licences & seasons

I see someone mentioned the need for a licence for sea trout in one of the earlier posts . I've been getting conflicting advice from various sources , including tackle dealers . Feel a potentially expensive mistake coming on !
As I understand it you don't need one for fishing into open sea but do if in estaury ( where does one end and other begin ?).
You'd always need one if after sea trout in river , but don't need one for brownies . The baliff would know which species you were really after by the type of bait/rig you're using . I can't believe that ! More likely must have licence if there are any game fish in that water .
Same problem re: season for brownies . Some say there is , others not .
Good practice would obviously say leave alone when spawning but what about the law ?
Don't mind getting broken off but don't want to get banged up .

Hi Blowin

I routinely catch sea trout on lugworm legered for flatfish, it is far more common in the NW than you might imagine. :D Best to get a licence off the NWRFB for around 30 EURO and then it does not matter where you are fishing you are legal... within the NW area. A national licence is a bit more but worth it if you are travelling around a bit. In terms of seasons each local water has its own season, with some rivers opening on 1st Jan for salmon and sea trout, some three months later. Same goes for brown trout. Lakes are licence free for brown trout but rivers are not. If it doubt give the fisheries board in the area a call and they should be able to tell you - I have had plain bad advice from some tackle dealers (along with some excellent advice)... it tends to get better as they get to know you!

HTH

Hi Kieran , many thanks for reply .
Your comment about the lug was interesting . Of the 4 sea trout a mate caught recently using mackerell or sandeel , 3 had very little of anything in their stomachs . The 4th was stuffed with lug .
Nick

Are you sure about your comment Re. licenses for river fishing for trout?

Not all rivers need a licence for brownies, for instance the Corrib system requires no licence for them while other rivers in the Galway area do. Always check locally to avoid confusion.

Ah ! But that's the trouble . I have been asking locally as well as on websites and I've been getting conflicting answers .
I guess the only one is to fork out for the national licence . Then there's the question of where club/restricted fishing begins/ends !
In fairness to all , the info on this site has been v informative ( many thanks ) and the fisheries board sent loads of maps by return. Perhaps you're right - go where-ever the locals say you can . With a couple of exceptions .

Sorry guys , me again .
First let me say that the mate who inspected the stomach contents of 4 sea trout caught them over a period of 4 days .
I'm still confused but beginning not to care . Think I'll just do my own thing and say nowt . Check out http://www.cfb.ie ( Central Fisheries Board ) if you haven't already done so . A couple of extracts :
In Ireland you do not need a licence to fish for trout, coarse species or in the sea. However, if you intend to fish for salmon or seatrout you must have a State Salmon and Sea Trout Fishing Licence. It should be noted that a licence does not confer the right to fish for salmon or sea trout and that permission or permits are required to fish most waters.
Bag Limits
· 1st January to 31st May: 1 salmon or 1 sea trout (sea trout over 40cm in length) per angler per day
· 1st June to31st August: 3 fish per day.
· All salmon (and sea trout over 40cm) kept must be tagged, and the logbook filled out accordingly.
Goes on to say Penalty for failure etc = confiscate gear + heavy fine. So now I'm going back to where I started : local fisheries officer / tackle shop / man in t'pub . Maybe UK . ( no , not that . Never )
Good Luck . nick/

You will find that the fishing rights on a lot of rivers are club owned and run, so regardless what species of trout you fish for a licence will be needed for these rivers, take the Liffey for instance and you will see the notices on different parts of the river with the info of which club has the rights and where to get the licence.

Good luck but you run the risks of confiscation.

Many thanks for your concern . Just thought I'd let you know I bought the licence ( Big Brother please note ) .
Based on my current form I'll be using the tags as tree-ties at the end of the season . Sorry - nearly forgot - can't do that as the law requires you to return them !
Seriously though - thanks to all for the input on this and for the tips you've offered in other bulletins . I'm looking forward to bringing a decent sized , legal , fishy back for the missus . With any luck she'll insist I go catch some more . Try it ( your missus , not mine )!
Cheers .
Nick

Don't forget as well you need to send the license back to the Fisheries Board within seven days of the end of the season. I didn't last year and had to pay a 65 euro fine for my troubles!

WITHOUT PREJUDICE
S**t ! You serious about that Viper ? I was only being flippant .
So here was me feeling morally superior but suddenly I'm a criminal . Still got last year's ( complete with all the feckin tags in the absence of any fish ) neatly filed away somewhere . I can't remember to send the wife a card within 7 days of her birthday let alone return out of date documents to anyone. ( Mind you , oversight re: the card cost me more than 65 Euro ) .
I've just typed then deleted 25 lines of abuse about the system but I'll leave the "without prejudice" up there just in case .
I sent the whole lot back anyway , recorded post , one day before the season ended . Honest , Guv .
It's not quite midnight yet but I've just realised what day it is tomorrow. I seriously hope the next big fecker you get pulls you in .
Nice one ! nick

Viper that's hellish, i've just set myself a reminder for the end of sept, i've had chase up letters for the last 2 seasons, did'nt realise they went so far,

So you guys ( Viper & SeanP ) really AREN'T joking then ?

