others wo know the crack arent people who are unemployed but people from all walks of life from drug dealers/importers firemen,people who do normal everyday jobs as well as people who have extremly well paid jobs,yes the unemployed do it to but im makeing everyone aware that its not just for money why people do it,but its starting to die out in the north east,reason its harder these days to sell wild salmon esp ilegally caught ones.
now if yer on about license dodgers well all i can say is buy a license simples
if yer onabout people who fish private fisheries with out being a member or consent is given heres a interesting read for any one to have a look at.
http://www.pacgb.co.uk/pdfs/Mark%20Leathwood%20Article.pdfAbailif send me a PM if yer work for the E/A you will know me thats for sure........
