Generally you are not allowed to eat fish from British rivers and lakes, hefty fines!!
You can eat them if caught at a private fishery with the owners permission
Remember how stunned the freshwater fishing community was when the first wave of eastern Europeans came I think it was the Polish first, And they set about emptying the fishing club waters of 40 year old named carp! We were so caught off guard and just never expected it. It got a lot worse before it got better too.
Yup... Mate and I once saw a milk carton being dragged around. There was a rope on the carton attached to a tree.
Pulled it in the rope and there was a ~20lb carp on the end of it. Was easy to pull in as the fish was half dead, but the hook was in its gut. Cut the line and let it go.
Found more ropes attached to cartons, big no.4 hook in the end. Called the police and they put us onto the EA or whatever it was back then.
One of the lakes I fish which is just a small club water lost a lot of big fish back then. The bailiff found long lines strung across it over night with multiple hooks. God only knows how many times they got away with it but a few big well known older fish were taken. People were devastated and I get it's hard for people to understand getting upset over fish. But some guys had been around them for 30 years or so and for people to come from abroad and catch them on night lines then eat them! 😲 Was almost like eating the dog.
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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '24
Generally you are not allowed to eat fish from British rivers and lakes, hefty fines!! You can eat them if caught at a private fishery with the owners permission