North American Fishing Club Anyone part of this?

I keep getting info about North American Fishing Club.

Membership supposedly gives you the possibility of trying out new equipment, some mag I think along with other things for $12.

Are any of you part of this and what has your experience been? Is it worth it or not? I have not joined but get info sent to me about 4 times a year.

I like the mag for the most part and have been a life member for about 4 years now… they had a hugely discounted offer that I couldn’t turn down.

The gear trials / testing really don’t work the way they make it sound… you have to continually send in these registration cards and you are not guaranteed to demo / test anything. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t.

Beyond all that, I like their publication. It’s well written and fairly informative. When I look at what I paid and how much that mag will cost me when averaged out over a lifetime, I couldn’t turn it down. None of the other member bennies seem to amount to too much in my opinion.

I actually work for the North American Fisherman magazine and can give you a little background on how the field test program works. The products are sent to the members at absolutly no charge to them, no freight, no handling, no cost whatsoever. A manufacturer will agree to send out approx. $3000 to $4000 worth of product to the members in exchange for the member filling out a survey and rating the product and providing feedback on it.
Each issue will feature 8 to 12 products that have been rated by the members. In exchange for providing product the manufacturer receives valuable feedback and exposure in the magazine.
I pulled 2 copies and looked at how many members received product. In Oct 2002 3289 members were given product to test. In Feb 2003 4250 members were given product. There is no gaurantee you will be picked to test, but there is no other fishing magazine that does anything like this. The profile forms you fill out are to insure that you will get a product that you will be able to use. If you only fish bass it would not make sense to send a spinner rig kit for walleyes or vice versa. Also if you never flyfish it would not make sense to get a flyrod.
We have given away some very nice items such as rod and reel combos, knives, waders, clothing, canoes, even Shoreland’r roller trailers. We have a number of clubs and they all do member testing. If I remember correctly thru Aug. the clubs had given away $2,500,000 worth of products this year alone.
There are not many free lunches in this world, but this is probably as close as you will come ever come.

Well now that is a ton of stuff! I look at it this way, the mag is worth the price of admission and anything else that comes of my involvment with the club is just gravy.

My mind wandered a bit and thought about the logistics and cost to run that program. Yikes! Big deal. The shipping alone would be an enormous expense. You in charge of that or involved with the running of that end of things?

I’ve been a life member for 3 years, regular member for 1.

I agree with James on the magazine………..I like the member pics and overall article quality. It’s good reading in “the office”………….the one WITHOUT a pc!

I also like their book series.

On the “so-so” feelings are the never ending snell hooks that come with numerous product promotions. Not that I mind promotions, I just don’t go through snell hooks! I really wish they’d change that up a bit. LONG SHANK ABERDEEN #8 or 10s!!! Nothing fishes better when panfishing with children!

Also, many of these products are fairly high in price but conveniently equiped with easy payments. I did get the Life Member leather jacket and leather billed hat but have passed on most other offerings.

I did get picked for a product test once……………a Scumfrog showed up in my mailbox……………..in mid-October. Needless to say, my input was a bit lacking.

I have life memberships in the North American Hunting Club and B.A.S.S. too. No regrets with either one, simply for the literature. Good reading for life…………….understanding the economic “rule of 72″……………I couldn’t let it go either.

However, thanks to this site………..I do get challanged to keep up with the reading they all send me!

I have been a life member since May 1992

Well we all can’t agree. The mag was ok. The free give away amounts to a package of hooks. I recieved nasty letters from them stating that I needed to pay for some books. I never ordered or recieved any books from them. The way they handled the situation was very tacky. I would not recommend anyone join.

Here’s the deal with unsolicited merchandise sent to you in the mail. You can do what ever you want with it. Refuse delivery. Keep it. Throw it away. Let the dog rip it to shreads. Doesn’t matter. You DO NOT have to pay for it. Personally I feel that type of product promotion is about as low as things get and I have no patience for it. That being said, I’ve not received anything of any kind from this company in some time. I do know In-Fish has been getting low marks of late for the same tactics.

Don..would have to agree with you on the book deal. I too had some sent to me, I had to call them and tell them I did not want any more books at this time……I was getting about one a month?

other than that, I like NAFC…….

I do not work with the field tests. I do have some interaction with that dept. tho. I believe that there is 10 or 11 people who sole job is to obtain products for the members to test. We supply the names to the manufacturers and they ship the product directly. As far as getting bass frogs in Oct. sometimes the manufacturers get overly optimistic and may tell us they will ship in Aug. This will sometimes turn into a Sept. ship date and possibly an Oct. arrival. Anyone who has dealt with suppliers knows exactly what I mean. I see that Bob has been a member for about 10 or so years.Bob, if you have not ever been selected for a test let me know and I will see what I can do to get you and James hooked up.

No testing opportunities given this way……I’d like to give it a go.
thanks,

I will explain what happened with the book ordeal. After I joined the club they sent me a book on walleye fishing. I am not in favor of this tatic, but oh well. I sent the book back to them. Soon after that I started receiving letters and calls from them telling me what a low life I was for scamming them out of a book. That is why I would not advise anyone to join their club.

I have received numerous invites to join but have not because I had similar hassles that Don had from a different club that offerred basically the same things as NAFC. Basically I thought that I would be cool to be a “product tester” and give my evaluation of baits, etc.. but never received anything. I felt a like a sucker and cancelled my membership.

I was once part of the North American Hunting Club. I think it is part of the same organisation but I might be wrong. I had the same problem with the books and never received anything to test as they had promised. Because of this I never considered joing the fishing club, but I do enjoy the free pads of paper they send.