Want to get paid to fish for salmon?

[Wildfisher]

Saw this on Fly Forums

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/salmon-fishing/286680-vacancy-ghillie-dee-headinch-cambus-o%92may.html

Incidentally these salmo  fishings  people email me all the time for some reason and I think this may be the same "Greig" who was featured in a video about the South Esk going  on about goosander predation. He seemed to believe  goosanders are sea birds. These guys really should try to get the basic facts right if they want to be taken seriously. 

I'm not sure about the ethics of this business of having the staff  fishing to get the return numbers up either.

[Allan Crawford]

My perfect job, on my day off I would go trout fishing 

I think we touched on this subject fairly recently. I get a good bit of fishing this way I wouldnt otherwise have a chance at, when they cant sell the rods, the gillie invites his pals (local rods he knows can fish) to fish so that any fish caught are included in catch returns. All rules are followed and I dont see any problem with this.

[Wildfisher]

All rules are followed and I dont see any problem with this.

Technically you are right of course, but I still feel it's a bit "sharp" to be honest. Yes the fish are still caught, but not by clients and perhaps that should be made clear?

[Allan Crawford]

They certainly shouldnt be hiding it and done openly in the correct spirit !

But I've heard from others of beats employing more under hand tactics or what would otherwise be called cooking the books.

[Fishtales]

Look on it like free advertising. They get catch returns for times that people don't think there are any fish in the river so they don't come. When they view the catch returns they see that there could be fish there so the rods might be sold the following year. It is a double edge sword though, the more fish caught the more they pay in sporting tax, not enough fish and no-body wants to pay for the fishing.

[Inchlaggan]

Not sure that I agree there Fred. Many times I've heard the complaint from guests "nae fish in that water, I want my money back". Demonstating that there are fish to be taken (by the methods allowed) on a regular basis is a key aspect of the business.

[Otter Spotter]

I think this is a regular occurrence on some beats of the Tay and I have encountered junior Ghillie's fishing 'to keep the catch returns up'. I suppose that they need to keep the punters coming somehow. If there are no rods out the fish are still there but people see no fish caught as no fish there (as opposed to nobody out fishing), clearly a fair bit of willy waving goes on between the beats as they try and get the required footfall of anglers and this seems to be based purely on the numbers caught.
On the other hand if you are getting the offer of free or greatly reduced fishing as Allan is it would be hard to knock back.
I have offered my services in this dept to a couple of the Tay guys but I am sure they take competence into account which would place me firmly at the bottom of the list :lol:

Mr S. T. Man is part of the salmo lot. You can go trophy hunting on lochy or arkaig (for a heavy fee of course), with the legend himself. Of course if you feel that you simply couldnt handle the awe of his presence you can buy a permit for about a tenner or hire a boat for around £40 and try it out yourself. Big bushy flies fished into the bank (Pretty much like everywhere else).

I am sooooo tempted to hire him for a days guiding and invite Fachan along for the craic, just to see how it went  :lol:

[Wildfisher]

Many times I've heard the complaint from guests "nae fish in that water

Yes, but is that not due to too many of those salt water goosanders?   :lol:

Clearly there are different views on the honesty / morality / transparency of this and that's fair enough, but what happens if the
ghillie repeatedly doesn't catch anything on these client-less days?   Is he under pressure at pain of  dismissal? That might go some way to explaining the rather unfortunate behavior Burnie experienced last year.

[Allan Crawford]

Mr S. T. Man is part of the salmo lot. You can go trophy hunting on lochy or arkaig (for a heavy fee of course), with the legend himself. Of course if you feel that you simply couldnt handle the awe of his presence you can buy a permit for about a tenner or hire a boat for around £40 and try it out yourself. Big bushy flies fished into the bank (Pretty much like everywhere else).

I'm sure he was guided for that article because I recognized the boat which belongs to a local guide, I've spoken with this guy a few times we have similar boats and always talk boats!

[Otter Spotter]

Yes, but is that not due to too many of those salt water goosanders?   :lol:

Clearly there are different views on the honesty / morality / transparency of this and that's fair enough, but what happens if the
ghillie repeatedly doesn't catch anything on these client-less days?   Is he under pressure at pain of  dismissal? That might go some way to explaining the rather unfortunate behavior Burnie experienced last year.

An interesting point Fred, the guys I refer to in my previous post WERE under pressure to get fish, 9-10pm at night (As I am fishing it at times to avoid the salmon anglers). Didnt think of that at the time though I just thought lucky gits getting to fish all day for a job, looking back they were probably desperate to get home for the day.