From the ATr Facebook page:
“I hear that Bob James appeared in court today and pleaded guilty to fishing in the Close Season and received £200 fine, £150 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
My own view is that whilst I’m pleased that the EA enforced the laws and rules that the rest of us ‘mere mortals’ are happy to abide by, the fines themselves are a bit derisory particularly when James was seeking to clearly catch fish for money for his magazine feature.
So what happened to that nonsense about ‘shad fishing with pellets’ that was trotted out by way of an excuse. Had a feeling that fairy tale would never make it into court!
Personally I would have liked to have seen James lose his fishing licence for five years. Now that really would be a deterrent and would reduce the likelihood of us seeing him on the riverbank!”
Martin posed the question to FishingMagic: “Should anglers lose their right to fish after breaking the law, as in motoring?” Discuss…
