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How much are you prepared to spend…

A more interesting question to ask (to me anyway..) is: 'How much are you prepared to spend…on the places that you fish'.

I find it perplexing that so many course anglers will spend hundreds on new rods and reels, thousands in some instances, yet seem to begrudge spending proportional amounts on club tickets or syndicate fees? Fishery management can be very expensive, yet so many anglers seem to resent this?

It seems to be that game anglers perhaps spend more money on the places that they fish then do on tackle?

And then there is the issue of pollution etc. Around 900,000 rods licences are sold in England alone, yet the body which represents angling only has 15,000 individual members, that is 1:60 anglers. Can you imagine how powerful a sector angling would be if everyone who held a rod licence was willing to spend on average just £25 a year on fighting polluters like the water companies and lobbying politicians?
 
Graham Elliott said:
Being a poor youngster, from the time a tackle bag was a Woolworths plastic bag, I do like to treat myself to some nice gear now. However the fact is I can, rather than I need to.
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I think one of the reasons I like using nice tackle now, is that all of the stuff I had growing up was totally crap and I was secretly envious of the kids that had proper rods and things like seat boxes whereas I would be using a 6ft sea fishing boat rod to catch tiddlers from the Goyt! I'm pretty sure that is part of the psychology.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
A more interesting question to ask (to me anyway..) is: 'How much are you prepared to spend…on the places that you fish'.

I find it perplexing that so many course anglers will spend hundreds on new rods and reels, thousands in some instances, yet seem to begrudge spending proportional amounts on club tickets or syndicate fees? Fishery management can be very expensive, yet so many anglers seem to resent this?

It seems to be that game anglers perhaps spend more money on the places that they fish then do on tackle?

And then there is the issue of pollution etc. Around 900,000 rods licences are sold in England alone, yet the body which represents angling only has 15,000 individual members, that is 1:60 anglers. Can you imagine how powerful a sector angling would be if everyone who held a rod licence was willing to spend on average just £25 a year on fighting polluters like the water companies and lobbying politicians?
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Hi men ,

I'd pay big for a place at Rainbow lake , Casien , as they are the only places iv got a itch that needs scratching but I feel age is against me slightly .

I'd pay big for a Savay ticket ( even days only ) , but I seemed to have upset the bloke who runs it , even if it was a very polite innocent enquiry 🙄 , so it seems I will never find the holy grail where I want to lay my hat 😔

Hatter
 
Joe Winstanley said:
A more interesting question to ask (to me anyway..) is: 'How much are you prepared to spend…on the places that you fish'.

I find it perplexing that so many course anglers will spend hundreds on new rods and reels, thousands in some instances, yet seem to begrudge spending proportional amounts on club tickets or syndicate fees? Fishery management can be very expensive, yet so many anglers seem to resent this?

It seems to be that game anglers perhaps spend more money on the places that they fish then do on tackle?

And then there is the issue of pollution etc. Around 900,000 rods licences are sold in England alone, yet the body which represents angling only has 15,000 individual members, that is 1:60 anglers. Can you imagine how powerful a sector angling would be if everyone who held a rod licence was willing to spend on average just £25 a year on fighting polluters like the water companies and lobbying politicians?
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That’s a much better question.

I have travelled far and wide over the last 25 years to (try and) catch interesting (to me) saltwater fish on a fly rod. It is an expensive hobby ! Long haul flights and lodges/guides are not cheap and you have to have decent gear or you simply lose the fish.

I share your disdain of ‘tooled up’ coarse anglers who won’t pay a sensible price for a days fishing. I used to sell the odd £5 day ticket on my fishery and once it got discovered by the local carp anglers, I had to put the price up to a tenner a day to scare them off…..It worked.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
A more interesting question to ask (to me anyway..) is: 'How much are you prepared to spend…on the places that you fish'.

I find it perplexing that so many course anglers will spend hundreds on new rods and reels, thousands in some instances, yet seem to begrudge spending proportional amounts on club tickets or syndicate fees? Fishery management can be very expensive, yet so many anglers seem to resent this?

It seems to be that game anglers perhaps spend more money on the places that they fish then do on tackle?

And then there is the issue of pollution etc. Around 900,000 rods licences are sold in England alone, yet the body which represents angling only has 15,000 individual members, that is 1:60 anglers. Can you imagine how powerful a sector angling would be if everyone who held a rod licence was willing to spend on average just £25 a year on fighting polluters like the water companies and lobbying politicians?
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I've just had a quick tally up and spend about £500 p.a. on memberships. That said half of that amount is for one pike syndicate alone which only runs from 1st October to end of March. Don't think I'll be re-joining. One of them FOMO moments where I was persuaded by my fishing buddy to join. No fool like an old fool about sums it up.

