A lot of people are fishing without a licence but then there are those who are using illegal set lines, which is a cruel way of catching pike which they then take home to eat.

Set line has hooks on the end and usually a small fish is used as bait, which are left out along the river for long periods until the poacher returns.

Mr Anderson said: "To use these lines is illegal. They target fish such as pike and they take them home to eat them.

"The pike takes the fish on the wire line and they end up with the hook in their stomach - it's a cruel way to fish.

"I found one line in a fish in Stapenhill Gardens and it had obviously been there a long time as the wound from the hock had healed.