IT took a heart attack to make Bridport poacher Jimmy Gay take stock of his life.

In his no-holes-barred book HO HO HO a poaching we will go he was signing at The Book Shop in South Street at 10am on Saturday March 11 Mr Gay revealed his and fellow Bridport poachers' secrets.

Mr Gay didn't start off life as a criminal. He was a butcher but he wanted a better life for himself and his family and took to salmon poaching.

He said: "I have written the book because I came so close to my maker with a heart attack that it made me think a bit more about the past and the journey that I have been on. In fact it would be a legacy for my children and grand children for my memory to go on.

"I started off as a butcher, however the income from this could not provide my family with the lifestyle I would have liked to have provided them with.

"So with this being said my search for the lifestyle lead me to salmon poaching professionally and to provide for my family.

"I operated throughout the South West of England. The reason why I stopped was for health reasons and would not recommend it to future generations because it is a hard life and not for the faint hearted."

It was a hard life, he said, and he's been caught fined and jailed several times.

"I have been caught and the consequences have been fines and two jail sentences."

it has taken Mr Gay five or years to write since he came up with the idea to write about his life on the wrong side of the law.

He added: "It was only really completed into book form with help from Creed Printers who went up and beyond with their help.

"The book in essence is highlighting the antics of myself and other Bridport salmon poachers."

Mr Gay has decided a £1 from each copy will go Young Epilepsy.

The book will also be for sale in West Bay angling centre and Allington stores.