South West Water

[rider12351]

Is it to do with the insurance this launch fee, if a boat hits you type of thing? just a thought!!!!

[bracken]

I don't think it has anything to do with insurance. As a member of the BFTA we have our own public liability insurance which was an essential pre-requisite to getting on many waters.

In days of yore when the BFTA first started, the club agreed to pay launch fees on many waters in order to gain permission to fish them, possibly as a sop to those boat and bank anglers who incorrectly argued that float tubers would decimate fish stocks etc. etc. I guess that current fishery management are just carrying on the trend, and also fisheries are trying to maximise income in any way possible. As you can see from prior postings however, there is a limit beyond which we will not accept! Ravensthorpe shot itself in the foot by hiking this unnecessary fee when we all walked away. In this instance we are still not sure whether it was an Anglian Water edict after they allowed kayaks on the water, (they are in the same position that float tubers were twenty odd years ago, where they are trying to get onto waters and apparently willing to pay), or whether it was an over-enthusiatic scheme implemented by a fishery warden. Whichever reason, it cost them at least some income. (Ravensthorpe was a very popular venue and several of us went there other than on competition days).

[rider12351]

Cheers for the reply I went to click fishing and asked the guy there he said it was to do with insurance but he was quit wrong it seems anyway thanks for the reply and the history found it very interesting

[bracken]

No problem. Launch fees are something I can get quite enthused about. If waters were to make provision for launching float tubes - steady gravel sloping ramps etc with a nice handrail, then I could see the argument for them. However on some fisheries you walk backwards a few paces over a very uneven rocky bottom and then sit down - without knowing that you are over anything from 50 to 150 feet of water a few feet further out. Where? Wimbleball and Drift are two examples. On others, cloying mud will curl over your fins and effectively stick you to the bottom. Walking down concrete boat ramps may seem like a good idea - until you step on the silkweed and do some impromptu water skiing - you will get a few cheers from the onlookers but not much sympathy. If fisheries were at all bothered about your safety and insurance they would rectify the situation, or as in the case of United Utilities ban all float tubing under some spurious edict.

Most fisheries work on the basis that you are 'big-boys and girls' now, that you know the risks and that they will have the money anyway.

It's a bit like my other rant about a certain caravan organisation, who always charge extra for dogs. Why? They don't feed them or walk them, or indeed in most case make any provision for them to walked. Admittedly pooch might drink a bit of water, but he would have to go some to get to £1.50 a days worth. They also have a habit of charging extra for cars towed in by a motorhome, but don't charge for the car that tows a caravan on site. You have to pay for your visitors to be allowed on some sites too. Why?

Money grabbing or what?