Your letters

ADAM CHUMBLEY, NORTHUMBERLAND

I have been thinking recently about day tickets and in this modern electronic world, should we modernise these a little? We SHOULD modernise paper tickets on the bank, but my idea IS paper tickets on the bank! We should instal car park-style ticket machines at venues to enable people to buy a ticket for the day. They do not need to be manned 24/7 but can be operational 24/7 and even record the time the angler started fishing. The clubs, commercial owners etc can set the fee, time restrictions and concessions, which they do anyway and collect money daily if required, or even allow card payments! Angling clubs could do this on their waters. There are machines that read parker's season tickets and these could read members season permits and allow them to fish after swiping in. This would have the benefit of recording the numbers fishing too. This data could then be used by the club to review how many members are using their waters and even supply evidence to the EA when discussing stocking etc. I am sure extra evidence on angler numbers would help the EA or Angling Trust when deciding where to spend money on stocking fish. A machine could also dispense rod licences, no excuses for not having a rod licence at venues either. I can’t see a defence, if the machine was working, for someone fishing at the venue to claim “I don’t have a ticket or licence”. I am sure the initial outlay would not be cheap but at least let's trial this on popular venues. I think clubs could benefit and this could help modernise fishing and allow all to fish, while paying to do so.