I don't think it's against the law, but if it's a private fishing area they may have their own rules. I think they care more about maintaining fish stocks and people just don't tend to each freshwater fish. People may eat trout and salmon they catch, but there may be minimum size rules then. I think some fish don't make good eating, but fishing is a very popular hobby. I used to go all the time when I was a kid and the river was nearby. Always put those fish back as that was what people did. Most of our rivers are pretty clean these days, but there are some pollution issues with farms and factories.

I never caught much when sea fishing, but we did eat some mackerel we caught. That time there were loads of them just off the beach and smaller fish were literally jumping out of the waves onto the beach.

!BEER