Wilderness Unlimited or ranch lease experiences?

[albchen]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone is willing to share their experiences with Wilderness Unlimited or other private memberships (i.e. Kelsey bass)? At almost $1000 annual fee for their fishing program, Wilderness Unlimited seems pretty attractive, but I have heard some bad things. I also couldn't find out what ranches are part of their network. If you have any experiences to share, I'd be grateful.

Thanks,
albchen

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I have a lot of friends/customers who have belonged to Wilderness Unlimited for many years now.

They have some good fly fishing properties as well as hunting.

[Mike Churchill]

Albchen,

I've been a WU member for about five years now. I am currently "inactive" to save some money this year, but I intend to go active again next year.

If you can afford it and have the time to use the properties, it's worth it--particularly if you hunt as well.

WU has a number of fishing and camping properties. The two I know best are both near Burney: the Bidwell Ranch and Lake Margaret. Lake Margaret is a great place to camp with the family and /or have a mountain lake damn near to yourself.

The only way to really find out what properties you'd get access to is to sit down with a member and flip through his property book.

If you're in Sacto, send me a pm and I'll show you mine.

Mike

[BigBuddha]

I've been a member for a long time and haven't had any bad experiences. Sometimes you might not be able to reserve the dates you wanted, but the controlled access keeps things from getting too crowded. I have met many fine folks in the camps and some were excellent fly fishers who have a lot of good tips. The security of a patrolled camp area is a real blessing and Lake Margaret even has boats available for no extra charge.

[Charlie S]

Been a member since it started. Great fishing properties that, in addition to the above, includes sections of Hat Creek, Lost Creek and three access points, with boats, on the Fall River. They also have a variety of properties with bass fishing and you can also access some of their properties in Oregon for some good fishing. Key to the whole thing is expect some weekends to be booked and if you don't use it then the cost to use ratio may be too high. Otherwise, there is some fantastic fishing.