ROCKFORD (ILL) — Chris Boda was vacationing in the Florida Keys this past summer and weighing the various options on taking his family fishing for the day when he saw signs advertising FishWithMe.net.
An IT professional from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-area, Boda was intrigued. He checked the site out, paid for a membership and the next day he and his family were fishing on the boat of Stacy McCaskill, a Rockford, Illinois college professor.
“We went out on the (Atlantic) ocean side, got some good video, did some snorkeling on the reef and later on caught some nice fish,” Boda said. “Without FishWithMe, the chances of someone from Pennsylvania meeting someone from Illinois to fish in Florida … are pretty astronomical.”
He didn’t know when he signed up that McCaskill is the creator of FishWithMe.net, the first online, all-species fishing club. The goal is to essentially be the Match.com of the fishing world, helping FishWithMe.net members to find fishing buddies to share costs, learn and try out new kinds of fishing and just fish more.
McCaskill’s inspiration for the site is her mother, who is 76, and lives in the Keys nine months during the year. The only thing stopping her from fishing every day is finding enough friends to make it feasible.
“She wanted to get out more often, but she can’t afford the $200 or $300 a pop it costs every time you want to fish on the ocean,” McCaskill said. “Cost though really isn’t the biggest issue for most anglers. Instead, it’s coordinating the schedules of your friends. People are busy. You might want to fish tomorrow but your three fishing friends aren’t available. With FishWithMe, you can post an outing and expand the number of people to fish with.”
The FishWithMe platform isn’t limited to Florida or coastal fishing areas. It can help anglers find fellow enthusiasts on the lakes of Minnesota and Canada or the rivers of Colorado and Illinois or any pond in Arkansas or Georgia.
“There are a lot of great trout fishing spots in Pennsylvania,” Boda said of FishWithMe. “Some guys are pretty protective of their favorite fishing holes. To me, finding more people to fish with on FishWithMe would help share the workload.”
Anyone can sign up to be a member of FishWithMe.net online for an annual fee of $36. McCaskill though is working to increase membership through the vast network of bait and tackle shops in the United States and Canada. FishWithMe.net offers retailers the opportunity to sell gift card memberships in stores at the discounted annual cost of $30.60 and then gives half of the revenue back to the retailer. For retailers, it’s a welcome reversal to showrooming, where shoppers visit a store to check out products only to go home and search for lower prices online.
“We are really encouraging retailers to sell memberships as an add-on, ‘do you want a FishWithMe.net membership with your license,’” said McCaskill, who is working with Rockford, Illinois, Thinker Ventures on increasing site awareness. “Retailers make nothing when they sell licenses, now they can turn that license into a $6 profit on an out-of-state license and a $15 profit on an in-state license.”
In September, FishWithMe.net, reached a partnership deal with the Salmo Group of Latvia. Salmo is bringing its Lucky John line of fishing lures, tackle and equipment, as well as its Norfin line of fishing, hunting and outdoors apparel to selected North American markets late this year and in early 2017. FishWithMe.net memberships will be offered alongside these brands.
“It’s all about awareness,” McCaskill said of FishWithMe.net. “Once you get enough people on the site, posting outings, making connections, you’ll see people getting out even more and that means they’ll need more equipment, more bait. That’s the goal. Get people out fishing.”
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