there's a few little streams and a couple of lakes near me that I (and other fisherman) don't know who owns the fishing rights. One is a tiny stream that you used to get the permit from the village shop, but the current owners know nothing about it. One of the lakes is a good for wild trout and a few people seem to fish it without permits.

I'm tempted to just fish them, but I guess this is dodgy practice. I wouldn't want to keep any of the fish, not sure if this makes it less dodgy. What would you guys do?

I suppose you could ask the local council, or the water board

As long as you have tried to find out who owns it and have the money ready to pay i cant see a problem with just fishing it.

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[B][COLOR="Black"]"Bang Tidy"
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This old chestnut again.......

Contrary to the post above, if you 'just fish it' without knowing who owns it or without permission then I'm afraid your poaching, whether you have money in your pocket or not.

It only becomes poaching if you are on private land and actually take fish. If there are no signs to this effect, fish away.
If it is a day ticket, club or syndicate water, you will soon find out once you fish it.

That all rather depends on how you define poaching though, doesn't it? Does poaching even have a legal definition, I wonder? I suspect not and it's probably one of those words which different people use to mean slightly different things.

yeah it does "in pursuit of game"

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

So would that mean that you couldn't poach coarse fish?

More to the point, who would want to??

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Please look at and sign this e-petition. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/13978

Almost everyone born west of Berlin, if the angling press are to be believed. Actually, perch are meant to be delicious, aren't they? And gudgeon too.