What's the deal with this? Is it good, bad or neither? Really don't understand why a 3rd party has to get in-between the angler and fishery owner who can talk to you about the fishery.

In reply to Post #1
It's not a bad idea - at least you know how many are on before going - but I don't get why we have to pay for the booking fee, surely the lake owner should pay that as it's making his life easier.

But that's their business model, and I know a few lake owners that have pulled out as it's not been that well received by the regulars.

In reply to Post #1
There has been similar threads/posts on this previous .

Personally I absolutely detest Catch App,I hate the booking fee,I really do not like Catch App at all,it goes totally against the freedom,and ethos of which angling is represented..

I have visited but one SWLT ,water since its inception ,I have mailed them and I'm not the only one..this from an individual who has spent a long time fishing various waters ,coupled with potential APNR ,systems incoming or already in situ, the digital surveillance puts me off..

Sold some rods,back along to a well known fishery owner ,he's removed Catch App..from his waters.....

In reply to Post #3
Booking fee?!!! Is it deducted from the fishing fees??

In reply to Post #4
Nope, and that's why I don't like it. Having to pay the app just to pay for a day ticket. It's like all the extra fees when you buy gig tickets, never understood why you have to pay to get an e-ticket!

In reply to Post #5
It's everything these days.. drives me nuts. We seem to have gone to paying to spend money.

Way to many middlemen getting paid for doing **** all.

Pay to order food, pay to order a taxi, pay to book a swim, pay to book a concert/train/plane ticket I could go on, but you get the jist.

Edit* I did recently used Fish App, which lets you book trout/salmon beats. I can't remember, but I'll assume that also had a processing fee. Worked well though.

In reply to Post #5
FFS. Can you still book direct with the fisheries on the app, or do you have to go through it?

In reply to Post #6
What's worse is when there's no middle man. LiveNation run a lot of festivals (like Download for example) but still charge a booking fee, ticket delivery, etc. Probably a tax dodge!

Doesn't stop me going tho

Here's something I forgot about ..

I managed to get to fish a small cliffside lake ,maybe two years ago ..only way to legally try the place was with swimbooker..

So I mugged myself off and booked a day ,previous to that I paid at the farm ..since I was 15 ..

Got to the lake ,carnage ,dead and damaged cypry all over,massive pred attack ,otters..

Contacted swimbooker,asked for my money back ,and I got it..!!!!!

In reply to Post #8
I think that's what I'm more annoyed at, I pay it

I must admit I gave up on concerts a while back due to the prices going obscene. Download does always look like fun though.

I haven't used other apps, but as mentioned before I used fishpal for salmon and it was a really useful tool for finding beats on rivers I'm not familiar with and made access to these easier.
I think any booking/processing should be incurred by the fishery as it is essentially an app marketing to a much wider audience and takes away the hassle of money on the bank/car machines. That said I wouldn't be surprised if the fishery does pay a % of the ticket fee as well.

In reply to Post #10
Festivals aren't too bad - download was £300 including camping for 3 days and there wasn't a moment I wasn't watching a band. Mainly because I avoided the salmonella laden chicken stall, so wasn't in the toilet

Pantera next year - £110 for standing tickets for a 90 min set, plus hotel. Rammstein was similar but at least they have an awesome stageshow. I love how they are "doing it for the fans" but then charge ££££££

Much rather see bands in small venues - recently seen Soulfly and got Cradle of Filth/Murderdolls/Opeth/BFMV/Trivium coming up and all less than £50 a ticket.

At least I wasn't paying Swifty prices for tickets

Makes £30 for a 24hr ticket seem not so bad.......

In reply to Post #1
There's an App for everything theses days, why not fishing. We're paying a premium for our angling these days. So paying an admin charge on top is a bit grating in my eyes. Do what I done recently when I fished a water who used one of these Apps to book a swim. Phoned the fishery themselves though they did yry and direct me to the app declared my self a technophobe. Said can I pay Cash. (Remember that) on arrival which he was happy to do. Cash is still king in a lot of businesses thankfully.

So you use an app to book a swim before you've even had a look at the lake? What if the swim you've paid to book looks dead?

In reply to Post #13
Don't fish that lake. When no-one books on for a few weeks they may get the message, or go bust. How can any serious carp fisherman., book a peg without walking the lake. I've had many times when I've turned up and the only pegs available are useless. Go in or go elsewhere. That's you're only choice. Chances of moving in the short term are zero. If you can't reach the fish may as well go home.. on a social you may stay for the craic. You aint catching if they are all up the other end.

In reply to Post #13
A lot of fisheries, not all mind, use these Apps are overstocked Mudholes. So you can be pretty quaranteed there's fish in most swims..