The 2016 fishing seasons are all about to get underway over the next few weeks and I am sure you, like me, are looking forward to that first cast of the season and to other dates already secured throughout the year.
I wanted to remind you of the fact that we have our very own exclusive FishPal Insurance Policy that has four main areas of cover, namely –
What is covered?
Trip Cancellation by you due to unavoidable events beyond your control.
Flooding disruption where no fishing at all is possible due to flood conditions on the beat.
Personal property: Repair or replacement of damaged, lost or stolen property.
Personal Liability: Legal expenses and or third party claims.
Personal inability to fish: If you fall ill, suffer sprain or are injured during the period of insurance.
As an angler, I am sure we can all remember days when we were unable to fish because the river was in flood. The “Flooding Disruption” cover that comes with this policy is clearly deemed to be one of the most important features on offer within the policy that will prevent you from losing out financially if the river is in flood and unfishable.
We have learned a number of things from having had the policy now for over a year and I wanted to share some of these with you. The list below is not meant to be exhaustive in any way and we will no doubt add to the list as we continue to learn of other different scenarios throughout the year.
Learning points to reinforce
1. It is the responsibility of the ghillie (or river representative if there isn’t a ghillie) to decide when a beat is unfishable due to high water and potentially dangerous to fish. If a ghillie were to allow some anglers to fish, there will be no entitlement to make a claim for those who do not fish.
2. The cover is for high water only and not low or coloured water – you can always fish in low water.
3. There are significant exclusions that would mean you were unable to take out the cover which are mainly medically related – here is the link for the full details.
4. The cover has just got cheaper as we have changed our Insurance company – here is the breakdown of what it costs:-
What is the cost?
10% on the first £500 and then 5% on the remaining balance of the cost of your fishing (including any VAT on that fishing). Payable on booking, or on addition of the cover to an existing booking. Minimum premium £10 per rod/day.
Included in this cost is Insurance Premium Tax at 20%. The policy has a £50 excess.
5. You must try to relet your fishing via FishPal before a claim can be made if your claim is due to circumstances beyond the river being unfishable e.g. Medical reasons
6. You are not covered for claims where not all fishing facilities are totally closed. If a ghillie allows an angler to fish then others cannot make a claim if they decide not to fish or travel.
7. If you are making a claim then the claim form needs to be signed off by the ghillie if the claim is related to high water.
8. The insurance company will need the claim form and the original booking confirmation sent to you.
9. If you have booked fishing for more than one day and only a part of the fishing is unfishable due to high water then you can claim for the days you were unable to fish.
10. Insurance can be taken out/added on to a booking any time up till 14 days before the fishing is due to take place.
11. A newly added benefit within the policy you should be aware of – If you fall ill, suffer sprain or are injured during the period of insurance you can claim under our new “inability to fish” feature.
12. To register a claim for fishing flooded off you need to get the ghillie (or river representative if there is no ghillie) to sign the claim form to that effect before sending it to the insurance company.
The full details of the cover and how to book can be found on our main site page which will also allow you to click through to detailed explanations of everything you need to know about the policy and the cover itself.
Lets hope we don’t need to make too many claims this year and that we can all enjoy our fishing – but if we do have high water conditions, isn’t it at least good to know that you were covered and able to make a claim that in turn will allow you to then rebook some more fishing!!
