Destination Fishing Trip??

[YCbtx]

So I've reached the point in life where I am starting to make a list of destinations that I need to drop a line in the water. Always thought it was going to be more hunting plans and less fishing but regulations, cost, access and waiting forever to draw has pushed me to more time on the water and less in the field (with the exception of getting my daughters out in the field). Just throwing out the question of "Where would you go/Where have you been that you need to go back" to get some feedback. I have absolutely zero interest in going somewhere to catch more walleyes...do that plenty here and grew up taking trips to Lake of the Prairies and other Canadian destinations to experience plenty of that. I looked back and there are a few forums touching on this but quite a bit of "walleye" destination talk in those. Saltwater is definitely not out of the question as well....have done that once and will definitely be doing it again but have no clue where to start with that. Places I feel that I need to experience before I am fertilizer include the following (and would love feedback from anyone who has done these):

Great Lakes harbor Brown Trout with a spinning rod
Clear Lake Manitoba with the boat vertical jigging lakers (or somewhere better that can get to with my boat)
Cascade Lake perch though the ice
Rainy River sturgeon
Somewhere in Canada chasing lakers through the ice...not for numbers but for size
Somewhere in Arizona chasing Red Ear Sunfish
Wekusko Falls big sauger (I know this is pretty much walleye fishing but nothing hits a jig like a sauger)

Just throwing the topic out there for some info to refer back to when I have time to plan a trip or 2.....tight lines!

 

[Shockwave]

I have also been interested in Cascade Lake. The others on my list are Winnipeg, Lake of Woods, Fort Peck, and Canyon Ferry.

 

[Kurtr]

Fishing out of Venice Louisiana has really caught my interest. The food down there looks amazing to

 

[Walleye Slayer]

Costa Rica Has fantastic fishing. We've been there 4 times. The best fish we have caught is a Mahi Mahi about 45 lbs. Red snapper are abundant with some good-sized fish mixed in with good eaters.
We keep missing the good migration months so the next trip is going on in November. Hopefully get after some swordfish.

 

[YCbtx]

Venice...nice, had never looked at that area. Tuna fishing around gulf rigs...looks like a blast. That's why I posted this...just to get ideas. Years ago (16 to be roughly exact)....heard a guy talking about Lake Winnipeg ice fishing. Decided to say "what the heck" and make a flyer trip up there. Actually ran out of Pruden Creek in March when there was only one other rig parked there...was able to get in on some insane trips up there in the early years before it turned into the World's Carnival just because I caught wind of a conversation. Sometimes the best trip ideas can come from random places.

 

[Allen]

MSA did a Trinity river trip for gar, here's a thread on his experience. It looked pretty awesome.

One of the better trips I've done was a late May, or early June, trip to Florida for tarpon out of Fort Myers. That's a fun fish to chase when they are biting, not so much when they aren't. We had a day of each.

Then we zipped over to Fort Lauderdale for a day of deep sea fishing, and that was by far the best deep sea experience I've had out of 6 or 7 outings. We were busy catching all day, I even caught a 7 ft sandbar shark. My cousin caught one that was a little larger, and I had yet a third shark on that I never got to lay eyes on before the line broke. I fought that SOB for about an hour by myself as the skipper, first mate and my cousin were occupied with their own fish. Only disappointment on that trip was I really wanted to catch a large grouper, and the sharks got to the bait before the grouper. It was a GREAT trip.

 

[Allen]

Personally, I'd love to try and catch tuna (on my bucket list), marlin, and swordfish.

And that gar fishing looked fun as well.

 

[SLE]

Your talking my language YCbtx. I've fished enough in life at this point, both on good and bad trips and charters that I've gotten pretty picky and I dig pretty deep in research looking for the best fishing opportunities that are going to provide not only quantity, but more important the best chances for quality fish.

Head to Grand Caymen in a few weeks and plan to do a day of reef/in-shore fishing hunting for some Silver kings and bone fish; and a day offshore for waahoo, and black fin & yellow fin Tuna. Have the guide dialed in and booked for the offshore trip, still looking for the right guide for the reef/in shore trip. Tarpon have been on my bucket list for a long time but our trips to florida are always a little early for when they migrate up the gulf coast. so hoping to take advatange of this trip to hook into atleast a juvinile.

Best Trip bar none has been with Compass Rose Charters out of Key West, FL. If you have a chance, go on one of their Tuna trips. We we went through two 50ish lb gunny sacks of bait in 4 hours and 3 of us were literally hooked up from the time we dropped a line until we ran out of bait. Loaded up on big Black Fin Tuna and had fun with some bonito tuna that were mixed in with the blacks. Ran out of bait and ran out a few more miles to a communication tower and hooked into a 300lb 13 ft bull shark. absolute top notch charter! The bad part of a trip like this, it's like a hit of cocane for an addict, you'll be chasing a trip like this the rest of your life!

