Would you buy?

The recent sale of Burton Mere to the RSPB has got me thinking, it went for about 1 million pounds, now I sure as hell am not a financier but I do own a little bit of land here and there, I believe it to be a good, long term investment, once purchased it cost next to nothing to keep.

Who among you would be interested in purchasing land and a fishery? I am not talking about large sums of cash individually, but something like a shares option or cooperative for anglers, where they have the chance to buy a little bit of a venue and the use of it for say, £1 a share?

Is it feasible ? does anyone know if it could be done or would it be too complicated?


"Always look on the bright side of life"

Bob I know many of the Wildlife Trusts operate in such a manner to buy up threatened areas of land, woodlands, etc. They negotiate a price with the owner, then set about raising the money from members/supporters, rarely fail to reach the target.If they can do it, I see no reasons why angling can’t! It has been muted that this is an area the new single representative body should get into.

You’re dammed right it is and as a way of drawing in, by ‘Early Wins,’ the doubters and cynics, I believe it should be one of the primary target aims when set up!

There would I think be a way of rewarding the Threatened Water Purchase Fund subscribers with discount or free fishing for their valued contributions. The failure to set up such a fund would be a gross dereliction of their function in my view. This problem is not going to go away, it is only going to become more acute as time goes on.

Prime waters that can only be fished by advance bookingsession tickets through the ACA (or the future larger governing body) would be a real incentiveto join. That way thenames would be known of those fishing, and any litter left or damage caused could be acted on through a ban.

This could be another way of approaching the RSPB and others where there is a risk of losing an existing fishery, ACA members being those who have already shown a commitment to the future of the sport. Pre-booking by named anglers means that any problems can be traced and dealt with.

I don't think buying shares in a fishery would be that attractive.

I know of a nice 2 acre pond that has been valued at around £100,000. The fishing is fairly good because thenumber of anglers fishing it daily averages about four or five throughout the year.

Divide the property into £1 shares and you will have to find 100,000 purchasers - who would want to fish a small pond if 99,999 anglers have the right to fish it as well ?

The legal side of selling and buying shares would be complex. Will the shareholder be allowed to sell it on the open market? Or can must shareholders sell unwanted shares back to the committee responsible for managing the property.

Bob its a very good idea.I think it may cost more than a ?1 each tho.

I beleave that Kingfisher lake was bought up many years ago on a kind of owning a share of the lake.

I think it was many thousands each that would give the individual a life long share of the lake to fish.The person could also I believe sell their share to another person who was accepted by the rest of the fisherman.It seems a bit eliteist but it is a good thought.Please feel free to correct me if I got this wrong.

I had one of the original horseshoe tickets that I bought privately some years back.I only had the last three years on it but it was a hell of a bargain for the original ten year plan.

There must be some great waters still around either stocked or unstocked.All that would need to be done would be to agree a price and time frame on the lease of even better purchased outright.

All you would need to do then would be to advertise and get the reqired amount of anglers to fork out their cash for a life long investment in a part share of the fishery.

I do however think that it would be a far more feasible plan if the amount of anglers was limited to a number in the hundred rather than thousands.Doing this is in effect creating a co-owned syndicate.

As to the legal side I wouldnt have a clue.

Also depending on the nature of the water a certain amount of maintenece would be needed.Either the syndicate would have agree to put a certain amount of money in each for this to be done.Another way would be work parties etc.

In the end tho I rekon someone is gonna have to look after the water,so you might aswell get your own lake,get a good syndicate and take a wage from this and manage the water yourself!If only it was that easy.

The other option is to form your own fishing club and use the ticket revenue to rent waters.

Cheers

sounds a great idea but some good points have been mentioned above but well worth looking into.