Your maximum you would pay for fishing

[wilbert]

There is such a wide variation in the cost of a days salmon fishing going from £5 to over a grand and just because you can pay more for a day it doesn't have any guarantees that you will catch any or more fish than on a cheaper beat. The most i have paid for a single day is £75 but when I worked out the cost per day of a week long fishing trip I just about sh*t myself. So whats everyone else's views and where are your cut off points for when fishing goes from reasonable to just too expensive.

[tyneandrew]

Some one has to say it, so looks like i'll be the first - It depends how much money you have and what you can afford to gamble with.

Personally i think £100 is about my limit (although i don't pay that much v often!), and i would want it to be a fairly safe bet on actually being able to fish with a good prospect of a fish. Tay, Dee or Spey would be my choices i think. Big rivers that you rarely get flooded off or have no water and are unfishable.

If i was earning more than i do now and salmon fishing is still my favourate past time then i would certainly pay a little more. I think there comes a time though when there is something morally incorrect when you exceed £250 perhaps. And that is exactly what Bob Harrison said to me on the Tweed. The most he has heard of for a day was on Upper Floors for nearly £1200 sold at auction - crazy.

[elwyman]

Just voted £100 - £300 because I've paid £130/day to fish Upper Caberston this year, in early November. Prior to that, the most I've paid is £75.

In my experience, you get what you pay for with salmon fishing. The higher the cost, the better the beat and, subject to water levels, there are more fish in the river. Having said that, you can pay £30 -£50 on lesser rivers and have great sport, if you catch it right.

If I was a Premiership footballer, I suppose £1000/day would be small change!

[stoater]

...and the rest! Most Tweed beats in a rough 8m downstream- 8m upstream area around Kelso all charge the daily equivalent of 4-900 quid a day, although often it's tied in with accomodation costs etc., so it sounds less.
Yes, there is a good chance of having a fantastic and and memorable days' fishing on these hallowed waters, but there's also a chance of a fantastic disappointment! Usually you have to cough up for a full week, up to 10 months in advance. By the time it comes round you may be less sensitised to the prospect of iffy conditions, so that helps. In reality a good autumn day on a good beat may, just may, give you say 8 "chances" and 4 Salmon landed.
By using a little homework and effort in the planning dept., you can find days with similar opportunities and prospects, on the same River, for less than £100 a day.
Now £100 is a lot to pay for a day, and that would be my limit. If I was richer, maybe a bit more, but it is nice when I have a really good day, on a really good River, for say £50.
Thankfully I still seem to find those days, or maybe I'm just lucky

[elwyman]

springer said:

My niece has been dating a premiership footballer for over a year now. He is a first team choice for a local team and played in the UEFA cup final last year. 18yr old just signed 4yr deal £20,000 a week plus sponsorship deals.

He thinks fish are slimey and cant see the point.............. B**locks

Guess I'll have to stick to the real world.

Sounds like your niece is dating a smoggie - are you still speaking to her? ;D

I think there is a category missing from the poll. I'm sure there must be a few canny scotsmen who pay £0 for their salmon fishing!

[Fruin]

I voted small because that is what I can usually afford. I'm not pleading poverty, but I do have a young family and a large mortgage.
I would love to spend a lot of money on fishing, and I have to agree with tyneandrew; if I did it would be on a larger river like the Tay, Spey or Dee, where fish will run in low water, and, poor conditions do not mean no chance of a fish.
However, really good beats have to be booked well in advance and, unless you have a good contact for short notice booking, or money to burn, it is a gambling man's game to book far in advance.
I would rather have the option of fishing a poorer beat, in good conditions, than taking a gamble on an expensive beat with no idea of whether conditions will be suitable. This is why I like association water; you can always pick the best time for tides and conditions.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to fish Park, Islamouth or Tulchan every week, but I don't have that kind of disposable income. I would rather fish at every good opportunity on average or poor water, than once or twice a year on exceptional beats.
My view is that the Tweed is over-priced, due to the fact that it is easily accessible to a wide area. Good fishing can be had on the Tay for a reasonable sum. The Spey is a river that I would love to fish more often, but it's just a bit too pricey and exclusive at prime time. The Esks are too dear, given their dependancy on conditions. Many of the other rivers have very good fishing at very reasonable prices, but being spate rivers, if you are not local you need somebody to give you the nod the day before.
I do pay higher prices, that will never be disclosed to my wife, for fishing. This is usually when a crowd of friends that I like to fish with decide to book a beat for a days fishing. On these occasions, a good day is had due to the company, even if the fishing ends up below average.