Would like to spend more time exploring lake of the woods way north up in the islands, I think there's a ton of potential. I Feel the same way about Reindeer Lake, SK. Both are big boddies of water that I've spent a little time on but left wanting to explore more of both.

Dunlops Lodge was another great trip up in northern Mantoba. Fly-in deal with basically zero lake pressure located about halfway between Thompson MB and churchill MB where the polar bears migrate down to. Mostly a pike hunting trip but some great walley fishing to be had up in the little pickeral river.

Another good one was fishing reds and snook near Tampa FL with Instinct Fishing and captain Travis Yaeckel. pulled a bunch of big reds out of the mangrove roots.

On the bucket list yet is to get a good musky trip to eagle lake a similar; a walleye trip on Erie, a good Bill fishing trip for marlin or sailfish will definately happen at some point, sturgeon on the Rainy, somewhere with big Large mouth bass such as Lake Okeechobee, and maybe walleye fishing on the columbia, and I suppose I better have an alaskan halbit trip on the list!

 

[Wirehair]

Have had the opportunity to do a number of destination fishing trips including Alaska several times, Cancun, Sarasota, Cocoa Beach, Lake Michigan, Texas, etc. Favorite was Vancouver Island, BC. Fishing & scenery was incredible, something I will never forget. Best part for me has not been the destination of these trips but the fact that my son accompanied me on each and every one of them!!

 

[guywhofishes]

Fishing out of Venice Louisiana has really caught my interest. The food down there looks amazing to

Been out of there on a boat three times.

Looking for crude oil spills... not fishing.

 

[Kurtr]

Been out of there on a boat three times.

Looking for crude oil spills... not fishing.

I would like to fish there and take a trip and eat at all the places up and down the coast

 

[Fly Carpin]

Just got back from The Bahamas. DIY bonefish trip on one of the out islands. I'd dreamed of bonefish on the flats my entire life. Blew my expectations out of the water. 5 stars. Would recommend.

 

[Wall-eyes]

Some place's my Dad took me fishing, or business trip fishing etc.. or my tournament days plus good ole vacation time hit up every place you can all sound great.

Alaska many times rivers and ocean
Hawaii roughest water ever (never will forget it)
Boca Raton sword fishing
Cancun, Mexico, while on vacations all types of fishing
Massachusetts tuna fishing wear damn arms out
Aylmer Lake Lodge trophy lake trout big plus gods country
Lac Seul trophy muskies
Columbia River trophy walleye
Hells Canyon jet boat big ass sturgeon
Sturgeon Bay smallmouth bass
Lake Michigan loads big walleyes
Pine Falls, lake Winnipeg big green backs walleyes late fall
Lake Fort Texas large mouth bass
South America Peacock Bass (hotter than balls)
3 forks in Montana fly fishing
and bunch of other typical lakes around US

 

[Twitch]

Islamorada Florida Keys has mucho fun…..also Alaska is awesome

 

[YCbtx]

Well....this maybe wasn't the best idea to post this thread. Spent a little time googling some of the destinations that have been suggested and now I think I need extra part time job to pay for some additional trips. Pretty sure I have to step foot on the Compass Rose as some point....at least Key West is an easy sell to the wife.

 

[Retired Educator]

Alaska for halibut and salmon. Like a lot of fishing the time of year has some affect on what you will catch.

Any type of salt-water fishing to bottom fishing for snapper, grouper and other similar fishing. Some are delicious for eating and some not. Add in surface fishing for mahi-mahi, sailfish, etc.

I fish salt-water fish are powerful and put up a good fight.

 

[Bfishn]

Just got back from The Bahamas. DIY bonefish trip on one of the out islands. I'd dreamed of bonefish on the flats my entire life. Blew my expectations out of the water. 5 stars. Would recommend.

Sounds amazing. I need to get to the Bahamas or Belize in the future for bonefish and permit. Did you just do a bunch of research and wing it, or did you have people who have done a DIY before helping figure things out?

I've really tried to make it a priority to get out fishing anytime I travel somewhere. Its fun to just see different areas and fish for something new and its usually not to hard to throw a day into any trip, weather its a deep sea trip, an inshore trip, or a random float on a western river.

Things id like to do in the next decade
-Flats trip for Bonefish/Permit
-Alaska Float Trip
-Targeting some large bass in southern states or great lakes
-Lake trout somewhere
-Tarpon

 

[Ruttin]

Hells Canyon, Snake River between ID and OR. Huge sturgeon and great elk hunting!

 

[jtillman]

This may be one of my favorite threads ever....short-term in the next couple of years I plan:

Cascade Lake perch Ice Fishing
Ft. Peck Lakers
Florida Groupers
Rainy River sturgeon
Arizona Red Ear Sunfish
Winnipeg Walleye

 

[Achucker]

My dream spot are 1) halibut fishing in Alaska 2) fly fishing the flats in Florida keys for tarpon, bonefish, and permit 3) this is my biggest dream fly-fishing brown trout in New Zealand