A court has fined ten anglers almost £2,000 between them for fishing without a licence.
Offenders included a teenager from Southampton and 2 men who travelled from the East Midlands to the south coast to cast their rods, but were still caught. Others came from Greater London and Oxford.
All ten were reported to court by enforcement officers from the Environment Agency on the Rivers Itchen and Test and two other local spots between May and August last year.
The first 4 men were caught at the same stretch of the Itchen in Winchester in May.
Hajri Karoshi, of Yeftly Drive, in Oxford, pleaded guilty to 2 offences. The 53-year-old was fined £105 for fishing without a licence and doing so during the annual close season, which restricts fishing between March and June.
Likewise, Astrit Veshi and Andon Xhika, also from Oxford, fished the same part of the Itchen with no licence and when restrictions applied. Veshi, 49, of Rivermead Road, was found guilty and fined £220 for each offence.
Xhika, 36, of Cranmer Road, received £90 fines for each charge. The Angling Trust helped the Environment Agency bring all 3 men to court, where they were each told to pay £135 in costs.
Neculai Mocanu, of Hounslow Road, in Feltham, pleaded guilty to fishing in the close season. He was fined £40, with another £135 to pay in costs.
Mocanu was caught by an Environment Agency officer a week after the other 3, as was Petro Petrascu, of New Chapel Square, also in Feltham. The 47-year-old admitted fishing illegally and fined £330, paying £135 in costs.
Further down the Itchen at Eastleigh, 19-year-old Joshua Cooper, of Warren Avenue, in Southampton, was found guilty of fishing without a licence at the end of May. His fine was £220. He also had to pay costs of £135.
James Allan, an enforcement officer for the Environment Agency, said:
We will always prosecute those we find cheating the system. Money raised from fishing licences protects and improves fish stocks and fisheries, benefitting anglers.
These fishermen disregarded signs at the fisheries that said an Environment Agency rod licence was needed to fish.
Licences exist to protect fish stocks and their habitats. Fishing without one could lead to prosecution and a fine of up to £2,500.
Back on the river, William Manning, 27, of Sleaford Road, Beckingham, in Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty having no licence to fish on the Test at Nursling in Southampton in June. He was fined £95. Costs against him were £135.
On the same summers day, Patrick Taylor was also caught fishing on the Test at Totton. The 25-year-old, of Harlaxton Road, Grantham, in Lincolnshire, was fined £220. There was £135 in costs to pay, too.
Namesake Adam Taylor didn't have a licence either at a Fareham fishery the following month. The 27-year-old, of London Road, Ashford, in Middlesex, was fined £220. His bill for costs was £135.
Oakley Bedford admitted fishing illegally as well. The 23-year-old, from Beaufort Road, in Havant, was given a fine of £128 after he went to a local lake in August last year. Bedford was also made to pay costs of £135.
At a hearing in Swindon on 8 January, magistrates also ruled the men should pay a combined £792 in victim surcharges, ensuring that offenders hold some responsibility towards the cost of supporting victims and witnesses.
Licences are free for 13-16-year-olds to fish for salmon, trout, eels or freshwater species. Older anglers can get a one-day licence starting at £6.60. The income helps protect and improve rivers, fisheries and fish numbers.
From 15 March to 15 June every year, angling is prohibited on rivers, streams, drains, some canals and still waters for coarse fish and eels.
The Environment Agency carries out enforcement work all year round, supported by the police, the Angling Trust and fishing clubs. Anyone who suspects illegal fishing can contact the Environment Agency's 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Most of the men were charged with either breaching the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 or the Water Resources Act 1991. Karoshi, Veshi and Xhika were charged under both acts.
Fishing licences can be bought through www.gov.uk/get-a-fishing-licence or by calling the Environment Agency on 0344 800 5386.