[wilbert]

Even if money was no problem and I had more than I knew what to do with (highly unlikely) I still know the value of a pound and couldn't bring my self to pay well over the odds for a days fishing. Each to their own and if someone is happy to spend top money on their fishing I am ok with that.

[hadrian]

couldnt agree more,i hadnt seen this post until late tonight but was driving in traffic today thinking about my golf game,where i could improve it etc.it got me thinking about distance off the tee.i know the titleist pro v 1 ball out drives most other balls by 10-15 yards or so.the balls are £3 each x12 or 15 per box £36-£45,i can afford to use them all year round,i earn good money,but i just think its an obscene amount of money for what they are and cant bring myself to buy them and wont buy them.like most things these days it comes down to image more than performance,joe bloggs at the golf club can barely get a ball off the ground,but the ball he wants people to see not getting off the ground must be a pro v 1.i think its like that with most things these days and salmon fishing is no different.
my n.u.f.c. season ticket is £929 thats approx £45 per 90mins, a game of golf £25-£50 for 3-5 hours,a night on the town in newcastle £50-£75,i would say no more than £150 per day to fish a good beat would be my tops,not because i cant afford any more but because i dont like being taken for a mug.

the most important thing for me is enjoying the surroundings and enjoying my fishing,this doesnt necessarily mean catching a fish.

hadrian.

[jan]

the amount of time that i can spend salmon fishing is the biggest influence personally - if i am lucky i can 'escape' to the mainland two or three times a year for a couple or three days, and so i want to know that i am on good water with a reasonable chance when those opportunities come along - because of that i am willing to pay a little more than i would if i could salmon fish regularly if it gets me a day or two on some real quality water - i am sure that if i lived in Scotland and could fish for salmon more often i would have to cut my cloth accordingly and fish lesser beats or more unreliable times of year, but for now i will pay up to £150 for a day on a good beat at prime time.

Salmon fishing on a good beat is similar in cost to guided salt water fishing - in central america you usually pay around $300-$350 a day for fishing - in the USA its nearer $500 a day - however in most places if you want to get to the flats and fish them its the only option - similar to getting on a top beat of the spey.

[macsalmo]

Hi Adrian (Tony) , your last line in your post was worth raising a glass to (I would have highlighted it if I new how to do that)!!

I don't know where the Cow pool is mate. Adam got his loomis replaced with a brand spanker loomis 12'6" GRX (I think).
Not been out fishing since 1 night on the Annan (July).
I am going for a week on the Alness from Sunday (cannot bl**dy wait) ;D

Back to the thread

I have voted for between £60-£100

Young family, work and renovating own barn tends to pull on the old purse strings abit. I dont think I could justify paying any more than £100 as if the conditions were not favorable I would be a raving loony!!

[williegunn]

tyneandrew said:

.

Personally i think £100 is about my limit (although i don't pay that much v often!), and i would want it to be a fairly safe bet on actually being able to fish with a good prospect of a fish. Tay, Dee or Spey would be my choices .

Forget your invite to Delfur then.
£100/day barely covers the running costs of a top beat.

[tyneandrew]

Thought you were paying

[jock]

Within the UK I think anything above £100 is over the top and I'm glad to see that those responding to the poll so far are true salmon anglers paying for there own fishing and enjoying their day in good surroundings and not out on company expenses, inviting clients to come and fish and drink on their £500 a rod/day beat.

However the law of supply and demand means that if you want to access some of the "top" beats you have to pay way over the top. These beats being often populated with a good number of "once a year fishers" I know of a couple of timeshare beats where the company owners sometimes don't even bother to fish and pay the ghillies £50+ for every salmon they catch to help keep up the value of their week. A lot of good water lies empty, either because the rods don't come or a beat may be unlet.

While I have on the odd rare day, paid what I consider to be over the top, it has been because an opportunity to fish an otherwise inaccessible beat at prime time was too good to miss. However I get most pleasure from fishing beats that lie in beautiful surroundings, have excellent fly water and cost very little indeed.

Out with the UK, well that is a different proposition. If you are going to Alaska, Russia etc then you are going because you want to experience wild, remote places with excellent prospects of catching numerous salmon or a few really big ones. This costs money. Not the sort of thing I do on an annual basis, I've done it once and it was not cheap but I don't regret one penny of the money I spent.

What price pleasure?

