Think
how lucky we are!
Some things in our sport are relatively cheap today, but when you consider
carefully the cost of day permits to fish on stillwater trout venues it
gives you considerable cause for concern.
When I started fly fishing for stillwater trout there were very few venues
available apart from Blagdon in Somerset. In the sixties when Graffham
water opened this started a very rapid increase in the number of stillwater
venues as new reservoirs were built and landowners dug lakes out.
If my memory serves me right the cost of a day’s fishing from the
bank when Graffham opened was £1 which was quite reasonable despite
the low wages prevalent in those days, and when you remember that the
early days at Graffham offered sport of a previously undreamed of quality
with lots of young, hard fighting trout with plenty of whoppers.
Now there are several hundred different stillwater trout venues available.
Many have closed and others have gone over to providing coarse fishing
only, while almost without exception all have increased their prices.
To illustrate this trend I have listed the current price of a day ticket
for bank fishing on waters all over England.
I have counted in no less than 98 different waters where I knew for certain
the prices being charged per day for fishing from the bank. I was surprised
to find that day ticket fees averaged over £25, with the cheapest
at £10 and the most expensive at £65.
Of course the situation is complicated by the number of different prices
that depend on whether you are a pensioner, or a juvenile, and whether
you buy a permit to allow fishing for a limited number of hours only,
and how many fish you would like to kill.
Nevertheless when you add in the cost of petrol and the hire of a boat
for the day plus other incidental expenses you could well find yourself
spending £60 to £70 on your day’s fishing.
Think how lucky we Derbyshire fly fishers are then when you look at this
year’s permits for a full day’s fly fishing for trout on our
Derbyshire reservoirs.
At Ladybower adult anglers pay £13 a day and at Foremark it is £17
a day while Carsington charges £16.50.