Permits and Pricing

Boat fishing permits include the use of a boat for the purpose of fishing at our waters. All boats are fitted with anchors, bailers and oars. Some boats have engines fitted; this is dependent on which ticket you opt for.

Yes! Each price quoted above includes a  limit of fish permitted to be taken per person. All prices are priced per person. A maximum of 2 anglers are permitted in each boat. 3 anglers per boat are occasionally permitted but this is at the discretion of BW staff and boat availability. Catch and release is permitted on all permit types. For more information on good practices of catch and release please see HERE.

The ticket price has been carefully considered amongst fishery management, angling bodies, local clubs and anglers just like yourselves! Bristol Water want to actively engage with key stakeholders and customers alike when it comes to managing change or creating new offerings. In season 2018 a support group was created in an attempt to help drive the department forward positively.

Attendees invited to participate included representatives from the B.R.F.F.A, the Angling Trust, the P.A.C, local guides and instructors and standout long term season ticket holders. The group known as the B.W.S.G (Bristol Water Support Group) meet on a near monthly basis to discuss changes made to our offerings. In this instance, there was a concern that offering a heavily reduced ticket could jeopardize the future financial stability of the department and that, aside from take-able fish, there were other costs to consider other than just ‘quota’ costs with each ticket offering. As with all tickets, a proportion of the ticket cost is associated towards other aspects of your visit. Boat and engine maintenance costs, staffing costs, fuel costs, insurance costs to name just a  few all represent a portion of our ticket costs to the customer. These costs don’t essentially disappear when a fish limit is reduced.

Aside from this, there was also a concern surrounding perception. There are still lots of anglers who don’t choose to catch and release. Some asked ‘why should someone catching 40 fish in a day, pay any less than someone who comes, catches 8, and goes home?’. Irrelevant of whether fish are taken home, the lakes will always need to be stocked when offering a sport fishing offering. Fish don’t live for ever and predation plays its part too. These are all factors that must be considered when generating permit prices.

No, just like all of our ticket offerings, we only permit catch and release before your last fish is dispatched. 

Whilst we have seen relatively good uptake of this ticket type during its trial, around 75% of our customers continued to opt for our standard full day ticket. We are planning to make our ticket offerings simpler in coming seasons. We will continue to review and make changes where appropriate.

We class juniors as youngsters 17 years of age or under and concessions as adults 65 years of age or older.  Both ticket prices are reduced in price to encourage both generations to fish our waters. Juniors can fish for FREE when sharing a permit with a full paying adult. This is at the discretion of our staff.

We aim to get boats on the water by 9am at our waters. This is dependent on times of year, weather and staffing arrangements. Boats must return to the jetties by sunset at the latest at all of our waters.

Unfortunately we are unable to permit fishing any earlier and later than these times due to stringent health and safety policies. We must ensure we protect both our staff and customers. On occasions, boats may be delayed in going out or may be called in early. This is at the discretion of BW Fisheries.

Permits must be purchased through our booking portal. We recommend booking in advance where available. For activities and permit types not available on our booking portal, please enquire by calling the Lakeside Team at Woodford Lodge.

The self-service kiosks situated in the main car parks around our lakes are no longer available for purchasing permits.

Proof of purchase, or season permits, must be produced on request if required by any Bristol Water staff. 

No anglers are to fish without a permit, anyone found doing so may be prosecuted or reported to the police, EA and other fisheries for the offence of poaching.

All full day tickets permit a maximum of 8 fish to be taken (unless otherwise stated). 

Afternoon tickets permit a maximum of 4 fish to be taken. 

Only one brown trout can be dispatched per ticket. 

Catch and release is welcomed on any ticket purchased. 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Some bank areas have restricted access due to some of our sites being within SSSI’s. Please ask a member of staff or call 07741231991 out of hours for the combination. Anglers are required to lock gates behind them, failure to do so may result in exclusion from our waters.

Yes! We want to encourage youngsters into the sport of fly fishing. We permit juniors to share the limit with any full paying adult; please enquire by calling the Lakeside Team at Woodford Lodge if you'd like to book this option. The option of a junior ticket is there should a junior also wish to also have a limit of fish.  The choice is yours!

Full day bank permits allow an angler to start fishing 1 hour before sunrise until 1 hour after sunset. Afternoon tickets start from 3pm.