Day Ticket Pricing in Irish Stocked Fisheries

experimenter · 04-07-2011 10:10AM #1

Ok folks I would like to kick off a bit of a debate regarding how expensive it is to fish stocked fisheries.

I understand that owners are trying to run businesses but comparing to our neighbors up North I think we are way off pricing.

A typical comparison would be...

Up to 4hrs C&R £8 (€9) where as down South it is €20!!!

This €20 seems to be a common charge across most of the fisheries.

Even if you look at 1 fish then C&R, prices are around £13 (€14) where are here it's approx €30!!!!

I am tired of listening to fishery owners complaining as to why nobody is fishing and what can they do to get more fishing, I suggested dropping the price but this is met with a big NO!..

Any thoughts...

okedoke · 04-07-2011 10:58AM

With so much cheap/free good quality wild trout fishing in Ireland I'm not sure these type of fisheries are tenable here. The only one of these fisheries I've gone to charges €30 if you want to keep 2 fish and €10 for a boat. That's €10 more than the annual membership of any of the river clubs I'm joined (10's of kilometres of rivers in each club for the year) or only €15 less than a day on Corrib or Currane (boat rental) or twice the price of a day permit on the Suir.

These fisheries originated in the south of England where decent wild fishing is not available/very expensive so they filled a clear need there. The only way I could see these places working is to be located very near a city and charge max €20 including a boat. But it's probably impossible to make a living at those rates.

aidanf · 04-07-2011 11:13AM

I've never gone to one of these but I was surprised how expensive they are. Where I'm located I can join a local club and get a years fishing access for not much more than that.

Regarding whether they are viable or not in Ireland, I'd say they might be viable on the east coast (or near other large urban areas) where there is high population density and not that much good fishing to go around - if they can get their pricing right. Other parts of the country probably have too much wild fishing available for them to be competitive.

coolwings · 04-07-2011 12:18PM

I would not talk about relative pricing without first knowing whether the fishery is stocked with more expensive triploids (locomotives with fins incredible condition) or lower cost diploid (natural, black and out of condition during march april period) rainbows.

The fisheries that use diploids are usually a lower cost.
However for some strange reason I select out the higher cost triploid fisheries to visit.

bayliner · 04-07-2011 12:30PM

the lake at cloghan is 15euro, fished it a few times last yr, small lake, but grand to brush up on the fly casting before the dapp etc:),think you can take 3 fish?(i never bothered so not sure) but cant kill anything over 3lb,rainbows and brownies in it,

ironbluedun · 04-07-2011 01:45PM

to be honest i rarely fish them but they are commercial ventures and i suppose somebody has to pay the bills........i assume that most of them are well stocked and that you can catch a good few on any given day, then if that's the case well fair enough.....
but relative to 'wild' fisheries they do seem expensive but then again the commercials have much higher stock densities.......comparing the cost of them to the ones in ni or uk is probably a little unfair, different cost base.

i must give these commercial spots a lash soon..can anyone recommend a good one?

thehamo · 04-07-2011 02:03PM

ironbluedun wrote: »

to be honest i rarely fish them but they are commercial ventures and i suppose somebody has to pay the bills........i assume that most of them are well stocked and that you can catch a good few on any given day, then if that's the case well fair enough.....
but relative to 'wild' fisheries they do seem expensive but then again the commercials have much higher stock densities.......comparing the cost of them to the ones in ni or uk is probably a little unfair, different cost base.

i must give these commercial spots a lash soon..can anyone recommend a good one?

Has to be curragh springs for me. Not huge experience in the fly fishing department but never had a fish like it at the end of a fly rod. I was using 7lb mono line, got into one fish and it took off like a train and broke the line. beasts.

experimenter · 04-07-2011 02:32PM

coolwings wrote: »

However for some strange reason I select out the higher cost triploid fisheries to visit.

