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Make more money from your fishery!

Our ‘Top 10 Tips’ on how to make more money from your fishery this year. Not all are easy and most require some investment – but they will definitely help to increase the revenue from your fishery

It’s hard work owning or running a fishery business – you may do it out of passion and your love for angling, but your fishery needs to pay the bills and put money in your pocket, even after the taxman has taken his share! Having spoken to hundreds of fishery owners over the years, we’ve compiled a list of our Top 10 ideas to help your fishery make more money.

1) Stock a couple of big uns’

It may seem like a cost, rather than a way of putting money in your pocket, but having some specimen fish really does help. News gets around the angling community when records are broken or large fish start appearing at a venue. Bluebell lakes is known for its record breaking 59lb carp and anglers travel from throughout the country to try to catch them, returning again and again. Linear Fisheries in Oxfordshire is another example of how big fish attract anglers.

Bluebell Lakes

One of the big ones from Bluebell Lakes.

2) Competitions and matches

Makins Fishery in Warwickshire has a packed out schedule of competitions with a match which anglers can enter running most days. Clubs also regularly use the venue to book their matches. If your venue has multiple lakes you should consider making one of them a match lake and allow clubs to book with discounted rates for bigger events. A single match booking with 30 to 40 anglers can generate several hundred quid in just one booking, and they often return again and again. Start by contacting the club secretaries.

3) Provide accommodation

We’re finding on our site that more and more anglers are booking longer sessions so providing accommodation at your fishery can really help push up revenue. A 24-hour session may give you £25, but if you have a lodge, pod or some kind of accommodation then your booking fees can exceed £100 for the night with many anglers booking two, three or more nights. You can go up market too, like Alvechurch Fisheries has done by installing a stunning converted shipping container, or these luxury lakeside pods at New Farm Fishery which come equipped with hot tubs.

The modern new glamping pods at New Farm Fishery in Cheshire

New pods at New Farm Fishery which come equipped with hot tubs.

4) Host Angling workshops

The Carp Society hosts educational workshops at Horseshoe Lake in Gloucestershire which bring in hundreds of new anglers each year by  providing valuable insights into carp fishing techniques. Get In contact with local schools, groups and clubs to see if your venue can host workshops and special events for them. If they work well you’ll probably get repeat bookings as well as individual anglers returning again and again.

5) The Angling Trust

There is a membership fee to join, but there are also many benefits including legal support and promotion on their website – but there is a massive benefit to joining the Angling Trust in that you can get your venue involved in what the Trust is doing. They are always looking for venues that want to support angling and attract  new people into the sport.

6) Make your fishery attractive to non-anglers

Kings Lakes in Devon has seven fishing lakes to cater for anglers, but also provide lovely accommodation, play areas, a nature reserve and onsite animals including Jack, the friendly Shetland pony!  Arrow Valley offer walking, orienteering, disc golf and sailing. Making your venue attractive to the whole family allows you to charge holiday prices rather than day ticket fees, with an average weekly booking being in excess of £800 and over £1,000 in the summer.

Arrow Valley offer sailing, Orienteering, disc golf and a cafe

7) Go exclusive

Some anglers want an entire lake to themselves and several of our customers have made some of their lakes available on an exclusive basis.  Lakes of around one or two acres with three or four pegs can be booked for exclusive use. Arrow Meadow for example allow anglers to book the entire lake for three or four days at a time, with bookings bringing around the £500 each.

8) Do online marketing

You can’t rely on word of mouth these days. Anglers love to try new venues and the first place they look is on Google. If they can’t find your fishery amongst the hundreds of results in Google, then the best thing is to join a fishing venue website like ours. We do all the marketing for you and promote your venue so that anglers find you. We also have a big mailing list of anglers which we market your venue to. Drop us a line if you want us to improve your online presence.

9) Collaborate with angling personalities

One notable example of a fishing venue in the UK collaborating with a fishing influencer is Linear Fisheries in Oxfordshire partnering with renowned angler and YouTube personality Ali Hamidi. Known for his expertise in carp fishing, Ali has collaborated with Linear Fisheries on various occasions, promoting their lakes, events, and facilities to his large following of avid anglers. This collaboration has not only increased visibility for Linear Fisheries but also attracted a wider audience of anglers eager to experience the opportunities offered at the venue.

10) Sell your own bait and tackle

From selling your own pellets to having a fully stocked tackle shop onsite – providing bait and tackle can help boost revenue. It’s also convenient for the angler not to have to go to a tackle shop beforehand. Rib Valley Angling in Hertfordshire features a well-stocked tackle shop that contributes significantly to their revenue by providing anglers with a diverse selection of tackle options and expert advice –  ultimately boosting on-site spending and profitability.

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Written by Steve
Steve's been an angler since the age of 12, when he caught his first perch on his local canal in Warwickshire. An avid float angler for over 30 years, Steve's just as passionate about angling now, whether stick float fishing on the Avon or at his local gravel pit fishing for spring time Tench.

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