Saw this on fly forums. Many of these places seem to be struggling.
http://www.butterstonelochfishings.co.uk/index.php (http://www.butterstonelochfishings.co.uk/index.php)
Not really much of an issue for those interested in fishing for real fish, but it is sad in a way to see a long established fishing loch being closed. I remember fishing there in the mid 1970s when it was owned by Hewlett Packard and fishing for rainbows was not the pathetic circus it is now.
I wonder what will happen to it now? It is a very good pike loch.
Never been, had heard about the Pike though.
Big fancy lodge they have looking at the website, shame for the employees.
Yes shame, fished it many times over the years, resident Ospreys will be pleased!
It and the easate are up for sale if anyone fancies it :)
http://www.gunsonpegs.com/shooting/buy/shoots_for_sale.php?id=3680 (http://www.gunsonpegs.com/shooting/buy/shoots_for_sale.php?id=3680)
Interesting they use the term "open to the general public". Another syndicate water?
Today's report in the Courier.
Apparently they have been running at a loss for several years yet they are surprised no one wanted to buy the fishery.....for £1.5 million!!!!!! (£4m+ for the sporting estate)
Fishermen are concerned that if they stop stocking the loch the nine or so nesting Osprey pairs in the area will suffer.
As with everywhere else, if your business is failing it is no longer viable as a business.
Will there just be no fishing? Or could it be by invitation only?
A.
Not sorry to see it go, when they took over anglers were banned from taking their own engines and had to hire theirs, the prices increased dramatically and the fish weren't any better, they did build a posh new fishing hut only problem with that is anglers tent to sit in the boat to fish not in the hut.
Loch Venachar went down the same road with posh fishing huts now hardly any clubs go up there. if they had kept the price within the reach of the working angler they may well still be in business.
Probably not good news for either the Osprey or the pike.
well i'll miss the place if you lot don't. Spent a day there once in a bit of a daze with all the alcohol. Had to assist two ladies that fell into the water beside the jetty. Yes they were wearing white t-shirts and given i was the youngest non-female person there i was nominated to help which i did.
so there is a place for these fisheries but not necessarily for fishing.
I am pretty sure that was the last rainbow only fishery I ever fished although there were rainbows in both Carron and L Leven as well as brownies. The one place I never gave up was Leven as the fish were just too good.
Anyway, I absolutely hated the place. I know they are much of a muchness under the skin but that place really was horrid and I am pretty sure the fish had some sort of infestation too (Argulus?). One or two of these places down in England were idylllic (like the Test and one or two expensive private puddles) in an artificial way but Butterstone really was the dogs droppings.
Quote from: Malcolm on February 20, 2013, 12:43:08 AM
I am pretty sure the fish had some sort of infestation too (Argulus?).
I heard that too, but it is unverified and therefore should be treated with caution. There may be a lot more Arguluse going around than is admitted.
Not sure that Argulus was the culprit in this case. They did seem to be having problems with the water quality but I think this was down to weather conditions and overstocking, which they were slated for a year or 2 back - a literal stew pond.
I havent fished it for years, it was the worst kind of club outing water and one of the noisiest I had ever been to. The best thing about it was the ospreys but you can see them just about anywhere these days.
Argulus is commonly in the background everywhere; affect one area of the bio-load get a bigger swing response in the other end of the bio-load. Then everything swings about like a wobbling jelly till a new balance is found. New balance could be perfect, or it could just as well be a stank.
Spot on Scot. In a natural environment it seldom causes problems.
If they stop stocking rainbows then it wont be so well known for pike anymore, never fished it !
It's a shame to see anyone lose their job, but other than that I can't see what all the fuss is about. Another retail outlet for farmed fish closes. There are 100s of them, selling sterile rainbows and fake browns so what? :roll:
Worrying thing for local fisheries is the cormorants will move on
Rainbows by there nature (and reinforced by growing up in stock tanks) are meals on wheels for Cormorants. The stockies will shoal by them at regular intervals as they hunt in regular patterns, all the Cormorants need to do is sit and wait for the next serving too come along. Shockeroonie; an analogy between stockiebashers and cormorants.
This isn't a behavior expressed in any native fish, so the theory goes; no stockies, no cormorants.
Pike levels post stockies, that is more of a problem - but that will just get me ranting like a ranting thing...
Know the guy that owns it David Henry, has his fingers in a lot of pies.
Cardney Estate one of them. Took a stake in Nardini in Largs after the family had a fall out. Also turned around an estate down that way. Kelburn I believe. Was CEO of the Co-Op funeral services the largest in the UK. Bought Butterstone 3/4 years ago & built a large café/bistro. Also part owned the tackle & gun shop in Perth, Henry Ramsey Willcox. Butterstone was a popular destination for the Bow people but you are right prices went up & up. Can not understand though why the whole estate is up for sale as I believe it was a good profit making one. The loch on the estate Cardeny is full of giant Trout. I used to get a day or two on it with a friend of the owner. There were Trout in it both Brown & Rainbow up to 20lbs, though I never caught them that big I had some to double figures. Some years ago they stocked it with farmed Salmon & you could pay to catch them though it never caught on & passed away.
Strange one
Tight Lines