Fishing vacations that also offer family time...

Freestone

Life of the Party
Forum Legend
If your family likes camping, then go to HI and camp on the beach! Roll out of your tent early and fish from the beach. Kauai has county beachfront campgrounds, although these days, you’ll have to reserve them well in advance. Hit me up if you want more info, Josh.
 

Josh

Dead in the water
Staff member
Admin
If your family likes camping, then go to HI and camp on the beach! Roll out of your tent early and fish from the beach. Kauai has county beachfront campgrounds, although these days, you’ll have to reserve them well in advance. Hit me up if you want more info, Josh.
I could see that being awesome. But I suspect if we're going to HI, my wife would like to do either a hotel/resort thing or an airbnb.
 

Freestone

Life of the Party
Forum Legend
I could see that being awesome. But I suspect if we're going to HI, my wife would like to do either a hotel/resort thing or an airbnb.
When I first camped in HI over 20 years ago, my sister said the same thing about wanting a hotel, condo, resort, etc. She still hasn’t gone as other expenses seem to always take precedence over an expensive vacation.
 
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JACO

Just Hatched
How about the Methow / Winthrop area? We have campground reservations at Pearrygin Lake SP in June. My kids are grown but having a spouse who doesn’t fish pus me in the same situation.
 

charles sullivan

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
I am on vacation with the family now. I am winding down from a day of hitting balls around. Tomorrow will be yelloetail day.
I have 2 female children and a wife who does not camp. In fact, I will fish with youngest child and my special lady friend and oldest child will do other stuff.
I have done Hawaii (Maui). They liked it much more than I did. It was crowded. Traffic was tough. Its ver expensive. I felt un-safe on a number of occasions. That may have just been my perspective. Fishing was poor.
SW Montana is a non-starter for my family. The density of signs / bumper stickers that make my family unable to relax are far too high. From the perspective of 3 brown skinned where 1/3 are gay it is logical. So that is a place we won't be going. I love it. They do not.
I hunt in SW Wa too. They are not going to elk camp either. Confederate flags and 3%er signs are clear symbols to them that they aren't welcome.
So, we are in Baja. I love it. They do too. We all feel good. The fishing is good. I go tomorrow. The price is good. The people are kind.
We all feel pretty comfortable in Canada too. It is just not as warm in February.
That's my take and why we vacation where we do.
 

Josh

Dead in the water
Staff member
Admin
So, we are in Baja. I love it. They do too. We all feel good. The fishing is good. I go tomorrow. The price is good. The people are kind.
We all feel pretty comfortable in Canada too. It is just not as warm in February.
That's my take and why we vacation where we do.
Would not have though of baja for a family trip.

Sold Solid advice Charles!

EDIT: stupid typos.
 

Long_Rod_Silvers

Elder Millennial
Forum Supporter
Last summer we rented a house on long lake in Spokane. Just like camping, I snuck out at sunrise for some bass fishing. Was a blast. Definitely a bigger hit than camping, our own dock, room for shenanigans and tons of time on the water with the family.

This year looking for places around spokane that have musky. Trying to make a long time goal of mine become a reality.

Point being, VRBO offers some great options for houses on the water.
 

mcswny

Legend
Forum Supporter
Last summer we rented a house on long lake in Spokane. Just like camping, I snuck out at sunrise for some bass fishing. Was a blast. Definitely a bigger hit than camping, our own dock, room for shenanigans and tons of time on the water with the family.

This year looking for places around spokane that have musky. Trying to make a long time goal of mine become a reality.

Point being, VRBO offers some great options for houses on the water.
Been wanting to find a good lake house with a dock.
 

Jake Watrous

Legend
Forum Supporter
I made this post in @Roadglideguy 's "what would you do with $10k for a fishing trip" and mused that I would probably use the money to take the family on a fancy trip to Hawaii. Fish in the AM and hang out on the beach with the family in the afternoon. No, probably wouldn't get me the most amazing fishing adventure, but would be a pretty fun experience overall as far as "family life".

