Top-rated 9 Best Fishing Affiliate Programs for 2024

Joining reputable fishing affiliate programs makes perfect sense for the avid angler. You can fuel your passion and others’ joys and improve your chances of earning more.

Lucrative commissions, high-quality products, and exceptional support await affiliates willing to dive into this popular niche. And if you’re a passionate angler, the benefits of joining such a program are profound.

Of course, these things are only possible if you pick the right program. No worries! Our list of the fishing world’s best affiliate programs will help you start on the right footing.

Let’s start!

Top 9 Best Fishing Affiliate Programs

Enigma

Passionate anglers established Enigma Fishing in 2012, offering a trustworthy platform for avid fisherfolk and seasoned anglers who want to up their game’s ante.

It’s a brand dedicated to boosting anglers’ techniques by delivering high-performance fishing tools, including rods, lines, reels, and accessories.

And get this!

Enigma Fishing can also introduce aspiring anglers to meaningful sponsorships, paving the way for a productive fishing endeavor. Not many brands offer such connections, making Enigma worthy of affiliate promotion.

It’s a platform for anglers venturing into professional fishing!

Hence, you can expect its products to be nothing less than top-notch. And if you’re worried about the costs, you can tell your audiences that Enigma products have affordable prices.

Anglers would love that! They’ll have a company watching out for them, opening opportunities for their budding fishing careers.

Joining this program can be more stringent than others, though. For example, it’s only open to Enigma Fishing Pro Staff members. And the only way you can do that is by signing up with Enigma’s subscription. Only then can you apply as an affiliate.

Still, everything is worth it because Enigma offers a generous commission and an impressive three-month cookie. Some platforms only have 10% and a week.

Imagine selling ten Enigma Saltwater Performance Series fishing rods at $219.97 apiece. You can bring home about $440.

And that’s inviting!

 

TackleDirect

Who could’ve thought TackleDirect started as am Ocean City, New Jersey, residential basement endeavor in 1998? The small family-owned business specialized in fishing equipment they sold through an online catalog.

A quarter century later, this basement-operated business has grown to include over 80,000 fishing accessories, gear, tools, materials, and other fishing resources from over 800 leading industry players.

Some of the brands TackleDirect offers are Shimano, St. Croix, Penn, Berkley Gulp, and Daiwa.

Today, TackleDirect ships to over 200 countries!

Not bad for a basement internet startup!

It’s a fascinating story and one worth sharing. We’re confident your audiences would love to support such an American family-owned business.

TackleDirect collaborates with Rakuten LinkShare for effective affiliate management, although the company has the final say whether you’re in or out.

Some folks might consider TackleDirect’s 6% commission too low, especially with Enigma’s 20%. It’s still a noteworthy reward for your efforts.

If you promote TackleDirect’s Boga-Grip fish gripper, handling & weighing multi-purpose tool, you can earn about $9 apiece. Imagine marketing the program’s other products, and you can generate a sizeable income within a month.

And that’s why TackleDirect deserves a spot on this list.

 

Columbia Sportswear

Gert Boyle established Columbia in 1937 as a small hat manufacturer, relying on her “tough Mother” persona to ensure only the best quality products leave the floor and into store shelves.

Today, Columbia leads the outdoor gear market with innovative products, including Omni-Heat 3D thermal-reflective technology-embedded clothing. Unsurprisingly, the brand became one of the major sponsors and outfitters of several national teams at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

And if world-class athletes trust Columbia’s gear, we don’t see any reason an affiliate wouldn’t want to promote the brand’s exciting products.

Columbia’s thermally-insulated jackets make perfect clothing for ice fishing and deep-sea angling. Anglers can reel in their catch without the cold biting their skin.

You can also promote these products to other niches, including ordinary people. Wearing the right clothing for any outdoor adventure matters, and folks will love Columbia’s attention to detail.

Signing up with Columbia Sportswear is easier than Enigma’s. You only need to apply with CJ Affiliate. Not only will you get a custom link for your marketing campaign once in. Columbia also gives you access to seasonal promotions and exclusive offers.

Although Columbia’s commission is lower than Enigma’s, you can still earn. For example, selling Columbia’s PFG Henry’s Fork V Vest rewards you $7.50 apiece. Sell 50 of these products monthly, and you can generate $375.

Not bad.

 

Forza Sports

Like TackleDirect, Forza Sports epitomizes the American Dream, where success can come from ordinary residential basements, garages, backyards, and similar spaces.

In 2008, Jason Glime transformed their family basement into Forza Sports’ headquarters, selling MMA and boxing equipment online. They expanded into sports apparel and equipment, growing to over 100,000 offerings.

Talk about success!

Anglers will love Forza’s products, including fishing lines, lures, baits, rods, reels, waders, tackle boxes, bags, and accessories. Each offering undergoes quality assessment and testing, ensuring anglers get only the best.

