Ten men from Kent have been fined more than £2,200 between them for fishing without a licence. An eleventh man was also prosecuted. One of the group was convicted of fishing in the restricted close season as well.

Most offences took place in Kent, with one in Oxfordshire.

Anyone aged 13 or over needs a licence to fish for salmon, trout, eels or freshwater species, with the price as little as £6.60 for a day, but the fines and costs were mostly above £400.

It was no joke last April Fool’s Day when enforcement officers from the Environment Agency caught Jayme [correct] Randall and Miles Minall, both fined £220. Randall, 27, of Tilghman Way, Snodland, was challenged at Claygate Lakes in Paddock Wood. Minall, 36, from Aspdin Road, Northfleet, was fishing illegally at Monk Lakes in Maidstone.

A couple more anglers were found fishing illegally 100 miles apart on the May Day weekend and also got a £220 fine – Tony Simpson, 40, of Oakdene Road, Orpington, was caught at Linear Fisheries, near Witney, in Oxfordshire. Harry Hawkins, 20, from The Green, in Bearsted, was spoken to by an Environment Agency officer at Hothfield Lakes, near Ashford.

All 4 men each had to pay costs of £135 and an £88 victim surcharge.

A few days later, 2 illegal Herne Bay anglers were stopped. A £108 fine was later given to 38-year-old Will Glover, of Fleetwood Avenue, after he didn’t buy a fishing licence when at Longshaw Fisheries, near Canterbury. Ben Barratt, of Central Parade, was fined £220 after fishing illegally at Horsmonden Lakes, near Tunbridge Wells.

A court ordered Glover and Barratt to pay £65 and £135 respectively in costs. Glover was given a victim surcharge of £43, and Barratt one of £88.

Kye Jerrom, a senior enforcement officer with the Environment Agency, said:

Fishing licences are great value and much cheaper than fines. We raise tens of millions of pounds every year to stock waters with fish, and improve rivers and fisheries for anglers and the wider environment. It’s quick, easy and cheap to get a licence by phone and online. Search ‘fishing licence’ on gov.uk.

Our fisheries enforcement officers carry out regular checks on private lakes, rivers, ponds and canals – anywhere that can be fished. Information on suspected illegal fishing can be called into our incident hotline: 0800 80 70 60.

Back on the banks, officers caught 33-year-old Luke Firth, of Top Dartford Road, Swanley, in May. He was fined £220 for not having a licence to fish at Orchard Place Farm in Paddock Wood. Abraham Hilden, 22, of St Barnabus Close in Ashford, couldn’t escape his own £220 fine for casting his rod unlicensed at Hothfield. Costs of £135 each were ordered against both men, as was an £88 victim surcharge.    

If 52-year-old Gheorge [correct] Neculcea, of Church Street in Maidstone, had waited 2 weeks in June to buy a coarse fishing licence for the town’s River Len, he would have avoided a £292 fine.

From 15 March to 15 June every year, angling is prohibited on rivers, streams, drains and some canals and stillwaters for coarse fish and eels.

Ryan Churchill, 26, of Coniston Close, Bexleyheath, failed to get a licence to fish at Horsmonden, for which he was fined £310. Costs of £65 each were awarded against Neculcea and Churchill. Neculcea’s victim surcharge was £116, while Churchill had to pay £124.

Richard Higgins was given a 28-day conditional discharge for unlawful fishing at Tricklebrook Fishery in Paddock Wood. The 60-year-old, of Rochester Road, Gravesend, was told he could be sentenced again for this offence if he broke the law in that time. He paid £135 in costs, and a £26 victim surcharge.

In 2021/22, anglers fishing legally created almost £22m in licence fees, reinvested by the Environment Agency into angling and supported activities like stocking rivers with fish, responding to fisheries incidents and giving advice to clubs.

The 11 men were all charged with fishing without a licence under section 27 (1) (a) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975. Neculcea was also charged with fishing for freshwater fish in a river in the close season, which runs between 15 March and 15 June inclusive, under a bylaw of the Water Resources Act 1991.

Glover and Neculcea pleaded guilty at Hastings magistrates’ court on 29 September. Firth, Hawkins, Hilden and Randall were sentenced in absentia on the same date by the same court.

Also at Hastings, on 6 November, Churchill admitted his offence, but Barratt, Minall and Simpson were sentenced in absentia. Higgins failed to enter a plea before Folkestone magistrates on 20 October this year.  

The 10 anglers fined were given penalties in total of £2,250, while all 11 men had to pay overall costs of £1,275, and an extra £925 in victim surcharges, ensuring that offenders hold some responsibility towards the cost of supporting victims and witnesses.

All rod licence income is used to fund work to protect and improve fish stocks and fisheries. You can buy your rod licence online: https://www.gov.uk/fishing-licences/buy-a-fishing-licence.

Name, age, address, fine, costs, victim surcharge:

Jayme [correct] Randall, 27, of Tilghman Way, Snodland; £220; £135; £88

Miles Minall, 36, of Aspdin Road, Northfleet; £220; £135; £88

Tony Simpson, 40, of Oakdene Road, Orpington; £220; £135; £88

Harry Hawkins, 20, of The Green, Bearsted; £220; £135; £88

Will Glover, 38, of Fleetwood Avenue, Herne Bay; £108; £65; £43

Ben Barratt, 37, of Central Parade, Herne Bay; £220; £135; £88

Luke Firth, 33, of Top Dartford Road, Swanley; £220; £135; £88

Abraham Hilden, 22, of St Barnabus Close, Ashford; £220; £135; £88

Gheorge [correct] Neculcea, 52, of Church Street, Maidstone; £292; £65; £116

Ryan Churchill, 26, of Coniston Close, Bexleyheath; £310; £65; £124 

Richard Higgins, 60, of Rochester Road, Gravesend; 28-day conditional discharge; £135; £26