The Complete Fisher Forum

[blondie]

Might have to dust down the trout and pike gear for next season .Tight lines guys.

[BristolFlyer]

BW end of year report makes interesting reading. Kudos to them for being open and honest about fishing conditions and the possible reasons.

Interesting that Blagdon levels fell much lower then Chew this year. I wonder why that was? The catchments are so close together, so maybe BW drew down more water from Blagdon for some reason?

[Appleman]

All......Please spread the word!!

BRFFA and BWF will be hosting an open forum 20th January 2017 at Woodford Lodge from 6:30pm onwards. All welcome, please come along to have your opportunity of asking the Bristol Water Management Team topics of interest. Thanks.....

Merry Christmas!!



Ladies and Gents,

Many of you know we recently attended a meeting with the Management Team at Bristol Water Fisheries to talk through the 2016 season and plans for 2017 and beyond.

As part of this meeting we asked our members to submit any questions they would like BRFFA to put to the Fishery team. This was really well received with plenty of members raising questions on a wide range of topics.

BRFFA and The Fisheries Management team will be arranging a public forum 20th January 2017 at Woodford Lodge at 6:30pm. This forum will be an opportunity to hear responses to the questions submitted by members plus any that are offered to the fishery team on the day.

An Event has been created on this page. Please indicate you will be able to come along by accepting the invite.

On behalf of BRFFA, we would like to wish all of our members a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year…..

Regards,


BRFFA Committee

[Allrounder]

[arkle]

Agreed, Alan & thanks Tim.
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Hi there, I have around 40 yrs exp. of tying flies, incl. some semi-pro work. I've taught at adult evening classes, written for and supplied photos for most U.K. fly magazines. Given talks/slide shows/lectures/demonstrations etc. Am founder and life pres. of local Fly Dressers Guild (27years), our members have won more prizes for tying than any other similar club, we've also won several national flyfishing comps. I look forward to both learning from and contributing to this highly respected forum.

[Doombar]

Thanks for that Tim & committee. And BW for having spent the time & effort. An interesting read.

Clearly there's concern re accuracy of number of fish caught when they're working on only 40% return cards going in. There's an argument that most of the ones that don't bother have caught nowt, but you can't rely on that. The figures for number of anglers will be accurate though, & thats showing a stark decline.

I'm retiring this year & am debating whether a season ticket is worth it. Will try to go along on the 20th to hopefully be persuaded.

[tenet]

Good initiative so well done Tim and the BRFFA - would like to come down but cant face the rush hour traffic coming across from Stroud.

[mc07fly]

Mmm.....
All the "table data" is stated to be based only on return cards.

So can we assume that the "number of visits" data section is also based on the same actual returned cards? (rather than actual number of bookings originally made).

If the angler numbers are based on real bookings then my sense is that the non returners are probably low scorers or nils. The higher scorers are happy to check in!. This is especially true for newbies and I have to admit I did not enjoy recording nil in my early boats and banks at Hanningfield. But that was rare, of course! Ahem.
So this would also reduce the real rod averages.

Interesting times ahead but a good discussion can only bring progress in my view. However, as others have said, until we are sure of the numbers it is pretty hard to conclude anything. Perhaps the first thing should be to get reliable data. If true, a 40% return rate is unacceptable. I would be making a few calls on the next day to the non returning boaters to see what happened. Perhaps a few retired but "friendly"(!) anglers could put in a shift on reconciling the numbers for BWF for a few afternoons each week.

Anyway, apparently the early morning boats will be cancelled so, like Doombar, I'm pondering my options.
To try to end on a positive note, I understand that the cormorant numbers are down to just 200 or so at Blagdon. They are not happy and are staying away.

Seasons greetings to all and a Happy New Year.
McFly

[Allrounder]

I think you are right about the vast majority of missing catch returns being 'nil' or low scoring McFly, although I wonder if they could also include boats practicing before major competitions? They might be reluctant to divulge their catch on practice days for completely understandable reasons as this could cost them a hard won edge over their opponents. However there is no reason why they couldn't divulge their practice return after the match or be asked when they book their next ticket. Bank tickets would be harder to follow up, but if my own results are anything to go by, thats where most of the blanks will come from.

The morning boats are an interesting point and raises the issue of clarity. I don't think they were part of the publicised BW Fisheries offer last season (ie full day and evening boat only) so were they charged as full day boats that were allowed to go out an hour or so early on the understanding they came in early or were they half day boats by another name and charged as such? If the latter then BW missed a trick because I would have taken out a couple if I knew they were available.

Anyway enough of last season! What is important is that going forward, BW seem genuinely interested in creating a dialogue with their customers and the clarity they showed in their annual report is certainly a step in the right direction.

Seasons greetings to everyone and wishing you all a happy New Year!

Alan
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Member of ...
The Angling Trust
BRFFA
B.A.S.S.
Pike Fly Fishing Association

If you see me on the bank, say hello!

[Appleman]

The % of returns is an odd one.....BW must have a handle on the volume of permits that have been sold. I guess HMRC would expect this!! Then they know what returns have come back.....Returms / Sales x 100 = % returns received no?!

The comp lads from what I've seen, will not post returns immediately after practice...As Alan says, it's all a bit quiet in terms of letting on who's done what. But!! There's no reason not to bring returns up to date promptly after the match. I've emailed mine in the past with the corresponding permit number.....If you've failed completely, there's a note on the permit which tells you the returns that are outstanding. It must be an important aspect of running a fishery and grasping what stock is actually in the lake!

Anyway......looking forward to 2017. Have a cracking Christmas everyone!

Cheers,


Tim

[Doombar]

Hi McFly, I read the BW website as saying that morning boats are back on as an option - half day boats are either for 6 hours before sunset or for 6 hours starting at 9.00 am rather than the 8.00 as before. We'll have to see if things evolve according to demand as they did last year.

Very best wishes to all for the rest of the Xmas break, and tight lines for the coming season.

[mc07fly]

I agree with all of Appleman's comments on returns and his understanding of "% returns".

So.....given that our names are printed on the return cards, and that non-return reminders are automatically added to the next booking return....how can 60% of visit returns possibly go AWOL?

I understand that comp fishers will not complete their returns immediately after practice days; but even if they never submit a return, the 60% gap is still huge....and in reality they return most of their practice catch I think. So at least the stock has a chance to fight again.

Yours, as ever optimistically...... but then I've been a lifelong fisherman!

McFly

[tenet]

Mc0fly - your premiss presupposes that the miscreants names are added to the system and thus highlighted when they next purchase a ticket. In days of yore when one had to book a boat weeks in advance the system was almost self regulating. To sanction against individuals today, when there has been an ever dwindling take up of boats (hopefully to be reversed this coming year) would be akin to shooting oneself in the foot.

Notwithstanding, the ratio of fish caught, and I suspect a high proportion were returned, against numbers stocked is somewhat puzzling - a question that will no doubt be raised at the forthcoming meeting.

Cheers

Doug

[mc07fly]

Doug,

Fair points, Doug. I would never have made a good detective.

I just hope that BWF has the courage to present the stuff that they feel is preventing them getting high quality returns and let's see what solutions then emerge. I'm sure all attendees at this particular open meeting will be 100% on their side.

Mike (aka McFly)

[Fryfishing]

it also helps if there is a pen available to fill in the return when leaving a fishery
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