Since PWF actively manages the fishing pressure at each property and blocks out dates where no fishing is allowed, can this be shown on the reservation calendar for each property?

Bill Fetech

That would nice!

Sorry for the delayed response, we have been delivering fish for the past 4 days and got back last night.

This question has many answers and is asked often. Let me do my best to answer why we do not identify which are rest days and which days are fishing days on the calendar. At the risk of sounding defensive, let me say, I am unaware of any club that even attempts to monitor fishing pressure. If you were a member of Woodvale, Coon Creek, Ferndale, or any of the other dozens private fishing clubs there would be NO monitoring of fishing pressure. You simply pay your $10,000 to $100,000 initiation fee and pay your $2000 to $5000 annual dues and go fish as often as you like. Some days you go to the lake and no one is there, sometimes you go and 5 or more boats are on the water with you. Sometimes you go, and 10 people had been the day or two before and sometimes no one has been for a week. You simply have no idea. All other models are based on paying an upfront fee, annual fee and go as often as you like. You could go everyday and pay the same price as the guy who fishes twice a year. They do not have the staff, budget, thought process or have some other reason for not wanting to manage the pressure. Our model monitors pressure and we allow lakes to rest. Our most popular lakes rest at least 17 to 24 days a month. Our less popular lakes rest even LONGER. The most we fish any single lake in a given month is 12 days. Our premium properties even less. Sure we could fish them more often and make more money; but we believe this is short term thinking. For example, we could fish our hottest new lake, Mt. Pleasant Broseco Ranch, every day this month and in turn make $15,000 to $30,000 for the month. We chose to fish it 7 days in April and look for a long term perspective.  We will not fish this lake more than 8 days a month, usually 6 to 7 days.

Now, to the why don't show which days on the reservation calendar?

1) Everybody has their own idea on how much pressure is too much. Some want the lake to rest 2 weeks before their trip, others don't care if someone fished the morning before their afternoon reservation. We simply don't want to have to  answer e-mails or phone calls from members who want to know why we rested the lake 4 days before X reservation but only 2 days before their reservation. Understanding each type or reservation is key. See number 2).

2) Pressure comes in all kinds of ways. For example 4 guys fishing all day is different than 1 guy fishing a 1/2 day. Moreover, a 50 acre lake can handle more pressure than a 10 acre lake. I actually had a reservation system custom developed, that automatically built in rest days based on the size of the lake, number or fisherman and duration of their trip. There criteria had a numeric weighted value and this value determined the amount of rest. After thousands of dollars we scrapped the system, it was simply too rigid.  The reality is each lake is different and IMO, there are too many factors that go into pressure that it is better left to human discretion.

3) Cumulative pressure is more important than consecutive days fishing. For example, San Saba and Ferris see lots of reservations during the year, but we rest the lakes in the winter. The fish have a chance to feed without a hook.

I'm sure I have left a couple of things out, but our reason is not to be sneaky or hide anything, it is for the reasons mentioned above. We are not perfect and we always have to monitor rest vs allowing another reservation.

Sincerely,

Steve

Steve. Now that I know the basic number of days a busy properly is fished and rested, I do not see the need for this info on the calendars. I thought each property was fished more frequently. Thanks for ensuring the health and viability of each property 

Bill Fetech 

Thank you for that stumble moment when i found this club,  a TFF post and i was WOW...excellent observation and clarity to the question....

this forum needs a LIKE button

Wow!! Some of that info needs to be built into the advertising information for the club. I look at the fishing calendars for most lakes in my area on a regular basis even if I'm not going. This clarifies a lot of things to me. One of which was why lakes were being fished "according to the calendar" so much yet their are so few fishing reports for that same time period. It seemed to me that very few people posted any kind of info. Now that the day's fished in much smaller than I anticipated things make more sense  ..... Thanks Steve....great info.  I continue to learn more about the club and each time it's knowledge that impresses me.

Kelly. I was thinking this info should be on the home page. Your suggestion is even better. 

I also watch the reservations for the properties I fish and thought why are there so few reports. Now I understand 

GREAT job PWF!!!!

Bill Fetech 

many years ago when i joined the club i asked the same question and Steve explained then about the monitoring ... he did a wonderful job explaining then, as he did this time around,, our club does a great job and spends lots of hours for the benefit of us members .. thanks to Steve, Seth, and cant leave out Kerri