How To Choose The Fishing Trip Destination That's Right For Your Group

Try doing a web search on the words fishing lodge and you will come up with hundreds of thousands of matches. Visit any major sports show and youll find dozens of outfitters, each offering promises of the trip of a lifetime. How on earth do you narrow it down and find the fishing destination thats just right for you?

Try doing a web search on the words fishing lodge and you will come up with hundreds of thousands of matches. Visit any major sports show and youll find dozens of outfitters, each offering promises of the trip of a lifetime. How on earth do you narrow it down and find the fishing destination thats just right for you?

Identify Your Priorities for you fishing trip...

The first step in selecting a destination is to sit down with everyone else going on the trip and discuss what it is that you want out of the experience. Its not enough to decide you want great fishing, because that can mean very different things from one person to the next.

One person in your party might be delighted to catch 20 fish per day, while another might expect 20 fish an hour. This is the time to be perfectly clear and up-front, because the more honestly you communicate your wishes, the better the chances you will have a great trip.

Some important things to decide right from the beginning include:

What species of fish do you want to catch?
This sounds like a no-brainer, but it definitely needs to be discussed. If one member of your party really wants to catch lake trout and the resort you pick has lousy fishing for them, that person will be very disappointed. If the place you pick has fishing for multiple species, you should decide how much time and effort you want to apply to each. What matters most, and what matters least? Do you want to catch walleye, northern pike, bass, char?

Do you want lots of action? Or trophy fish?
Does great fishing mean catching a fish on every cast? Or would you go all day for one bite, provided that fish was a giant? Of course we would all like fast action with trophy fish, but its important to keep your expectations realistic. So between the two, which is most important? And what honestly constitutes a big fish for you? Would a 20-pound salmon make you smile? Or would it have to be a 50?

How are the fish caught?
Can you sight-fish? Or is it primarily deep trolling? Imagine how disappointing it would be to spend all winter watching people on TV fishing shows hammer big pike on topwaters, then find on your trip of a lifetime the only way to catch them is by deep trolling in 60 feet of water?

What is your realistic budget?
Lets face it; money is a deciding factor for all of us. You need to be honest about what youre prepared to spend, and also how you want to spend it. If you have $1,000 to blow on a trip, do you want a week at Lodge A, or three days at Lodge B which might offer more upscale accommodations or a better shot at a trophy fish?

Once you have decided exactly what kinds of fish you want to catch and how you want to catch them, you need to discuss the accommodations.

In order to get the kind of fishing your group wants, are you willing to rough it in a tent camp where you have to prepare your own food, or is a certain amount of creature comfort also a priority?

How important is a hot shower at the end of the day, or having someone else deal with the cooking and cleaning up? Can you live without a flush toilet? Would you rather bring your own boat?

Again, its important to be honest and realistic right up front.

Once youve established clear priorities for the fishing and the accommodations and set a rough budget, its time to start looking at what different lodges have to offer.

The species of fish you want to catch, the amount of time you want to be away and the amount of cash you have to spend should help focus your search to a general geographic area, while the priorities your group collectively identified should allow you to narrow your search within that geographic area fairly quickly. It's everyone's fishing trip ... so plan it well.

Now, its a matter of contacting fishing lodge operators within that region, and seeing what they have to offer.

Call The Government
State or provincial tourism departments are the best way to find fishing lodges within specific areas. If youve decided your group wants to go to Alaska to fish for salmon and steelhead, then start with a call to the Alaska department of tourism. They can send you all sorts of information on outfitters, general fishing information, plus stuff on license requirements, fishing regulations and such.

Selecting the right fishing trip destination is probably the single most important aspect of planning your fishing trip. Well, choosing the right fishing buddies is pretty important, also.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dave Cushion is the author of the comprehensive manual "The Ultimate Fishing Trip Guidebook!" For more tips on planning your dream fishing trip, or to just learn how the experts catch more fish, go to http://www.fishing-trip-advisor.com and check out our other articles.