Everything else is for river fishing including a very small , dead-men's-shoes syndicate which is over £100 but worth every penny.
We have some excellent clubs in the North where £40-70 a season will get you all the fishing you could wish for if you're prepared/ got the time to put in the rod hours.
 
Cliff Turner said:
My golf club is £2k p.a. BAA £30 HDAA £40 ... fishing is cheap as chips ! What Id spend on tackle is the same as anything else, if I can afford it and I want it I'll buy it.
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Some fishing is good value - I have BAA (£40) / Wavon Syndy (£50) / Notts Piscatorials (£50) . . . .my Carp Syndicate Tickets are becoming ridiculous however, so much so that 2x decent French trips a year would equate to better value / less aggro / bigger fish. Can see why lots of Carp anglers of a certain age have binned UK Carp fishing in favour of scratching their itch abroad only . . .
 
Chris Belcher said:
Some fishing is good value - I have BAA (£40) / Wavon Syndy (£50) / Notts Piscatorials (£50) . . . .my Carp Syndicate Tickets are becoming ridiculous however, so much so that 2x decent French trips a year would equate to better value / less aggro / bigger fish. Can see why lots of Carp anglers of a certain age have binned UK Carp fishing in favour of scratching their itch abroad only . . .
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Chris, how do you get Notts Piscatorials for £50? When I checked seemed much more?
 
I spend about £450 a year on 2 river venue syndicates and 3 clubs including some stillwater venues.
I may need to drop a syndicate due reduced mobility and fair walks needed.

Any previous lake syndicates have been dropped due costs. ( not that I can't afford them but I generally only use for tench in Spring) and would prefer to fish varied venues at d/night ticket costs.
 
Only have two club tickets now, one is gratis as a bailiff, the other £40. Used to have two others but can't find the time to fish all the river stretches I've got so gave them up.
On the tackle front I don't remember the last time I bought any rod or reel new, nearly all mine are second hand from friends or the Bay!
 
I don't mind spending the money on quality gear. My first Harrison rod is approaching 28 years old. I buy my rods new and (tend) to buy good quality 'top end' reels second hand. I don't need much tackle now. My club ticket spend in England was under £200 in 2024 and I used them less than 10 times in total. The day tickets that I used a couple of times last spring for the tench were about £40 per day. The day tickets on the open access stretches of the Austrian rivers, which I've fished a bit this year, are not cheap at about £25 per day. Angling is not that expensive compared to a lot of other pastimes. It's the 'bits and bobs' bait and terminal tackle that soon adds up.
 
I'd pay whatever to join where I really want to go in theory. I've always wanted to fish the RK leisure waters near me, even if just for a year. £2850 for a black card which you need to go for really as otherwise you are limited to certain waters. I'll never be able to afford it in reality, well I could, but I probably couldn't fish it often enough to warrant paying that much for it, but then I have paid for a Spurs season ticket for years in the past so... I think value is in the eyes of the person.
 
I currently have a proper quandary, in that, although already a member of CAC, Ringwood and Dist AA and Worcester AS, after many years on the waiting list, I have been invited to join Prince Alberts AS.

The membership fee is £130 with a joining fee of £130!

Anyone else on here a member and can advise 😬
 
Keith Humphreys said:
I currently have a proper quandary, in that, although already a member of CAC, Ringwood and Dist AA and Worcester AS, after many years on the waiting list, I have been invited to join Prince Alberts AS.

The membership fee is £130 with a joining fee of £130!

Anyone else on here a member and can advise 😬
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I'm a PAAS member, rejoined a couple of years after a 6 year hiatus.

Lots of waters local to me in Cheshire and and for a NW and WM based angler then PAAS membership is a no brainer tbh.

But if I had Ringwood and CAC tickets and lived in Hants / Dorset then I wouldn't bother with a PAAS ticket, not even for a tenner!

Is there a PAAS water that you are particularly keen to fish?
 
Keith Humphreys said:
I currently have a proper quandary, in that, although already a member of CAC, Ringwood and Dist AA and Worcester AS, after many years on the waiting list, I have been invited to join Prince Alberts AS.

The membership fee is £130 with a joining fee of £130!

Anyone else on here a member and can advise 😬
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Of course you will have a nice Wye bit Keith, but if that's the attraction there is better value locally here.
 
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