It is no surprise that fishing is among the most preferred hobbies on the planet. In the U.S. alone, the interest in fishing seems to be insatiable and estimates put it that around 12 million people acquire fishing licenses every year.
According to a new study by the ASA (American Sportfishing Association), despite the recent recession, the fishing industry grew five percent. The same study suggests that fishing supports more than 828,000 jobs, and it has an annual economic impact of $115 billion.
Include all the seafood restaurants and food, and you begin to realize how big the market for fishing is really.
This sport is so popular that it’s even integrated into many videos and online games, not to mention in some virtual world style games like World of Warcraft and RuneScape, fishing is a way to make money.
But there is a great imbalance in the expenses incurred in enjoying this favorite hobby. Figures indicate that for every dollar you spend on a fishing license, you probably spent sixteen dollars on equipment, these could range from fishing tackle to food, to clothing and to transportation.
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Some venture that fishing is perhaps the most expensive hobby around. Naturally, this leads to people wanting to find out more information about this particular activity.
Some people have this misconception that a boat is the only investment for you to get all your catches, but extra earnings can come in other ways as well.
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Make Money Fishing
Here are a few ways you can make money fishing besides the usual fishing jobs:
1. Use our boat for tours
There are tons of people doing this in states like Florida. Organize trips to get people out fishing. Some people would prefer fish on the water instead of onshore.
Obviously, you would charge a fee for such service, but make sure your boat is well equipped with bait, tackle and fishing lines, and don’t forget the life jackets!
2. Run a fishing camp
A fishing camp could be an excellent idea during the fishing season. You can tailor trips that cater to adults, children or families, or simply a mixed bag crowd. In fact, you can conduct such camps all year long if there are sufficient facilities to ice fish. Better still, cook all the catches.
Conduct cooking classes as well as lure making and fly tying. You could show the kids how you make fishing rods from non-descript sticks. During the rainy season, organize trips for some serious night crawler spotting.
3. Make & sell fishing lures
Making fishing lures for money is a great side hustle.
For presentation, bait should be filled inside a container with dirt and nightcrawlers, and of course a little water. To keep bait alive, make sure the temperature is cool enough. Make and sell your own fishing lures and flies.
Fishing poles made of wood are not too bad an idea as well, and remember to make smaller ones to cater to the kids’ market.
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Consistent with our online lifestyle, make sure you create a website for this, and old-fashioned fliers and business cards won’t hurt either.
4. Teach people how to fish
You can always make money teaching your skills and expertise to others. If you can, get involved in public education programs on all things about fishing. Get them out and demonstrate the preparation of the fishing poles, the right way to cast a net and what circumstances you should let go of a fish, or not.
Show how the fish scale can be removed and how to gut the fish the right way. Show what sorts of cooking are possible. In short, get them to experience all of these.
5. Become a pro Fisherman
Being a pro fisherman is exciting, and you get paid to fish. However, your chances of getting there are very slim. Not to mention it takes a lot of time and commitment.
Look at life stories of some of the Bassmaster Classic contenders and you’ll see what I mean. Many of them spent years participating in small tournaments, perfecting their skill on caching bass by learning their habits.
That said if you have the commitment and don’t mind spending eight hours on a freezing cold day in a bass boat, the potential to make decent money is there.
6. Blog about fishing
Blogs about hobbies are very popular and fishing is no exception. You could start a blog about fishing like this one, sharing your experience, thoughts and techniques with your readers. You could blog about anything related to this hobby.
Once your blog starts to receive some decent traffic, you could monetize it in many ways, from selling ad space to selling fishing products as an affiliate to creating and selling eBooks and more.
For example, you could write an eBook on how to find good fishing spots where you share your tips and techniques on how to do it.
Other Ways to Make Money as a Fisher Man
Here are a few other fishing related side gigs you can start to earn money with your favorite pastime.
- Breed tropical fish for aquariums
- Start a fishing YouTube channel
- Start a deep sea sports fishing business
- Clear fish from lakes
- Tie fishing flies for profit
- Become a fishing teacher or public speaker
- Become a bass fishing guide
- Enter fishing contests to win prizes
- Breed fish for farmers
Tip
Of course, you need to get all relevant licenses before you can embark on this adventure. There are fees involved and you need to be aware of related regulations. Keep a logbook on money spent and earned.
If a fishing business really interests you and you want to get started, checkout Small Business Administration’s website for instructions on how to plan your promising and upcoming business.
Your Turn
What do you think?
Do you fish, and if so, do you make money from it or is it just a hobby for you?
Can you think of any other ways you could earn extra money as a fisherman?…
You seriously need a copy editor to review your work before it is posted. It’s PASTIME not pass time and the bass fishing championship is the Bassmaster Classic not Bass Master’s Classic, however at one time it was called the Bassmasters Classic so I guess a little confusion is understandable.
Sorry for the typos, Joe, and thanks for the heads up. Fixed!
I’m looking for Bass fishing guides on my area who would be interested in purchasing the prey fish (perch) I catch to use as bait. There are a lot of striper guides in my area and it’s a larger bait than shad I haven’t implemented this idea yet but I was expecting it to be on your list
That’s actually a great idea for an eBook, Mike. If you are familiar and know a lot about it, you could make some money yourself by self publishing a Kindle book on the topic.
great points u got here.
recently i started to use sites like koocam, and i definitely will perform some of those tips
thank u, very nice article.