[rennie]

Wife will let me go to £100 a day max. although she would prefer less and not as often,self would pay a little more but I would have to be sure of what I was getting.Would love to have the wonga for Almond mouth/Isla mouth/Junction/Park etc. etc. but such is life,but for £100 if you do your home work there is some damn good fishing out there.Sorry to have to say it Elwyman but you are driving past better cheaper fishing than Caberstoun on the Tweed,if you don't get lots of water up there then well, you can guess.Some pals stay in the same hotel as that party every year and hear what gets said,but dint be put off go out and prove me wrong I know they had a great week last year coz they got water and If you are fishing up there with high expectations the plumb beats down river are all home/in the pub,which often proves perversely satisfying.For next year try Ashiesteil,it is a beat which demands a lot of walking and the access to the best pools can be awkward but the fishing is good it holds big fish and is usually the last of beats to be fully let and is less expensive than Caberstoun. Pedro.

[williegunn]

jock said:

However the law of supply and demand means that if you want to access some of the "top" beats you have to pay way over the top. These beats being often populated with a good number of "once a year fishers" I know of a couple of timeshare beats where the company owners sometimes don't even bother to fish and pay the ghillies £50+ for every salmon they catch to help keep up the value of their week.

The usual misinformed waffling I have grown used to reading.

Can you tell me which timeshare beat the owners pay the gillies to fish? why do not they just let the water?

Top beats are expensive for a number of reasons.
1. the return on the investment needs to be higher, £1million invested in a beat compared with £5 million a factor of 5
2. The fishery board levies are based on catch returns to some extent, on the Tweed it is direct on other rivers is just a %.
3. Wage bills vary 1,2,4 gillies or none.

Why is it acceptable to pay more to fish abroard than in Scotland?

[williegunn]

tyneandrew said:

Thought you were paying

Andrew, go take a shower, you are still dreaming.

[jock]

Forgot to mention this in my last post, but should any of you vote in the " Money is no problem....." box. Could you please pm me and I'll let you know when I'm available for you to take me fishing.

Thanks in anticipation.

PS Can I bring a few friends ?

[jock]

Hi Willie,

Thought my post might provoke such a response such as yours.

It is three years since I fished it but I don't think things will have changed. It was Taymount I was referring to re. £50 per fish. The company from memory was a large Vet practice, why they didn't let it out - I don't know. My source of this information ( or as you put it, misinformed waffling?) the Ghillies themselves !!

Regarding your other point we seem to agree ! The law of supply and demand means that large sums of money have to be paid in this country for Salmon rights when the demand is there and hence combined with the running costs top beats are expensive - but that does mean to say they offer good value. Indeed if salmon are going to decline in size and numbers the demand will be less and beats charging £500+ a day will lie empty.

I didn't say it was acceptable to pay more for fishing abroad, I said it was a different proposition. It certainly is far better value for money in my limited experience. I paid £2400 for 6 days fishing, including accommodation, a guide, all the food and all the drink totally free, boy did that cause a few hangovers. In return I got to see wonderful scenery, experience bears, moose, beavers etc in the wilds of Alaska and land over 200 salmon to 25lbs, all on fly. Now that is good value.

Maybe the fact that nobody paid millions of pounds for the fishing rights on these rivers has got something to do with it. Then again that might be misinformed waffle.

[robmason]

The levies are I'm sure a significant factor in the cost of beat rents. If Elwyman hits it right and catches 2 fish per day at Caberston the beat owner will be in the red, and that's before he pays the gillie!

[williegunn]

jock said:

Hi Willie,

Regarding your other point we seem to agree ! The law of supply and demand means that large sums of money have to be paid in this country for Salmon rights when the demand is there and hence combined with the running costs top beats are expensive - but that does mean to say they offer good value. Indeed if salmon are going to decline in size and numbers the demand will be less and beats charging £500+ a day will lie empty.

I think you will find that the demand is still there, it is virtually impossible to get a week on any decent beat on the Spey from April to September.

jock said:

I didn't say it was acceptable to pay more for fishing abroad, I said it was a different proposition. It certainly is far better value for money in my limited experience. I paid £2400 for 6 days fishing, including accommodation, a guide, all the food and all the drink totally free, boy did that cause a few hangovers. In return I got to see wonderful scenery, experience bears, moose, beavers etc in the wilds of Alaska and land over 200 salmon to 25lbs, all on fly. Now that is good value.

Maybe the fact that nobody paid millions of pounds for the fishing rights on these rivers has got something to do with it. Then again that might be misinformed waffle.

Are we talking Atlantic salmon here? I think not, try and get any top class atlantic salmon fishing any where in the world and you will be paying at least 3 times the figure you quote. So I am sorry more misinformed waffle.