You can make this fact a selling point in your marketing campaign. Sharing the company’s remarkable history is also sound advice. After all, everyone deserves a feel-good story.

ShareASale manages Forza Sports’ program for affiliates, making it easy to join. Confirmation is a few days’ wait, so be patient.

Fancy selling a Penn Spinfisher VI Bail-less spinning reel? How about a Daiwa Crossfire LT? You can earn $20.995 for the former and $3.525 for the latter.

With a wide range of angling products, only your marketing strategy will limit income generation.

You’ve got products no aspiring and seasoned angler will regret! And that’s worth promoting.

 

Bass Pro Shops

Johnny Morris loved bass fishing so much that he founded Bass Pro Shops in 1972 to share his passion with others. Morris started with fishing tackles, and after half a century, Bass Pro is now a multi-faceted company.

Surprisingly, Bass Pro Shops doesn’t only offer thousands of high-quality products across 200 retail stores across North America.

This brand also has a nature-based resort – Big Cedar Lodge – hosting over a million guests on fishing trips and other outdoor adventures yearly.

And if that doesn’t appeal to your readers, Bass Pro Shops’ White River Marine Group should! The platform also has a Sportman’s Club, although it’s only for loyal customers.

On the bright side, you can share these features with your audiences. It will increase the chances of driving them to Bass Pro Shops’ webpage to buy fishing products.

Bass Pro Shop’s affiliate partner is Impact, unlike other programs using ShareASale, Rakuten, or other networks.

Once in, expect Bass Pro Shops to send you high-quality creatives, newsletters, and other resources to boost your marketing campaign.

Newbies need not fret because Bass Pro Shops has a dedicated management team. And if you’re clueless about the campaign messaging, this program’s pre-written content should keep you on track.

And that’s the kind of support we need to succeed as affiliates!

 

Sportsman’s Guide

Outdoor enthusiasts love Sportsman’s Guide for its impressive array of high-quality brands in the outdoor and sporting industry.

Established in 1977, Sportsman’s Guide has been the favorite shop of outdoor adventurers, hunters, and anglers.

Recreational fisherfolk will love the platform’s fishing products, such as rods, lines, lures, baits, tackle boxes, jackets, and vests. It even has ice fishing gear, fish finders, apparel, footwear, and marine electronics.

These products should make recreational fishing worthwhile.

You have two options for joining Sportsman’s Guide: CJ Affiliate and AvantLink. Either platform will make your affiliate application easier.

Five percent might seem low for a commission. However, noting Sportsman’s Guide’s offerings, you can still earn substantially.

For example, Daiwa’s Tatula TWS Baitcasting reel & rod combo can net you about $11.50. Imagine selling a hundred of these, and your monthly earnings shoot to $1,150.

While we admire Sportsman’s Guide’s commission scheme, we only wish its cookies lasted longer than a week.

Still, its brand partnerships and commendable product offerings make Sportsman’s Guide a worthy program to join.

 

Legacy Food Storage

You won’t find fishing reels, lures, rods, lines, and similar stuff at Legacy Food Store. That doesn’t mean anglers don’t need what this program offers.

Imagine fishing in the open seas, and your food is spoiling because you don’t have a reliable storage system. You can head back to shore and fill your tummy. Or, you could bring a Legacy Food Storage system in your trip.

And please note. These products are not only excellent for anglers. They are also heaven-sent for doomsday preppers, emergency responders, and ordinary families requiring a steady source of sustenance during dark days.

Legacy Food Storage is not only for outdoor sports enthusiasts. It’s also for everyone seeking a reliable system in emergencies.

Customers will get freeze-dried gourmet food in reusable containers. Anglers can repurpose these plastic boxes as fish storage. They can choose meal packages, Grab & Go solutions, gluten-free offerings, bulk items, and other products.

And you can earn at least 10% from each.

Here’s the kicker!

Promote the 720-serving Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner pack, and you could bring home $204.50. Sell five of these monthly, and you’ll earn $1,022.50.

So, join Legacy Food Storage with ShareASale today and start earning more.

 

Phoozy

Unlike other fishing affiliate programs, Phoozy has somewhat “unrelated” offerings at first glance. However, the company’s mission reveals the nature of 21st-century recreational fishing.

Most modern anglers bring gadgets (i.e., smartphones, laptops, and tablets) to their fishing adventures. It’s unsurprising because they would want to share their Instagrammable catch as soon as possible or even live-stream it.

Unfortunately, electronics and water are never a perfect pair. Anglers must protect these devices from potential water- and impact force- damage.

That’s why Phoozy matters to anglers and recreational fisherfolk. Its products (i.e., sleeves, pouches, and bags) protect modern gadgets from damage.

