I was going to sign up for a fishing club but I didnt know what to choose. I like the NAFC because of the test products and stuff, and i liked the BASS club because of it mainly being bass. They both come with magazines. Can someone who has signed up for one of these tell me what is the better club.

Good luck with NAFC: you might want to do some asking around before you join that one.

I belong to both. I don't get enough out of BASS to bother with it, though I do like BASS TIMES because I like to compare strategies of the pros and keep up with Arkansas pro status. I knew Shuffield before he went pro.

NAFC sends out a lot of useless toys for testing. Average value probably $3. You get several at first then some little trinket once a year. They kept sending special monthly deals such as a crankbait collection of 6 for $60 that could be bought at BassPro for half that. BASS and NAFC sends fishing books with return labels, so if you are a beginner to Bassing the BASS collection should help. They immediately dun you and you keep getting bills until someone finally finds your returns for a credit. Your chances of getting something nice to test are probably better than the Lotto, but I elected to have my name dropped from the NAFC mailing list. That means no testing even though I fell for the Life Member deal. It was just too much trouble to keep up with sending stuff back and dealing with collection letters.

NAFC magazines cover multiple species of fish, not very useful for bassers. If you want to learn more about, say, crappie, I'd suggest Crappie World, for instance, unless you go for all species around the nation. I subscribed to CW a year and it seemed they always teach the same things over and over, mostly just introducing readers to new baits and how to rig them. In both BASS and NAFC there's way too much "environmentalist" type articles about glabal warming, exotic species, and legal battles, and a lot of repeition in each issue. There might be three articles on two pages about Lake Powell's drought, all sayingthe same thing.

I do post on the NAFC bulletin board under the handle "Ouachitabassangler" and on the BASS and Bass Insider boards as "Arkieforester", where lots of beginners are looking for help.

I'd rather spend the money on baits and gas.

Jim

I, LIKE JIM BELONG TO BOTH. I'VE BEEN A MEMBER OF NAFC SINCE THE EARLY 90'S AND I'M NOT SURE IF I'M GOING TO RENEW MY MEMBERSHIP WHEN IT EXPIRES IN MARCH. I JUST RENEWED MY "BASS" MEMBERSHIP A FEW DAYS AGO.

THE TEST PRODUCTS NAFC SENDS OUT ARE NOT WHAT THEY MAKE THEM OUT TO BE. LIKE JIM SAID, $3.00 AT BEST. THEY ADVERTISE RODS, REELS, TROLLONG MOTORS AND THE LIKE, BUT I DON'T KNOW ANYBODY THAT TESTED ANYTHING LIKE THAT.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR DECISION,

FALCON

                                                 

Dont you have to sign up for BASS to go to tournaments anyways??

NAFC blows. I was in it then I got sick of it.

nafc is ok for a few years as they beg every month for you to re-up or become a member for life. WHAT IS LIFE MEMBERSHIP ? a few hundred dollors and the club could close at any month and so would your membership.   CAN THEM!  I DID.

I got books, videos, etc from b.a.s.s., nafc, buckmasters. Each time they came with a bill, and each time I called and said that since I didnt ask for the stuff, they would not be getting it back, and they wont not recieve a penny from me.  A "thank you sir, we'll take you off the mailing list" was the standard reply, yet I keep getting stuff from b.a.s.s, when my membership ran out over a year ago.