Big Opt-In Lists, Trade Secrets & Fishing Trips

How To Create a Huge Opt-In List
Big Opt-In Lists, Trade Secrets & Fishing Trips

Last weekend, on a beautiful Saturday morning, I went fishing with a friend on the Pecos River here in New Mexico. We had been fishing for a couple of hours when my friend decided he would carefully approach the subject of getting more opt-in subscribers for his newsletter. He knew I had over 400,000 opt-in subscribers for T-Shirt Kings newsletter and he wanted to know how I did it. He was afraid that it was a trade secret and I would brush him off and continue to fish. That was my reaction initially.

You see, I get this type of question all the time. When it comes at a time when Im fishing, a simple answer like that is the easiest, and it keeps us fishing instead of talking. However, this morning I was a softy and, after some prodding, I gave in.

To begin with, let me quickly explain that there are two sales tools that all online retailers should use regardless of what you sell. You should have a newsletter and an affiliate program. My friend already had a newsletter and an affiliate program and Im going to assume you do too. If you need one - http://www.manzanomarketing.com/Resources/ultimateaffiliate.html

We put our poles down and sat on the edge of the river to discuss how my friend could build an opt-in list of over 100,000 this year. He had a lot bigger expectations for his opt-in list than he did for this fishing trip. He never did get back to fishing.

His first question was about getting people on his site to opt-in. He had an opt-in subscription box on his site already and it was prominently placed. But, with over 5,000 daily visitors, he was only getting about twenty subscribers. It was a real disappointment.

So, my first suggestion was to set up a contest. He could give away just about anything he wanted to from a free t-shirt to a free fishing trip. I use a free t-shirt a day on T-Shirt King. To join the contest, you just have to join the newsletter (opt-in). Check it out http://www.t-shirtking.com/

The next suggestion was to use a pop-up to promote the contest and the subscription offer. Of course, my friend immediately groaned at the thought of adding a pop-up to his site (for a minute there, I thought we might get back to fishing). However, I told him about using a cookied pop-up that occurs only once a day for each user. This way it minimizes the annoyance of pop-ups. Plus, anyone that really hates pop-ups already has pop-up blocker software. But the proof is in the results. When I added our contest and a pop-up, we did better than quadrupling our subscriber rate. For my fishing buddy, it would take him from 20 opt-ins a day to over 80.

Note - Free Pop-Up Generator: http://www.manzanomarketing.com/popup.html

The investment for a contest can be minimal when compared to the cost of gaining subscribers any other way. You know that you can find companies that will sell you subscribers for fifteen cents a piece or more right? Why pay such a high price for poor quality subscribers when you can make a smaller investment and get more subscribers of much higher quality?

At $.15 per subscriber, thats $15,000 for 100,000 subscribers of questionable quality. Using these methods can cost you less than a hundred bucks for 100,000 high quality, targeted subscribers!

Alright now for the big guns. Uh, er, the heavy tackle - since were fishing. Lets take your list building operation and put it on hundreds, or even thousands, of other websites. There are two methods. Building a newsletter co-op and arming your affiliates with a secret weapon.

These methods use two inexpensive pieces of software that will become a key to selling your product successfully online. Of course, they help you build your opt-in list, but the true end result of a big high quality list will be increased sales. Youre going to love the feeling of sending your newsletter out and watching the sales immediately begin to come in! Its a great feeling. So is waking up the next morning and checking your sales before you take the day off to go fishing because you can.

These tools take some effort to set up but once theyre established, they run on auto-pilot which leaves you the time to go fishing. Your co-op members and affiliates do the promoting and list building for you.

The first tool is Opt-In Explosion. This is a newsletter subscriber co-op. Youve probably seen them run by other people. You could join one of these co-op programs and you would substantially increase your subscriber rate. Or, you could start your own co-op and build your opt-in list at hyper speed.

You see, when you join their lists, typically, you get your newsletter subscription offer shown four times for every time you show the co-op subscriber box. Not bad. But start your own co-op and its your members that get four exposures for every one time they show the subscription offer. You get your newsletter offer shown on every exposure, on every website, to every visitor every time. If you even get a small number of members, your subscription rate will explode!

To see this tool, visit: http://www.optinexplosion.com

At this point, my friend was so excited, he wanted to leave this beautiful Saturday morning, quit fishing (hes obviously not making enough money) and start right away. However, I saved the best for last.

