How to Generate Money from Carp Fishing

12 pounder caught in the fall

I went to high school near the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Bass fishing is very popular in that area. I recall sitting in history class one day and the teacher asked each student to explain their plans after high school. Most responded with college plans, some responded with plans to work in local businesses and one responded with, "I'm going to go on the professional bass fishing tour."

Intrigued by that response I later learned that his father had been a guide on the lake for 25 years and earned his living mainly by hunting, fishing and teaching others to do it too. A few months after graduation, that same student was in the local newspaper for winning an event on the Redman fishing series.

We can't all be professional fishermen and we certainly all can't count on earning enough money consistently from carp fishing competitions here in the U.S. to earn a realistic and consistent living from doing it. But I think there are options for supplementing our incomes and earning some part time money following our carp fishing passion.

It's a long shot to gain full-time or even part-time employment with a tackle or bait company; and even more remote that one of them would contact you at random and offer to sponsor your carp fishing efforts. I guess it can happen, but the odds of it happening are very long (maybe even 1 in a million).

Starting a bait company or tackle company catering to carp fishing is another possibility, but that requires a fairly high up front investment and ongoing working capital to sustain it for the long term.

That leaves eBay, Craigslist, garage sales, flea markets and trade shows buying and selling used fishing equipment. I have a very good friend and fishing partner who has taken this approach and does earn money doing it. Being successful requires some special knowledge about the more valuable antique tackle to make it lucrative. That is simply knowledge that most people don't possess and don't have time to learn.

That leaves us with creating our own website...

Besides this carp fishing blog I have others and some of them are monetized with advertising and affiliate links to Amazon. In my opinion, it's more realistic to earn some money from carp fishing efforts with a website. Here are some ideas for potential methods:

1. Affiliate programs like Click Bank
2. Adsense ads and other ads and banner programs
3. Building a list
4. Amazon.com products
5. Relevant fishing advertisers
6. Create your own fishing product
7. Teach fishing lessons
8. YouTube.com
9. Write a book about carp fishing
10. Do all of the above

I have been earning money from simple websites since 2001 using a mix of the items on the list above. If that sounds like something you would like to learn more about, let me know and I'll be happy to help if I can. Or you can read some of the free step-by-step training materials from this affiliate training website.