Becoming a Phoozy affiliate starts with a ShareASale application. And with a $60 average order size, you can earn about $6 per sale.

Give Phoozy a try. It’s worth it.

 

Mustad Fishing

This Norwegian brand has been around for nearly two centuries, founded by Mathias Topp in 1832. It’s a recognizable fish hook brand with a 25% (one in four hooks) market share.

With such a heritage, you can expect Mustad Fishing’s fishing lures, rods, hooks, lines, leaders, tackles, apparel, and tools to be nothing less than the best.

Surprisingly, the only ice fishing accessory you can find on Mustad is the Halibut Stinger Rig, with a large glow tube and a stinger hook for catching halibut. It doesn’t have LED glow lure chargers, drop-shot hooks, bite indicators, ice floats, and dropper lures.

Still, Mustad Fishing offers avid anglers high-quality products to up their game. And you can deliver the brand’s nearly centuries-old tradition of making reliable fishing implements.

Like other programs, Mustad doesn’t manage its affiliate platform. That’s AvantLink’s job. Moreover, it prioritizes social media influencers and passionate and knowledgeable anglers with blogs.

With an attractive compensation, Mustad Fishing could be your ticket to financial freedom while enjoying your passions.

How Do Fishing Affiliate Programs Work?

Fishing affiliate marketing programs work like any conventional marketing strategy. You promote products to prospective customers and get paid for it.

However, here’s where it differs from traditional marketers employed by companies.

The traditional marketer receives remuneration regardless of results. People might buy the product or not. But as long as the marketer “performs” their job, the company pays them a salary because they are “employed.”

You’re not!

Although affiliates are “partners,” companies don’t pay you regularly and with a fixed compensation. You work for it. Affiliates must produce results if they want to earn!

And this saves companies money, while ensuring optimal results for their range of products.

So, how does it work?

Companies send custom links to affiliates, which the latter can embed into their blog articles, social media posts, videos, webinars, podcasts, emails, and other marketing channels.

Visitors, viewers, followers, listeners, and audiences click on these links, releasing a “cookie” into their browsers. Cookies are essential because they gather information about the potential customer and allow the company to customize future offerings.

More importantly, cookies allow companies to determine which affiliate to credit the sale (and send the commission).

If the customer buys within the cookie duration (i.e., 7 or 30 days), the company pays the affiliate a commission.

And that’s why affiliates must strategize in encouraging audiences to click and buy. The more potential customers you drive to the company’s website, the more chances of earning a commission.

It’s the same mechanism regardless of niche, including recreational fishing.

Benefits of Joining a Fishing Affiliate Program

Becoming an affiliate for a fishing-related company brings many benefits, including the following.

Fuels a passion

Over 220 million worldwide are passionate anglers, spending weekends in open seas and inland waterways (i.e., rivers, lakes, canals, and streams) fishing for their favorite fish and releasing them back into the water.

In the US, about 55 million flock to different fishing spots to reel in a prize catch worthy of a snapshot for their Instagram stories.

And if you add commercial fisherfolk, you get five times more.

That’s how huge the market is. More importantly, it underscores the passion of anglers and recreational fisherfolk.

Imagine promoting high-quality fishing gear, tools, materials, and other resources to these folks. You’ll be instrumental in growing their passion.

Fathers can spend more precious time with sons, and friends will have a blast determining who can catch the biggest fish.

You will also fuel your passion if you’re a fishing enthusiast yourself. Some brands send free samples for affiliates to try or offer huge discounts on accessories and other stuff.

Monetizes your passion

Profit is a key feature of any affiliate sales and marketing program, including fishing. After all, nobody wants to work their butts off for free. A form of compensation must exist (monetary or otherwise) for affiliates to stay motivated.

Earning 5% to 20% for each sale of high-quality fishing products might not seem much. However, you’re monetizing a hobby, an outdoor activity you hold close to your heart. Nothing can be more rewarding than that!

Strengthens people skills

Many programs have excellent marketing support systems. Some have dedicated teams to teach and guide newbie affiliates in mounting an effective campaign and boost interpersonal relationship skills.

Even if you decide to stop as an affiliate in the future, you can use people skills in other aspects of life.

How to Choose the Best Fishing Affiliate Programs?

Although not all have a program for affiliates, those that do could still number in the hundreds, if not thousands. So, how do you pick the best affiliate program to join?

Ascertain the brand’s reputation

Nobody wants to work with a shady organization. It’s not good for the image.

And that’s why affiliates must research a fishing brand’s history. Be mindful of quality issues, customer service complaints, and other concerns that might dent a company’s reputation.

Are these negatives well-founded, or are they biased? Use your judgment in ascertaining a brand’s reputation.

Evaluate product quality

Sometimes, even reputable brands make poor-quality offerings. It can damage your affiliate reputation, too.

