Charter fishing recommendation near Traverse City, Michigan

June 30, 2012 8:16 AM

We will be leaving next week for a vacation to Michigan and would like to embark upon a Great Lake fishing trip of some kind. We're staying near Honor, MI and are happy to drive up to Traverse City if necessary. Can you recommend a charter fishing outfit - preferably one that is LGBT-friendly?

We are two women, one with no fishing experience and one with some. The most we've done is hang out by the lakeside with fishing poles, so we are looking for someone to show us the ropes. We're not looking to catch any particular kind of fish - just want to learn more about angling in general and have a fun time (preferably not in a large group).

If you know of someone good but don't know whether they are LGBT-friendly, we can do that legwork.

posted by treefort to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

Best answer: There's not a super-great way to guarantee a good experience on a charter fishing trip, since you could end up on a boat with a bunch of bigots. Have you considered a guide instead? The local chamber of commerce will almost certainly have an extensive list of guides, and from there it's easy enough to call and ask if they have any objections to taking out a lesbian couple. This would also give you a better introduction to fishing, because on a charter it's going to be a lot of "dangle your rod over the side here, reel up if something gets hooked."
posted by kavasa at 12:20 PM on June 30, 2012

Best answer: There are several gay friendly lodging locations in and around Honor. I would check with one of them for recommendations as they would likely often be called upon for charter fishing recs and would be sure to direct their guests to friendly sources. Salmon fishing is big here! And Honor is home to the Coho Salmon festival in August. Frankfort, MI is a good place to go out of if you're in Honor. Cute town, lots of charter fishing.
posted by cecic at 5:54 PM on June 30, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks both of you for your help! I didn't even know fishing guides existed, and that turned out to be a great option for us, as did taking a trip out of Frankfort. We will be eating salmon for weeks.

For future reference: we ended up going with Captain Ben Wolfe at Traverse City Bass. He was very personable, fun to hang out with, and totally gay-friendly. He then suggested we take a salmon fishing trip with Captain Andy Odette at Intimidator Sport Fishing Charters out of Frankfort, and that too was a great experience. We recommend both of them very highly.
posted by treefort at 7:51 AM on July 24, 2012