Newsletter Syndicator! How about putting your subscription sign-up box prominently on hundreds, or even thousands, of websites? And, you can offer the webmaster credit for the sales of your product generated from their list? What a great idea! This little program allows you the ability to give out subscription boxes to your affiliates. They can put them on their site and begin building opt-in subscriber lists specifically for your newsletter.

Using Newsletter Syndicator, when you send your newsletter out it will automatically replace your standard url with their affiliate url. Your newsletter with your url and the affiliates get your newsletter but with their unique affiliate url. Its easy for you to set up and its easy for your affiliates to set up. Makes you money and makes your affiliates money. Even if you have a small website with very little traffic, one good affiliate can sign-up more opt-in subscribers in a month than you would get all year.

To find this tool, go to: http://www.newslettersyndicator.com

At this point, my friend was no longer interested in fishing. When I was done talking, he packed up and headed for the car to get back to his website. I was glad we drove separately. I settled back in to a nice day of fishing. I could afford to because I knew that I was getting a whole lot more opt-in subscribers during that day of fishing than I was fish. In fact, theres a limit to the number of fish I can get in a day. Theres no limit to the number of opt-in subscribers.

You can get both programs for under a hundred dollars. At fifteen cents per subscriber, thats only 667 subscribers. Youll get more than that in no time. With some honest effort, 100,000 high quality opt-in subscribers this year is very possible.

Its not rocket science and its a lot easier than catching those Pecos River Browns. Give these three methods a try and you will get to know the excitement of sending your newsletter out and watching the sales roll in. Theres nothing like it.

2003 by Bill Broadbent ----------------------------------------------------------- Written by Bill Broadbent Free eBook Available Affiliate Detective 1.0 Visit: http://www.affiliatedetective.net -----------------------------------------------------------

About the Author

Written by Bill Broadbent http://www.ManzanoMarketing.com Free eBook Available Affiliate Detective Visit: http://www.affiliatedetective.net

Places to Stay in Canada on Fishing Trips

Canada fishing is some of the best in the world with a wide variety of challenges. If you decide to have a go, you need to know about the best places to stay.

Places to Stay in Canada on Fishing Trips

There are many different ways to plan your next fishing trip to Canada. You could plan to stay at a campground (in a tent or RV), in a rustic cabin or even in a small motel. Some people choose to have accommodations in a town or city nearest to their fishing area, so that they can have the amenities of an upscale hotel. For many fishermen, however, a stay in one of the Canada fishing rentals located right on the lakes and rivers where they'll be fishing is the way to go. No matter which province you choose for your fishing vacation, Canada fishing accommodations will be there to provide you with a comfortable and authentic outdoor experience.

One of the most luxurious and well-known fishing accommodations in Canada is in the province of Ontario. The Kesagami Wilderness Lodge, located on Kesagami Lake in the northern part of Ontario, is a four star fly-in fishing accommodation. Being a fly-in location means that the only way to reach this place is by airplane, making it a truly secluded and wilderness filled area. Kesagami Lake is perfect for trophy Northern Pike fishing, because it's relatively shallow and contains a number of weed filled bays. Fish here have been known to reach as big as 50 inches long and 30 pounds in weight, making this a truly world class destination for Northern Pike. With American Plan-style accommodations (three meals a day included in your stay) as well as recreation rooms and other amenities, a stay here at the Kesagami Wilderness is a great choice.

Another great place to stay at in Ontario is the Lake Obabika Lodge. Canada's only four diamond fishing accommodation (rated by the American Automobile Association/Canadian Automobile Association), this beautiful setting offers not only great fishing, but many other activities as well. From wine tastings to wilderness hikes and even a feng shui class, this lodge is a perfect destination for families that might have different vacation tastes. Fishing in the area includes Northern Pike, trout and bass.There are many places to choose from for your Canada trip, and picking a location that will suit all of your needs (such as fishing guides, a great lake to fish on and even included meals) can make your trip very memorable. Fishing in Canada is a great way to return to nature.

Source: free-article-zone.com