So, my questions to you all, where would you go if you were looking to find somewhere you could fish part of the day and still have a good time with the family? So, probably nothing too remote/dangerous, no full day charters/floats, accessibility to family-friendly stuff required (parks, pools, beaches, activities, etc), and likely bonus points if it's somewhere warm.

And yes, this means that the fishing side of things is going to suffer a bit. But I suspect many of us would love to be able to Dawn Patrol fish a MT creek for trout in front of our airbnb or walk the beach looking for bluefin trevally near a resort in Hawaii and still get some family time in.

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EDIT: Just to clarify, there's no specific budget requirement here. This is separate from the $10k conversation linked above. A budget campground is just as legitimate of a suggestion as a fancy resort somewhere. Everybody has different budgets.
San Diego. Legoland, Zoo, and a bunch of other things, but great saltwater fishing and the bass… oh, man, the bass. Shore access is great, most lakes have places to rent boats, and several lakes have 20lb + largemouth. A good day is 20 or so fish to hand, and fish in the 15-25lb range are more common than you’d think.

Lots of campgrounds and fairly cheap accommodations.
 

Pink Nighty

Life of the Party
San Diego. Legoland, Zoo, and a bunch of other things, but great saltwater fishing and the bass… oh, man, the bass. Shore access is great, most lakes have places to rent boats, and several lakes have 20lb + largemouth. A good day is 20 or so fish to hand, and fish in the 15-25lb range are more common than you’d think.

Lots of campgrounds and fairly cheap accommodations.
Pics or those bass remain rare!!
 

TicTokCroc

Sunkist and Sudafed
SW Montana is a non-starter for my family. The density of signs / bumper stickers that make my family unable to relax are far too high. From the perspective of 3 brown skinned where 1/3 are gay it is logical. So that is a place we won't be going. I love it. They do not.
I hunt in SW Wa too. They are not going to elk camp either. Confederate flags and 3%er signs are clear symbols to them that they aren't welcome.
Sitting on the couch here next to my brown wife, who grew up in that area. We travel back there 3 or 4 times a year and explore all around that region from Dubois Idaho into Montana, and Wyoming. I asked her if she felt uncomfortable there and she said no, everyone is pretty genuinely nice around there. Of course growing up theres the inevitable examples of racism you find anywhere that even I witnessed in a suburb of Portland. I wouldnt write off that area its beautiful.
 

RCF

Life of the Party
It is wonderful to see the wide variations of places and what we know to be great vacations for each of us. BTW I provided mine. What we do not know is the lifestyle of Josh and his family. We do not know what are the kid(s) age(s) and what their interests are. Wife's interests are also very important. Probably too much to share here...

Being a bit older and having gone through my vacations with my parents and also my family, I will approach it from a slightly different POV.

Variety is the spice of life. Having multiple things to do and making choices everyday of 'what's next' makes it enjoyable for all. Kids have a lot of pent up energy and finding a fun and safe way to expel all of that each day is very important. Doing new things can be a lot of fun. For our family is was trail riding, then mountain biking and horse trail rides. Then there even were yellow rubber duckie races on a creek and 'white water' trips on the air mattresses. I actually think the adults had as much fun as the kids doing that. An adult being a kid again and bringing up early childhood memories is something special.

It is also important having time to get away from it all. If someone is doing most of the cooking and cleaning, having a vacation away from that means so much. If work is beyond an 8 hour day, being able to have down time is very important. (Hint Josh) We each need to rebuild our energy, recharge our batteries, and remembering 'we time' with our spouse kindles a lot of embers to glow again. So it is not just for the kids, it is for each one of us.

Time alone is also very important. When raising kids, that never seems to happen. So finding a sunny spot, quiet except the birds chirping, maybe water from a creek running through the toes and reading a good book is just what the doctored ordered. My wife liked sitting on a sand bar in a creek, reading her book. She said she was watching me fish. We both knew that was not true...

Our family preferred going back to the same place. Places to go and things to do were known. They were familiar and looked forward to. But there are always new things to find out about and do. They just did not know it yet. You know when you found the right spot. Kids slept ALL the way home. The following spring they would start asking about vacation. Once in the car the 'are we there yet?' questions. That is when you know you "NAILED IT!"

Good Luck Josh! Have a lot of fun on a lot of vacations in the future. Great memories will be had!

Edited to add: Shopping is very important for the 'girls'. My wife and 2 girls and her sister (when she would join us on vacation) would go off for a day, maybe a couple of times in a week, to go shopping. Gave me license to go fishing and have a few beers! But in the back of my mind, "am I going broke?'. Never happened but... LOL
 
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RCF

Life of the Party
@charles sullivan and @FontinalisFin - having adopted two children from China we the parents and what the two kids experienced are very different. We have found certain states have more of an attitude than others. But it it is not the states, it is some of the people that live in them and the prejudices they have. Not all people, it may be just the ones you/we interacted with. Some of our best friends are from those states/locales. When it does happen it is a loss for everyone involved because there is so much to be gained... When it comes to politics - entirely different and NOT going there!
 

Jake Watrous

Legend
Forum Supporter
Pics or those bass remain rare!!
As soon as I get down there and catch one, I will. I'm just relaying info from my own trip planning and photos/info buddies have sent me. In my experience I just know it to be a numbers game. 5lb bass don’t even raise eyebrows.

 

Kenneth Yong

Fishy Spam
Forum Supporter
When're you thinking of taking this vacation?

In any case, lemme throw this out there. Rome. Italy. History, culture, fashion. FOOD. WINE. Native home of the brown trout. And if you come when I'm here, I'll personally make sure you're a hero in your family's eyes (PM me for details if you're interested).

Yes, it's a long plane ride. But I think you'll find that cost-wise it's actually quite a good choice.

If you really still want to go fishing, I'll lend you my rods. Bamboo, glass, plastic, name your pick. And reels, if you're left-handed. Heck, even if you're not. Waders, boot foot or not, if you're a size 10 shoe size or so and 6' or shorter. All required flies.

I've done this before for other members of this forum (yes, I'm sure they've come over from the dark side), and they were happy. HAPPY. So was I, it's fun to meet people with whom the only previous interaction was over an online forum.

And it's even easier now that you don't need to quarantine upon arrival.

How old are your kids, BTW, if I may ask?

Kenneth
 

rattlesnake

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
When I first camped in HI over 20 years ago, my sister said the same thing about wanting a hotel, condo, resort, etc. She still hasn’t gone as other expenses seem to always take precedence over an expensive vacation.
Wife and I went to Kauai pre kids a handful years ago. Considered camping but we did resort and air bnb deal and it was expensive. But if camping, that trip would be in line with your original request and I’d definitely recommend it! Good call @Freestone. It Was likely a once in a lifetime trip for us but we planned and budgeted to make it work and was well worth it.

Also there’s smallmouth in some creeks there, I caught one and was incredibly excited to do so. It was a little more effort than rolling out of a tent but not too expensive or difficult (and if your family likes outdoors stuff you can all go together). @Josh PM if you want info and I can dig it up
 

Josh

Dead in the water
Staff member
Admin
What we do not know is the lifestyle of Josh and his family. We do not know what are the kid(s) age(s) and what their interests are. Wife's interests are also very important. Probably too much to share here...
How old are your kids, BTW, if I may ask?
While I'm happy to have (and will make use of) the advice here, I mostly hoped the thread would end up being a nice resource for anyone wanting to take a trip with family where they get to do some fishing.

For the record though, my kids are 11 & 13. So, old enough to entertain themselves somewhat, but not so old that they want to avoid their parents.
 
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