Catch-m-all's Guide to Taking a Fishing Vacation with your Family

Now that we are 30 some odd fish into our quest we have learned that making time to catch and eat every type of freshwater fish in New Hampshire would be very difficult if we didn't include our families. We love to share what we have learned, so here is a guide to help you plan a successful family fishing vacation!

First choose a place with easy access to fishing. We stayed at the Chieftain Motor Inn in Hanover. With a hundred foot dock right in their backyard, equipment to borrow and boats to use, it was an ideal place to fish with kids.  Kids love fishing, but their attention span for it is limited.  Choosing a place with easy accessibility means that you can fish in short stints.  Head down, fish for 15 minutes, then go check out the playground.  Head back down, head out in a boat and fish for another half hour.  Take a walk back up and explore other things.

Stay somewhere that caters to families. At the Cheiftan, we had a fantastic room with a king size bed, a set of bunk beds and a toddler bed they customized pink for our girls.  They even had a pet friendly policy so Abi the Wonder Dog got to come too!

Make sure the place you choose has more than just fishing!  On a good day your kids will only have an hour or so of fishing in them. Luckily, New Hampshire is full of great fishing spots near great places for kids.  We loved fishing in Hanover.  Between our fishing excursions we took in a college soccer game, went to the Montshire Museum, explored the Path of Life Sculpture Garden and  walked around the Dartmouth Campus.

The most important thing when taking a fishing vacation with kids...outnumber them! If they outnumber you, forget about fishing. We brought grandparents along for the weekend, so we could divide and conquer.  Taking turns with the kids meant they were entertained and an entire weekend of fishing could actually take place. Saturday morning we all took the kids fishing on the docks for an hour, using the techniques outlined in our original how to fish with kids blog, then Papa and Mom took the kids to see the sights.  Mumsy and I (Clay) stayed behind and went hunting for walleye.

We were able to get a few good hours of grownup fishing in, catching our walleye. The kids had a great time, and feel like they took a fishing vacation.  Everyone left with great memories and is excited to go on the next family fishing vacation.  In then end, that's really what you want!