Needed once in a lifetime fishing trip

My son graduates from high school next year. I'm looking for a epic fishing experience. Budget $4000.I'm not rich by any means. I'm a school teacher and been saving for a few years. Any suggestions would be appreciated. It would be done next July. Thinking of Alsaska trip, Or a float trip in Wyoming or Montana, Possibly even Keys fishing. I don't know if I can do the Alaska thing for $4000.00. I'm wanting to a guided experience.
Have any of you done anything like this? Can I do it fo $4000.00. Any othe suggestions.

Depends on what species you prefer. Perhaps a Canadian fly-in. Smallmouth, walleye, pike muskies. Talk about blue skies and solitude. Catch fish until your arms fall off and listen to the loons. Not sure it can get much better.

Been doing some computer research, wow these things are expensive. Looks like Alaska could be out of the question.

[QUOTE=dug1976;487961]My son graduates from high school next year. I'm looking for a epic fishing experience. Budget $4000.I'm not rich by any means. I'm a school teacher and been saving for a few years. Any suggestions would be appreciated. It would be done next July. Thinking of Alsaska trip, Or a float trip in Wyoming or Montana, Possibly even Keys fishing. I don't know if I can do the Alaska thing for $4000.00. I'm wanting to a guided experience.
Have any of you done anything like this? Can I do it fo $4000.00. Any othe suggestions.[/QUOTE]

Depending on what you want and depending on how much work you're interested in, there are a LOT of trips in the Boundary Waters that would work for you.

I personally know of a place out of Atikokan Ontario that does guided smallmouth trips. This place is north of Quetico Provencial Park. They have cabins, and guides, and I understand the smallie and walleye fishing is CRAZY good there.

Also, if that is the type of trip you're looking for, Zups is also pretty good, and their Crane Lake fishing camps are pretty nice.

Later,

Geo

Do a fly in trip to canada. You can do it well under the $4000 budget. It is beautiful and the fishing is great.

To make your money go the farthest, I would suggest Islamorada FL. Spend two days on a charter ($1,000 per day incl. tips), then spend the remaining on the party boats or even some inshore flats/mangrove fishing. The charter will get you on the big fish, the party boats will get you on the grouper and other cool reef fish, inshore will get you on Permit.

A party boat trip is only about $60 per person + tip for about 6 hours. It's a very good deal! One boat down there offered the usual

I spent an entire week down there, and it was awesome! We rented a house down there that had it's own dock/pier that we fished in the evenings...we would drop a chum block a few hours before dark off the end and caught grunts, mangrove snapper, puffer fish, and even small sharks. That in itself was pretty cool! Sunup to sundown we were fishing!

Check out: [url]http://flaredfish.com/[/url]

It's St George Island, FL. You can search for and get your accommodations on the Island for a grand or so for a week if you look. $500 in travel and food. That leaves you $2500 to fish with. Chris and Tommy Robinson are some of the best flats captains anywhere. Tommy's harder to get but Chris well worth it. I've also fished with David Heinke. He works part time for the Florida marine biology department and knows the river and flats like the back of his hand. He put us on some Tarpon that were world class fish. This was last July, by the way, so I know they are running. The really cool thing is he's the top expert in the area on the river stripers and has fished for stripers all over the country, so we had a bunch to talk about. We didn't land any tarpon but we had them on for a while.. LOL You could do several days of both flats, bay and tarpon fishing. If you wanted to go off shore, there is none better than Charlie Logue of Charlie's Charters [url]http://flaredfish.com/captains.cfm?id=95[/url] You can book through Robinson Brothers or contact him yourself.

This area is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I get down to St George as often as I can and will be heading down there is two weeks.

Going Alaska or somewhere in the NW would be hard to beat. You might also want to consider LM bass fishing in Mexico. Early July is a great time to fish Lake El Salto. Great quality and quantity can be had May - mid July! I know Anglers Inn offers Father/Son deals. You also might want to try Ron Speed Adventures... The fishing experience and cultural experience @ Lake El Salto will not disappoint.

Art's suggestion of Islamorada is a good one. I have a place in Marathon so I'm pretty familiar with the Keys. To expand on Islamorada, I would contact Bud-n-Marys marina and schedule 1 or 2 days of swordfish fishing with the owner's brother. I think Richard Stanzyck is the owner. Either daytime deep dropping with electric reels or night fishing with conventional equipment.

Another option would be Skip Bradeen on the Blue Chip. Skip has been fishing the Keys since the mid 60's and can catch lot of fish.

The time of year you are talking; I would certainly be considering one of the trips up in Canada for Small Mouth, Pike and Wall Eye.

Honestly, my once in a lifetime trip would be 7 days in Lake Saint Clair (Mitchell Bay, Ontario). I have fished there since 1997 around the June and my worse day fishing ever was about 25 fish. I have had plenty of 100+ fish days and plenty of great weather in May and June there. I have never fished there more than 4 days but may do 7 next year in June. You name it, you will catch it. It is a beautiful lake and I have often wondered why I only see 10-12 boats out on it at times. Probably b/c its Canada and most Canadians arent too friendly. The border is always a pain. Once, I spent a few days on LSC and finished the trip in Lake Erie. This trip will cost u less than a 1,000.

I know you said once in a lifetime, but I've been on saltwater charters and I have driven 20+ hrs to Canada - and never came close to catching the quantity/quality of fish that were in LSC, only 6 hrs away.

wait till he actually accompishes something and go all out when he graduates college