Wish I was!
Funny though how I got a big letter about it from the Fisheries Board yet ye guys seemed to get away with it!

Not a great fan of any sort of licence (dog, TV, what's all that about....) I utterly fail to see what a licence to fish sea trout is about.

For example, what do the licence fees pay for, apart from salaries for a shedload of boffins from the CFB?

I have never seen so few sea trout about than at the present. I wonder if the exploding seal population has anything to do with this? Or the complete lack of any action on river polution as far as I can see? Are the licence fees and fines actually doing anything to help? Doubt it like hell. Certainly no visible results....

As regards the statement about where the estuary ends and where the sea begins, I have a simple test. If the baliff will drink a pint of what I'm standing in when he grabs my collar, it's fresh water. If he can't, it's the sea. It's as good a definition as any.

The danger I see particularly in consenting to a sea trout licence is that how far do you have to stretch the justification for particular species and locations before the government says that a licence for any sort of angling anywhere is mandatory - while busily handing out the few fish we have left to our european partners (who are a bunch of bloody fish-paedophiles to boot.....)

I reckon sea-lice is the problem with sea trout... of the 30 or so I caught last year at least 30% of them were covered with lice to the point that the fish have complete patches of skin stripped of them... I presume this is as a result of the amount of salmon farms around the coast and the increase in water temperatures in the past few years...
As for salmon licences, I have to say I am in agreement with them as they reduce the number of anglers fishing for for this resourse at peak times of the season, and also because the money seems to be quite well invested, at least in the West of Ireland anyways...

Just to answer your question about where the money goes from the licences. It goes back into the local fisheries in the area. The regional fisheries boad, in Limerick anyhow, are doing a great job in restoring the rivers back to their former glory and keeping them that way. Some rivers are having some fine fish caught in them.
I know having to pay for a licence is a pain in the ass but when you see what the money is used for I personally have no problem in paying it.
As for why there are no sea-trout around, just have a look in any port, the trawlers are taking the most of them along with with many other species.
Just my 2 cent worth and no I don't work the Fisheries.

Embarrased to admit it but I have worked on a few commercial boats in the past. And never seen a sea trout caught in a trawl - at least not your average whitefish trawl, whatever about the mackeral and herring trawlers.

I have heard of big sea trout (in the 20 odd pound range) caught in salmon drift nets - but these are very rare occurences. A better bet would be pollution, increasing levels of sea-lice - probably to do with farmed fish and water temperature increase as mentioned previously
and the amount of seals haunting the estuaries.

My money is on the seals...although there has also been a drastic decrease in the numbers of sandeel over the last decade or so as well.
Don't know how much of an impact this may have had, but I doubt it helped.

Has anyone actually seen a commercial boat catch more than one sea trout at a time?

Lads
I DO work in a fisheries board and here's the deal - as far as I'm aware you do need a licence for sea trout regardless of where you're fishing - if you don't have a licence you would have to return any sea trout caught alive. (You have to return any sea trout caught anywhere in the Western Region down in Galway anyway)
Re the 65 euro fine - that was introduced in legislation a couple of years ago but the fisheries boards decided to implement it gradually in order to encourage anglers to return their logbooks. As it is, less than 50% of anglers comply with this, whereas 100% of commercial fishermen comply. So we get comprehensive catch returns (no matter how inaccurate) from driftnetters but useless info from anglers. If anglers all returned their logbooks it would weaken the argument of commercial men who point the finger at anglers for not complying with the law. :o
And yes, I do think driftnetting should be completely stopped. Most people in the fisheries boards agree and its just the government who won't do anything about it - Pat the d**e Gallagher :twisted: refuses to comtemplate any buyout.
As for sea trout decline, the Western region has suffered most - not from trawlers, its from sea lice infestation caused by intensive salmon farming. Another thing the govt is burying its head in the sand and ignoring. There are regulations that say how many lice per fish is allowed on salmon farms - in Norway farms tha dont comply are closed down. Here they are given more govt funding.... 'nuff said :roll:
Basically, we in RFBs and CFB are doing our best but hands are tied by govt - we rely on licence revenue to fund a lot of the protecttion work we do, and improving fish stocks and water quality for anglers is our number 1 aim. Sure most of us are anglers ourselves! :)

Salmo trutta, Welcome to the forums. 8)

It's nice to see a boffin or two in here. Are you going to stick around and join in the fun?


I realise it's not in your area, but perhaps you would comment on this thread: http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... php?t=3457 :?: