Your maximum you would pay for fishing

[severnfisher]

If it is true that "You get what you pay for in terms of salmon fishing", then does that mean the best anglers are those that have a low pounds per salmon ratio?

[hadrian]

hi severnfisher,i fish a beat that costs me 90 quidish a year and i also now and then pay to fish private beats,i have had the same amount of fish off the cheap beat as i have from the paid beats,however,i have averaged a fish or so a visit on the paid beats,on my club water i dread to think what the fish per visit ratio would be but i can tell you for sure its nowhere near the fish to visit ratio of the paid beats.
i think the answer to your question is the anglers who have the best low £'s per salmon ratio are probably the most persistent anglers.

hadrian.

[severnfisher]

Hadrian,
I was only messing about.

Seriously though I do think that there can't be much of a sense of achievement in catching a salmon from somewhere that you've had to pay a lot of money to fish. You can enjoy it, of course, but is it much of an angling challenge? Nope.

Tom

[hadrian]

severnfisher you little tinker you,here's me getting all flustered and all that. ;D
in my opinion you only have a chance of catching a fish, if there are fish there,in fact thats not an opinion,its fact.im convinced that a lot of the time im fishing over nothing on my cheap beat,especially early on until about now(sept), because of its location.when i do catch a fish its just a case of,well i caught a fish,when i catch a fish on one of the tynes top beats i feel exactly the same,i caught a fish.if a fish is there,weather on an expensive beat or a free beat you still have to catch it.i feel its more of an achievement if i catch in low water,on a sunny day,one of those days when, even if the fish are there, everything is against you and its not meant to happen,but it does.

are you one of these anglers that thinks its just to easy when you pay good money to fish a beat?you cant fail,its no achievement its just hook a duck.

one thing i would say is i do tend to fish harder and longer on a private beat as long as its pleasurable,as long as the fishing is enjoyable.

hadrian.

[Tyne Angler]

I would say around the £150 mark would normally be my limit, however if the chance of a prime spring week on Delfur or Rothes were to become available i'm sure I could sell the wife to raise additional funds....

[sagecaster]

I hate to admit to myself what I pay for a days fishing and go to the best beats as near as the best times when I can and also when I can afford it.

I justify the expense by comparing it to other leisure activities... for example I have a few friends and family that ski, they tend to spend at least the equivalent on a decent skiing holiday in the Alps as you would on a good week of Salmon fishing on one of the "big four". Golf can be similarly expensive.

I am with Willie Gunn on this one, you get what you pay for and the Spey has quite simply the best Salmon fly fishing water in the world, to put it in golfing terms, it's the "St Andrew's" of atlantic salmon fishing.

[tyneandrew]

Rather than start a new thred - do most beats allow rod sharing?

[williegunn]

Andrew, as in everything a few fools get rod sharing a bad name. Both of them with rods and waders and no one is ever sure just howe many flies are in the water at once. Or the other anglers on the beat find it hard to get in the best spots as there is always a fresh man ready to step in as the other steps out.

But 1 rod fishing the morning and the other the afternoon and sticking to a reasonable legnth day no problem but not fishing 20+ hours

[davidarmes]

elwyman said:

Just voted up to £60 !! per day

But pay £75 P/ £56 per year to PAAS/ MTAA angling clubs + £65 to ERA just so I can oocasionall get out and throw a line on a river usk /welsh dee/ eden etc - probably devoid of any Salmon !!

VFM -in MHOP in terms Cost [per rod day] / per fish caught
on fly over last 15 years
River laune- Free fishing
River moy - East Mayo club water - 30 Euros per day
River moy - tidal beats up to 120 euros per day
Galway Weir 30 to 80 eros per dsy

The most I've ever paid is £160 euros per day for 3 days
to fish the River moy- private beat in foxford and 2 days @ £ 110 Fairnille Beat on Tweed as this was the only beat(s) I could afford to fish during the F&M outbreak in 2001

Best Holiday ( approved by the wife) - SWFF for Bonefish in Cayo Coco Cuba

Saving myself for trip Britsh Columbia Canada -chinnook salmon in sept/oct 07 !!

[davidarmes]

davidarmes said:

elwyman said:

Just voted up to £60 !! per day

But pay £75 P/ £56 per year to PAAS/ MTAA angling clubs + £65 to ERA just so I can oocasionall get out and throw a line on a river usk /welsh dee/ eden etc - probably devoid of any Salmon !!

VFM -in MHOP in terms Cost [per rod day] / per fish caught
on fly over last 15 years
River laune- Free fishing
River moy - East Mayo club water - 30 Euros per day
River moy - tidal beats up to 120 euros per day
Galway Weir 30 to 80 euros per dsy

The most I've ever paid is £160 euros per day for 3 days
to fish the River moy- private beat in foxford and 2 days @ £ 110 Fairnille Beat on Tweed as this was the only beat(s) I could afford to fish during the F&M outbreak in 2001



Saving myself for trip Britsh Columbia Canada -chinnook salmon in sept/oct 07 !!

[severnfisher]

Springer, Sorry for delay in replying. been out and about on my expensive beats (£30 a season)

I think for me the sense of achievement would be the same whether I was on my club water or the best beat.

Catching a salmon is always an enjoyable experience. And always an achievement. But I doubt if we go fishing simply for the enjoyable experience of hooking and landing our fish. Most serious anglers I know like a challenge. I think you are reducing the challenge if you get yourself on the very best beats at the very best times. If that is what angler finds they have to do to ensure success then so be it.

The old story about the dry fly man that found himself in hell comes to mind.

Also it is a plain fact that catching a fish on a hard fished association water is usually more of a challenge. The fish tend to be more pressured.

Good anglers catch the most challenging fish (long casts, deep wading, difficult set of the current, exposed lies etc) on the best and the worst beats, but that is a different matter.

There is a separate argument about the equity of all this. The idea that the prime of Scotland's salmon fishing should be in the hands of the wealthy few is unjustifiable.

Tom

[storlaks]

My father used to say to me......"good fishing is dear, but bad fishing is dearer"
There again, he used to pay £40 a week to fishing lower tay in September (-: Changed days!

I think what you pay is obviously relative to what you can comfortably afford and also how much fishing you do. I prefer to have a few trips per year for my budget rather than just 1 or 2 so I tend to try and look for good value beats. My best value fishing is Norway. The fishing itself costs me around £130 per day but I get to fish 24hrs and even keep a fish if I choose (-:

The Tweed at primetime is vastly overpriced IMO, regardless of levies etc. Way out of the league of most working class people. The lower spey (and some middle/upper) beats at primetime is much the same. The Dee however offers great value for money for a big river. Let's hope it stays that way.

Obviously I'd love to fish Defur or Arndilly, but unless the lotto comes up I don't think so.

[stoater]

Jock, I totally agree. There is a lot of "misinformed waffle" flying about and it isn't coming from you, you pay for your fishing after all. It is in the interests of some to justify exhorbitant prices for fishing as that same money is what keeps them in the money...or, for a gillie, a job . I've never met a career gillie (as opposed to freelance guide) who justifies charging £500+ for a days fishing.
I know the Salmon is one helluva fish to catch, and the right to try for one is a thing worth paying for, but some of these rents charged are the stuff of class warfare. And no, I'm not a socialist.
I also don't understand the argument about "running costs". A productive Beat may have to pay the DSFB more in contributions, but this is directly reflected in the increased capital value of their Fishery, should they wish to realise that by selling the beat , through the accepted valuation method of "5 year average catch". I don't believe the really productive Beats pay their gillies much more than their counterparts on the less productive Beats in wages, so the "running cost" argument can't really be a goer.
As I said before, a good day's fishing is invaluable , but when you have to pay many hundreds of pounds for one day's fishing, that's iffy.

[williegunn]

Stoater,
If you had 10 million pounds would you buy a salmon beat to let?
If you left your £10 000 000 in the bank you would make 1/2 million /year at 5% So before you let any fishing you must cover those costs.

Now tell me the costs to fish your beat.

[williegunn]

But no matter what you say beats do cost this kind of money. What would you suggest ? Nationalise all the beats/ rivers the Scottish Executive will be right behind you. The problem with that solution is that it simply will not work.

Look at house prices they are far too high just for somewhere to sleep.

[wilbert]

Malcolm if someone paid £10M for a beat I am guessing that they haven't put every penny they have and borrowed heavily to finance the purchase so making a vast return is probably not that high on the agenda for these people as they have probably made all their money elsewhere already. All the time at work we are constantly told how the share holders are moaning as they are not making enough on their dividends even though they increase every year well above inflation (they are never satisfied), an investment does not give you god given right to make a substantial profit just because you have put lots of money into it.

[severnfisher]

Which came first the extortionate rent or the ridiculously over valued beats?

The Highland Clearances

[Fruin]

Most estates or fishings are not purchased to run as a business, but are an investment that, at the moment, have better returns than other less secure investments.
Maximising profit should not come into the equation in these situations, but, if the opportunity is there then it will be taken advantage of.
However, some money must be made to protect the investment. The protection takes the form of looking after the natural resouce (salmon) and maintaining the asset (estate/land).
As far as beat owners making profits goes - supply and demand and all that. It will always be a problem for us peasants.

[williegunn]

severnfisher said:

Which came first the extortionate rent or the ridiculously over valued beats?

The Highland Clearances

And exactly what did the clearances have to do with salmon fishing?

Dream world politics.

[williegunn]

fruin said:

Most estates or fishings are not purchased to run as a business, but are an investment that, at the moment, have better returns than other less secure investments.

Please explain the above you lost me.