Some companies send samples to affiliates for testing. This action allows you to examine and evaluate the fishing product before deciding to promote or not. Most brands offer discounts, enabling affiliates to buy and test the fishing product before marketing.

Remember, promoting low-quality products can tarnish your reputation.

Study the commission scheme

Fishing brands vary in commission structures. Some pay a generous percentage (i.e., 50%), while others reward affiliates with a lower rate (i.e., 5%).

Although it’s tempting to pick the brand with high commission rates, affiliates must analyze the compensation in monetary value. For example, 50% of a $30 fishing product is only $15, while 5% of a $500 item is $25.

We would pick the latter. But that’s just us.

Additionally, you might want to consider what “customer action” the brand will pay a commission. Must customers buy a product before you earn a commission? Or is completing a lead-generation form enough? How about clicks?

And please, don’t forget the cookies. The longer the duration, the better your chances of having a customer action credited to your account.

How to Promote Fishing Products as an Affiliate?

Promoting fishing products as a brand affiliate is easy, and we’ll share some secrets guaranteed to boost your income potential.

Use links in blog articles

Almost all affiliate ventures in the fishing niche requires an active website or blog. And you can share or promote fishing products by creating relatable stories around them.

Talk about your experiences, especially using the product in a fishing trip. Readers will want to know how such items can improve their adventures, too.

Share on social media

Nearly three out of five (60.5%) people worldwide are on social media, with experts saying 2027 will mark social media usage at 5.85 billion. Moreover, a single social media user has SIX social media platforms. Impressive numbers!

So, you can leverage this reach by posting fishing products – weaving them into relevant stories – in social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and more).

Leverage email marketing

A tactic of seasoned marketers, email marketing never goes out of style. This strategy lets email subscribers receive timely updates and offerings without logging into your site.

You can include a product link, promo code, or banner link in your email messages, conveying how such an item can improve or help their recreational fishing adventures.

Add links in video descriptions

Got a TikTok or YouTube channel? You can promote fishing products on these platforms and other online video programs, too.

You can mention the product in the video and tell viewers to check the link in the description. And when they click it, bam! They’ll see the item on the company’s official website.

Share products in webinars and podcasts

You can also promote fishing products on podcasts and webinars by weaving them around your topic. Most podcasters share the product in the episode’s beginning and end, but you can strategize.

FAQs

Is fishing experience necessary to join a fishing affiliate program?

You don’t need fishing experience to join a fishing affiliate network or program. 

However, you must be knowledgeable about this outdoor activity to build credibility and make readers, viewers, followers, and website visitors trust you.

Trustworthiness is crucial when promoting affiliate products. Affiliates must display a certain level of “expertise.” And they can only do this if they have passion for fishing.

After all, how can you write articles for various types of fishing or review relevant products if you’re clueless about the industry?

Audiences won’t believe you, and they won’t buy.

Do I need to pay a fee to join fishing affiliate programs?

Joining fishing affiliate programs is free.

However, mounting an effective marketing campaign can entail several expenses, including testing, digital marketing tools, website costs, and other resources. Experts recommend a $300 to $500 budget for these.

How much commission can I get as a fishing affiliate?

Commissions vary across programs. Most companies offer a percentage of each validated transaction (from 2% to 20%), while others provide cash per sale (i.e., $20).

Fishing affiliates can take home over $8,000 average monthly commission. And earning more is possible if you persevere in your marketing campaigns and use every channel to promote the products.

Is it possible to promote multiple fishing affiliate programs at once?

Promoting multiple affiliate platforms is doable. It’s worth noting that super affiliates use this strategy to maximize their income potential.

However, we advise newbie affiliates to limit their programs to manageable numbers. For example, two to three simultaneous programs should be easy to track. After all, beginners still “feel” their way around the whole affiliate promotion and marketing idea.

Remember, you’ll be engaging audiences to boost lead generation and increase the likelihood of producing sales. Too many programs can undermine this requirement and make you lose focus on some platforms.

You can increase the number of affiliate platforms to promote once you’re confident about the process or have an efficient system in place.

What kinds of fishing products can I promote as an affiliate?

The fishing industry is worth billions in dollars. In the US alone, it’s worth $11.5 billion. These figures underscore the expansive range of products available for promotion.

You can promote fishing equipment (i.e., rods, reels, and tools), resources (i.e., lines, baits, and lures), gear, trips, and other products everyone in the industry needs.

Conclusion

Fishing affiliate programs let you monetize one of the world’s favorite outdoor recreational activities. The market is huge, and the income-generating potential is great. However, affiliates should stick with industry practices to avoid nullifying their potential sales.

Beginners might not earn four-digit commissions right away. However, perseverance and commitment to perform sound marketing campaigns can shorten the gap between novice and advanced affiliates.

Continue being passionate about recreational fishing and share with your audiences. Rewards will follow.