We pleaded not guilty to everything

We pleaded not guilty to everything.” The fine was pounds 125.”After that they went up to pounds 1,000 and it got heavy Three bailiffs were beaten up one night. There would be less poaching if they opened it up twice a year and allowed local people in, but they want it all. If the hotel hasn’t got the paperwork, it can be prosecuted for every salmon.”We poach because landowners and river owners have made the rules to suit themselves They love fishing, so they make it illegal for anyone else. That’s changed now though: today it’s a job to sell them when farmed salmon is pounds 1.25 a pound.”Another recent development is the use of microchips. These are used to track the migrating fish and are invisible. They also allow bailiffs to check for poached salmon: “Now they can ask where every fish comes from. We’d do three runs a week, 80 salmon each time, and were making serious money: it was so good I’d knock off work for three weeks every autumn.

“Like a friend who spotted a huge salmon and used too much dynamite. When he eventually found the fish it was 50 yards away in the middle of a field!”Explosives are easy to get hold of. Most farms have a bit of black powder in an old tin somewhere, or you nick sodium from the factory – that’s good You whack it in a weighted bottle with a hole in the cork. You want it to hold to the bottom.” But it is not without its risks: “Another pal used too much and set the alarms off on a dam The guards had dogs.

They caught him up a tree.”You always sell the fish first: it’s bloody stupid to take the risk without a buyer The biggest I ever had was almost six foot long. Normally it would be daft to catch something that size, but it was too tempting: we sold him to a banquet at a hotel.”In fact, most fish went to hotels. It was seven o’clock next morning before we rounded everyone up! Poor old Ted ran them all the way up the mountain.” He finally lost them in a primary school five miles away.”Salmon make people do funny things,” continues Bob, his eyes scouring the black water. and the fourth, too, if it’s a good year.”Instead he blames improved drainage. This means more pollution from forestry and farms not to mention rapid fluctuations in the water flow: “The eggs are washed out of the gravel before they’ve had a chance to hatch; that or the beds dry out,” he says.”But there are still salmon,” he continues, waving at the fish below. These are fish which hatched in the same stream and have returned to breed, after spending four years at sea: “Last year I counted 60 in daylight; at night you’d triple that, no trouble,” He is warming to his subject: “They start in October, but it depends on the rain. A couple of years back we waited and waited and nothing came.

Then it rained and we were out: the river rose a couple of inches, but it was enough to put fish in the pool and we had 16 that night. According to the bailiffs there were none that year.”Geography is the biggest threat: “The decent streams have just one way in. It’s easy to get cornered – and they can confiscate your car now.” The trick is to use the weather: “You want a good rough night: plenty of rain, plenty of wind – keeps your noise down and everyone else indoors.”One night there were 16 bailiffs and police waiting for us We had a new sergeant in town and he was bit too eager He tried to sneak in on his side lights a minute too soon. If there are bailiffs around, chances are they’re over-keen and grab you before you start.”Many people blame poachers for the drop in salmon, but most of the decline is since we cut back.” He is convinced his activities make no difference to stocks because salmon bed in the same gravel and each digs out the eggs laid before: “All that effort is wasted for the first lot – and the second .. and third … He was so game we pulled out the others and left them to it.”You always leave your gaff hidden by the river,” he continues “Getting there’s the danger.