6 -8lb? All I have to do now is decide whether or not I can resist the temptation to come up and see what one of those will do to my old K.P.Morrit intrepid and Sharpe's Scottie. Hmmm.

Goatstoes.

what do you think of the website goatstoes,any comments welcome,and give that old k.p morrit/sharpes scottie run on one of those big 8lb trout your names on one.
john

John,
Don't know if I would risk bringing the old girl out of her much deserved retirement but I still use the morrit intrepids as my everyday reels. Jimmy and I are coming up Saturday for a stint. Catch you then if you're not working. Haven't seen the website yet, going there now.

Goatstoes

i am a regular at selmmuir and have never blanked yet the fish are great condition and what a fight they give you keep up the good work see you soon john

I see on the Selmuir website that the prices for c&r have been changed along with a change in the fish limit. It is now a 10 fish limit whatever c&r option one chooses, but the 4 hour ticket has been increased to £12.00 from £10.00, with a charge of £2.00 for each hour therafter.
I wonder how many people have sussed out what the REAL cost of fishing there now is. Previously an 8 hour c&r was £13.00 with an 11 fish limit. Your 8 hours will now cost you £20.00 and the limit is one fish less!. The 6 hour ticket was £11.50 with a limit of 9 fish. It will now cost £16.00, which means one now has the privelige of being allowed to catch one extra fish for the sum of £4.50. That's an expensive fish considering it is going back!. Considering the new lesees have only had it open for about six weeks one could be forgiven for thinking there might be a hidden agenda at work here.
Perhaps John could tell us what the thinking behind the change was?

Goatstoes.

hi goatstoes
yes i have change my catch/release ticket to which i think will benifit selmmuir fishery,i sell 90% catch and kill tickets at my fishery,i lost 8 fish last week alone and that is the fish we could see, am not saying that they all are from catch/release but most of them yes,i don't want fish swimming about selmmuir with white fungus head/body and that is why my fish tickets have not changed and are very keenly priced ie 4hrs-3fish then 4fish c/r only £16 or a full days 8hrs-5fish then 6fish c/r only £23,the fish i stock are all A grade fish and the fishing at selmmuir is excellent just now with some great fish coming out,
i can't believe your comment (one could be forgiven for thinking there might be a hidden agenda at work here)sorry goatstoes i dont have any hidden agenda, all am trying to do is get selmmuir a top class small water,i spend time with every angler that needs my help at my fishery and give more of my flies away to anglers than i sell,i now have a 9yrs lad and his dad fishing selmmuir that 5 weeks ago could barely fish i personally spend time with them every time they come and tonight they bagged up,i cant make anglers fish selmmuir, i can only try and run selmmuir the way i think will work best and i must be doing something right because i have over 15 regular fishermen that fish my water at least twice per week and each week more new people are comimg to fish selmmuir and as you say i have only been open for about six weeks so am still learning about running a fishery so there will be changes along the way some right some wrong maybe,the way selmmuir is going forward this year am very happy and again i will help any angler to catch fish at selmmuir,goatstoes give me a call or come up to selmmuir and i will give you my fish invoices so far for selmmuir and you tell me how much your tickets would be if you owned selmmuir fishery and i forgot insurance,petrol,rent/morgage,genorater,printing tickets/books,running car, and nearly forgot wages,till you have your own fishery please dont have a go at someone that is tying there best to run one.
john kelly
owner selmmuir fishery

John,
Sit doon and have a cup of tea! It is not my intention to have a go at anyone running a fishery, believe me I know it isn't an easy task, I'm aware of the costs and the work involved so there's no argument to be had from me on that score. My point about a hidden agenda was not about any attempt by yourself to deceive, it was because the actual cost to someone wanting to fish for a full session on c&r had not gone up by a small amount, the increase is more than 50%, yet the limit is reduced.
But your reply posits two questions; you acknowledge that not all of the fish lost are a result of c&r, then go on to say most of them
were, but how can you know this? These losses have occurred at a time when due to water temperatures being as they are fish deaths are to be expected especially if stocking density is increased. I know that fungused fish swimming around is not something anglers want to see but at certain times of the year and under some conditions it is quite normal. Even stopping c&r altogether won't change that.
The other question your reply raises is, if you are selling 90% fish kill tickets then how does increasing the c&r prices benefit the fishery? The fish losses which you believe are due to c&r could just as easily have been fish which were returned by anglers on kill tickets, or fish which have got off while being played, or, as I suspect, neither.
No, I am not accusing you of anything untoward, and my apologies if it seemed that way, but if these increases are designed to discourage any increase in c&r ticket sales then I think those who do not want to take fish ( and I'm one of them, I can't stand the blooming things ) will feel unfairly penalised.
And stop overreacting every time I have a dig, just think of me as the Jeremy Paxman of the fishery world!

Catch you later,

Goatstoes.

I have criticized fisheries in the past on issues such as pricing, stocking, rules and fairness to anglers, privately and publicly and I feel that some (not all) of my criticisms were justified as a customer. I feel that running a fishery is a bit of a tightrope at times and like any other service you will please some of the people some of the time.

Selmmuir has recently re-opened under new management and in my opinion better management, it will take time for the new management to bed in and get the fishery running to the way they want and I would expect some changes along the way.

I recently wrote in another discussion that if it were me I'd be charging £40 for a day ticket, it's possible that the place would be empty and would fail at this price but if you consider the costs involved in running a small stillwater to the satisfaction of a growing population of demanding anglers then it would be appropriate in my view.

If prices are increased then it's up to individual anglers to make up there own mind whether or not it's a fair price to pay. I think the 6hr ticket offers the best value in this equation and I'd be happy to pay £16 for top quality stillwater fishing.

Surely it's the quality of the fish you catch thats important and enjoying your fishing rather than hauling 20/30 trout for a tenner that's important. If you want to fish for quality trout then you'll have to pay for quality trout, it's a business not a charity.

Douglas

hi goatstoes
why do you alway have to have digs at myself or selmmuir,i can't recall you posting on this forum when you fished my water with your fishing pals and you all caught your limits and if i recall you caught two fish on same cast that day,after all this is a fishing forum and not a forum to have digs at people,and then you say at the end of your post i quote (stop overeacting every time i have a dig,just think of me as the jeremy paxman of the fishery world!)goatstoes every person that has fished selmmuir since i have taken over have been back to fish again, am not doing that bad at running a fishery after only 6 weeks so give me a break and if you can think of anything that will help selmmuir to become better fishery please phone me or come up to selmmuir and have a chat with me, you are alway welcome just to pop in for a coffee.ps selmmuir is fishing great the fish are just under the surface feeding,green buzzers/black buzzers and black snachers or dry flies klinkhammer in black or suspender buzzers doing great.
john
selmmuir still open till 10pm