Futher to the rejection by the the Andalucian department of the environment of my application for a fishing licence (freshwater fishing, trout included), I approached the market trading “John” who has a shop in Torre and trades at the Sunday ex-pat market in Nerja. He had sold me a (quite a good) carbon fibre fly casting rod the pevious week.
Me Hi, you sold me a fishing rod last week
Him Did I?
Me Yes, it was a fly rod. A very good one!
Him Oh. Yeah, I remember now. Alright is it?
Me Yes its great. Its just that, when we talked last week you said you went fishing on lake Vinuela.
Him Did I?
Me Yes. Have you got a licence?
He doesn’t say anything
Me Only I’ve been trying to get a licence. Its really difficult.
Him (Pause) No I haven’t got a licence
Me I have to enrol on a course, take an exam, wait 40 days while they mark it, take out personal liability insurance and then I might get a number so I can buy a permit at a bank.
Him (looking tired) How long have you lived in Spain?
Me Four years
Him Well if you’ve lived in Spain for four years you ought to know that the Spanish have got their heads up their bloody arseholes. I know a lot of people who fish Vinuela. A lot. And not one of them’s got a licence. Whose gonna police it? The lake’s huge. I mean I wouldn’t mind paying something . . a couple of quid, but this lot are taking the piss . .
Two people are browsing “John’s” knocked off DVD collection
He I’ve got a fishing licence
She Yes, we went to the British Embassy in Malaga. They wrote us a letter, soon sorted them out
He You have to pay them mind. You show them your UK licence and they give you a letter saying it’s a proper licence. Because they can’t read it see?
Village life in Andalucia 
Great post, depends where you are in Spain they are either hot on the case or don’t care about licenses – best to get one though, just in case.
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By: catalonia blog on November 11, 2009
at 1:40 pm
That’s right, the fines are huge! These weird regulations only apply in Andalucia where hunting and fishing regs are the same – so they see no difference between a shotgun for boar and a rod and line for trout
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By: puebloman on November 11, 2009
at 5:50 pm
Spain is THIRD WORLD. They cannot even sort out a fucking fishing license scheme. They have ruined their country with stupid laws and zero help.
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By: Tom on April 29, 2011
at 6:00 pm
Yes Tom. Its true that there are too many laws in Spain, many of them stupid, particularly the Andalucian laws that don’t distinguish between float fishing and hunting wild boar. On top of that there is little or no attempt to enforce them. Thus law in Spain is held in contempt by many of its citizens.
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By: puebloman on May 8, 2011
at 11:48 pm