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Make Your Fishing Vacation The Best Ever
There are many kinds of fishing vacations- from the weekend getaway with the kids(or from the kids) at the lake campground,to an everything included package at a fancy resort. Here are some basic questions to answer when planning your fishing vacation. Where do you want to go on your fishing trip? Most of the waters of the world have an abundance of fish and there are thousands of places to take a vacation. You can find good fishing some place all year long. If you don't like the idea of cutting a hole in the ice and sitting around freezing your posterior off, pack up and head to sunny Florida, California, Hawaii, or any one of a thousand other locations. What species of fish would you be most interested in trying to catch? This can be broken down into two categories,freshwater or saltwater. Do you want to head to the river and pitch a tent, go to a lake campground or state park and rent a cabin, charter a boat and guide, find a good fishing lodge, or stay in a luxury hotel in a resort area? For your fishing vacation, you have many options, some of which are inexpensive and some can set you back considerably. For the less expensive fishing vacations you have to do alot of planning and work yourself. The more expensive fishing vacations you let your travel agent and guides do the grunt work(and hope they get it right), while you sit back and concentrate on having a good time, Don't forget the Dramamine, or you'll kick yourself. We will list some great locations for you to consider when planning your next fishing trip at the bottom of this page, and we add new locations as we find them, so bookmark this page and check back often. First, we'll discuss the less expensive route. I'm pretty much the tight wad(I call it frugal) so I stick with the "head to the river or lake and pitch a tent" option. I'm not phychic or nothing, but I sense there are a lot of other frugal people out there. Don't get me wrong, this option takes alot of extra planning and work, but I focus on how smooth things will go and how much I'll enjoy myself when I'm on my fishing vacation. In other words the rewards far out weight all the preparation and planning that I do. Before heading out I make sure that I have my essentials list, I check it and re-check it to make sure I have not forgotten anything.
We will start with the tent and sleeping bag, all your fishing gear,insect repellent and sunscreen, we want to be careful of sun burns, and maybe a folding chair. Now we need to get a cooler filled with ice to pack any perishable food such as butter, milk, water (lots) or the food that you may want to prepare before leaving home (mamas' potato salad and baked beans, who can make them better than her), make sure they are covered well in ice. Items like these, potato salad, milk, eggs, bacon can make you sick if not properly stored. Take extra ziploc bags for the cleaned fish that you don't eat, so you can take some home, remember to ice them down also. Take a few heavy duty trash bags to clean up after yourself, don't leave it for someone else. Take along a portable gas grill and an extra tank of gas,or charcoal to cook your food. Also take along knives, spatulas, brillo pads,your pots and pans and utensils to cook with, I prefer to use aluminum foil for easier clean up. When you catch supper that night, you can clean the fish, and put it in the foil with salt and pepper and a little butter and lemon, and put it on the fire to cook until done, have that potato salad and baked beans and a good cup of coffee, while sitting under the beautiful night sky with the stars shining, the crickets chirping, the frogs croaking, ahh! What more could you ask for. You may want to fry the fish, so take along the corn meal or flour to roll your fish in and cook till done. Now you have one more very important thing to remember and that is to bring your own toiletries, such as your tooth brush, deodrant, toilet paper,(or make sure you know what poison ivy looks like) it may save you a lot of frustration in the end. You just might be lucky and there will be a bathroom close by, if not, I know you will find the nearest bush. Also you may want to wash your face and other parts of your body (a good soap substitute is moist toweletts). If your old bones are not conducive to the cold hard ground, you may want to invest in a small pop up trailer or travel trailer. If you do this, you can keep everything stocked but your perishables. Most of these are equipped with some sort of toilet and shower, which makes life alot easier. The more you plan ahead the better your fishing vacation will be. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO LET SOMEONE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE, IF YOU HAVE A CELL PHONE LEAVE THEM THE NUMBER AND LET THEM KNOW WHEN YOU WILL RETURN.
After your fishing vacation is over and it is time to pack up and go back home, make sure to pick up all your trash. I hope you have a safe and relaxing fishing vacation, enjoy yourself.
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