Am sitting here really quite shocked !

In the last couple of weeks I have had two meetings with the recreational manager of the forestry commission (Will Huckberry ?) and the new head of the 1st National park of Scotland, Fiona Logan.
We sell permits on behalf of the forestry commission, they own a large number of waters in Scotland and we are blessed with having some wonderful waters in the area namely, Loch Drunkie, Loch Achray, Loch Lubnaig, Loch Venacher and Loch Chon, to mention but a few
It came to my notice that although the brown trout fishing season in Scotland began on the 15th of March the forestry owned water Loch Drunkie was not opened having sold a number of season permits already I have been getting phone calls asking when the drive was to be opened.  The answer I got back was if I wanted to pay someone to go and open and close the gate then I should do it ! You can imagine that got my back up !

Having contacted the recreational manager I was informed that the drive was never opened in the winter ! I had to inform him the the 15th of March was the start of the brown trout season in Scotland and therefore no longer the winter, that all brown trout fishing in Scotland was open, he explained that this winter they had a lot of wind fall and that there were still logging lorries in the park and that the road was in need of repair.
He told me the drive would be opened Friday 11th of April from 10am to 5pm. The drive is still not opened this is Tuesday 15th April one month to the day since the start of the season!

I asked him if he was aware that fishing and gardening were the two biggest hobbies in Britain, by his reaction I could tell he was surprised by this, he admitted he was not a fisherman ! ( I repeat this is the recreational manager of the forestry commission.)
Every year we collect thousands of pounds of permit money for the commission I asked him what restocking policy they have for there waters and what the money I collected was used for. They do not have a restocking policy ! The money is used to repair the roads, pay for litter picking and baillifing and to improve car parking facilities  so the tourist can enjoy the scenery !

The Trossachs national park was created a few years ago with the idea of encouraging the tourist to visit this beautiful part of Scotland and enjoy all the resources the park has to offer, so why is there no restocking policy ? Apart from encouraging visitors to enjoy the wild life in the park by way of putting much need facilities in, like toilets, camping spaces with barbecue pits and car parks so that the access is good, theses visitors are coming to enjoy the recreational sports like canoeing, sailing, swimming, walking,bird watching (the ospreys are amazing, to see one dive into the water and pick out a wild brown trout is very special  AND FISHING ! however if we do not restock these natural resources how long does the National park and the forestry think they can keep going before there are no fish left in the area for fishermen and the natural wild life and then how many tourist will come to enjoy the park with no fish and no wildlife.

I put these questions to Fiona Logan head of the National park her answer was she will look into it !

There is one water that is stocked yearly..Loch Earn, the Aberfoyle protection league for Loch Ard have decided to stock there water this year (sincerely, well done guys)  Loch Lubnaig was stocked by the riparian owner a few years ago, he went to the forestry commission who part own the water and asked for a contribution and they refused !
I can only ask what will the park be like in a few years when we have used up the natural resources ? No wild life, no tourists !

There are a number of other issues in the Park, the water board have removed all of the sheep from Loch Katrine because of cryptosporidium, with out regular grazing the bracken gets a hold and is then very difficult to remove, the forestry commission and the woodland trust are cutting and replanting trees so large areas have been fenced of to stop the deer from accessing these spots, there is no fishing on Katrine as the lease holder has given up because there is not enough fishermen using his boats. Take a trip on the Sir Walter Scott (steamer on Loch Katrine) and you will be lucky if you see anything alive !

I would like to hear your responses to this long winded blog !