Well can you share the locations as I certainly don't know where they are, it seems they are all claiming to have triploids?

dodderangler · 04-07-2011 11:10PM

experimenter wrote: »

Well can you share the locations as I certainly don't know where they are, it seems they are all claiming to have triploids?

ive noticed the prices as well its ridiculous especially when a friend of mine has only started to learn to fly fish and paying 15 euro for half day fishing is putting him off as a beginner he hasnt caught anything an is still being forced to pay 15 euro while im paying it but im catching plenty its still bothering me as the fish are in poor quality and the lakes are not always in best shape either. is there anyone that can be contacted about this?

dodderangler · 04-07-2011 11:16PM

experimenter wrote: »

Well can you share the locations as I certainly don't know where they are, it seems they are all claiming to have triploids?

ive noticed the prices as well its ridiculous especially when a friend of mine has only started to learn to fly fish and paying 15 euro for half day fishing is putting him off as a beginner he hasnt caught anything an is still being forced to pay 15 euro while im paying it but im catching plenty its still bothering me as the fish are in poor quality and the lakes are not always in best shape either. is there anyone that can be contacted about this?

Daroxtar · 05-07-2011 04:41PM

experimenter wrote: »

Well can you share the locations as I certainly don't know where they are, it seems they are all claiming to have triploids?

+1 on that. I'd like to know where they are getting them from. The majority of all rainbow trout stocked in lakes in Ireland come from IFI in Roscrea and they don't do triploids. Wasn't someone on about some place claiming to be stocked with Steelhead too? What next? Huchen...Taimen??

Anamoe claim to have triploids, and from what I can see they have their own hatchery so its possible. Curragh Springs have fully finned hard fighting trout but thats because they are virtually wild having been put in there as fingerlings a few years back. If I'm wrong on this then I apologise but I'd like to know where they got the triploids. Same with any other fishery. Call me skeptical but I'd like to see a reciept. If any fishery staff are reading this then please come on board and let us know. Waylay the skepticism now while the opportunity is here.

And by the way, I regularly fish for stockies, usually more than once a month. Its great craic having a 2lb or more trout on the line when you've been used to 6 oz trout most of your life. But I don't like being bull****ted to.

coolwings · 05-07-2011 05:45PM

The triploids are obviously different during the rainbows' natural spawning season, and the month after.
Shasta rainbows (which is what we have) naturally spawn after the ice melts in their wild habitat which is what we call the early months of spring. At this time the mature rainbows which have not spawned (due to being in Ireland) look blackish in colour, are flabby, and presumeably they feel pretty sick due to having eggs/milt which are slowly "going off" inside their bodies. Some die from this.
At this time triploids, due to their sterility, are fighting fit, bright colour, and putting on condition instead of losing it.

They are bred in a fish farm in Ireland, and their fin condition is amazing given their artificial cultivation.
And they naturally cost more. But in spring the difference is huge, and this continues for a good while into summer at which time the fertile stocked rainbows and browns catch up in condition.

experimenter · 05-07-2011 05:48PM

Some good points Daroxtar. I still think that overall the price of fishing stockies is way to high and having it rounded off to €20 is a little on the high side.

Near me is Castlecomber lakes, they recently sent me a text message saying that fishing is €15 for four hours and keep 2 fish. This is pretty reasonable value and also on the text they are claiming to have large triploid trout up to 15lb stocked.

I fished it years ago and didn't find it too challenging but it still looks good value for someone starting out.

One guy I recently spoke to was suggesting that he was going to stock his lake with salmon to try and bring in the punters :eek::eek:

Daroxtar · 05-07-2011 05:58PM

coolwings wrote: »

They are bred in a fish farm in Ireland, and their fin condition is amazing given their artificial cultivation.

Where, what farm? I'm genuinely interested to know where they come from.

Another thing that bears mentioning is that I've caught fish which were fairly recently delivered from the hatchery in spring time and they were full finned silver bullets, but not triploids. Obviously spawn bound fish can be in bad shape but if you get a good healthy fish that hasn't come into spawn then there's not much difference and unless you're gutting it you wont know.

Day Ticket Pricing in Irish Stocked Fisheries

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