Best And Worst (Hardest) State To Fish?

[jitterbug127]

The hardest lake fish thread got me thinking. What are the best and worst states to fish? There are several indiana responses which is where i live. I dont have much experience outside indiana to compare but it is very hard here and the ones i have caught 2 lber is huge

[everythingthatswims]

VA has great variety for bass fishing, while we may not have the biggest or the most, we do have a little bit of everything. We have big rivers with smallies like the James, New, and Shenandoah, countless stocked trout reservoirs/lakes (If super smart trout-eating bass are your thing), many of which are in the mountains, big impoundments like Anna, Gaston, SML, tidal water like the Potomac, James, Chickahominy, tons of smaller reservoirs and lakes, and even Briery Creek with florida strain LMB. 

   I think I would get bored having to fish similar locations all the time, nice to have plenty of options.

[J Francho]

NY and NY.

 

There's just about any kind of fishing you could want, world class smallies, but you gotta put up with winter.

[Djman72]

Indiana has some surprisingly good fishing if you know where to look. I live in Northwest Indiana, and have caught quite a few fish over 4 pounds and my PB of 7.5 out of Indiana lakes.

 

I mainly fish IN and MI and it's no contest between the two. Michigan wins hands down.

[Weld's Largemouth]

NY and NY.

 

There's just about any kind of fishing you could want, world class smallies, but you gotta put up with winter.

Even maine has it better than us... 

[gulfcaptain]

California, some of the best fishing lakes in the country and some of the toughest pressured waters as well in the country.

[WRB]

I will narrow it down to 1 lake, Casitas. This lake can be phenomenal or the Dead Sea. You can catch your PB, PB 5 bass limit and get blanked in the same week!

Tom

[F14A-B]

Florida.. Plain and Simple. Learned it along time ago and love the fishing there.

Indiana/ Sucks...

[Weld's Largemouth]

California, some of the best fishing lakes in the country and some of the toughest pressured waters as well in the country.

 

at least you can fish year round

[roadwarrior]

Well, Alaska rates last...only state without bass.

 

"Best Largemouth" are CA, TX, FL and maybe GA. Second tier might include the

Carolinas, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee. For smallmouth, the states with

access  to the Great Lakes plus Lake Champlain for numbers. Next are AL, TN

and KY especially for "size".

 

Another option is Mexico...

 

 

 

[gulfcaptain]

at least you can fish year round

you can fish year round up there......and even drive you vehicle on the lake.  Yeah it maybe cold, have to drill your way to water, but you can stil fish.....lol

[Weld's Largemouth]

you can fish year round up there......and even drive you vehicle on the lake.  Yeah it maybe cold, have to drill your way to water, but you can stil fish.....lol

yea but they call it fishing, not catching and ice fishing sucks lol

[Ozark_Basser]

To me, it seems like California has it the best as far as a variety of lakes to fish with giant bass in them.  Although there is a lot of fishing pressure, your chances of hooking into a big one on any technique possible is definitely increased there.  

 

As far as worst states, it's hard to say, but any that get extremely cold or don't put a lot of money into their fisheries would definitely be tough. 

[OkobojiEagle]

I don't live there so correct me when I'm wrong, but a couple of the east coast states make it pretty hard to bass fish... closed bass seasons, ban on lead tackle, expensive license, pay to use ramps, and "no motor" reservoirs.  I'd find this government regulation to most impede my fishing.

 

 

oe

[Weld's Largemouth]

I don't live there so correct me when I'm wrong, but a couple of the east coast states make it pretty hard to bass fish... closed bass seasons, ban on lead tackle, expensive license, pay to use ramps, and "no motor" reservoirs.  I'd find this government regulation to most impede my fishing.

 

 

oe

Its not hard to fish in new york when there isn't any ice

[jitterbug127]

I live in east central indiana. I went out to a dozen lakes this year and didnt catch much of anything.

[skeeter1980]

Delaware Flat out SUCKS.

[BasshunterJGH]

California, some of the best fishing lakes in the country and some of the toughest pressured waters as well in the country.

X2. California and California.

[gulfcaptain]

I don't live there so correct me when I'm wrong, but a couple of the east coast states make it pretty hard to bass fish... closed bass seasons, ban on lead tackle, expensive license, pay to use ramps, and "no motor" reservoirs.  I'd find this government regulation to most impede my fishing.

 

 

oe

Sounds like a lot of California's regulations and costs. 

[BassObsessed]

Delaware Flat out SUCKS.

Yes. pretty much.

[Lunker Huntin]

Northen Utah can be pretty tough for bass, lakes are over fished and people will take out big femails like its nothing they dont care. Plus the northern park of the state seems to be only interested in garbage trout, they wont put any money into warm water hatcherys, good thing idaho is only about an hour and half away, way better fishing and not nearly as many people.

[BasshunterJGH]

Northen Utah can be pretty tough for bass, lakes are over fished and people will take out big femails like its nothing they dont care. Plus the northern park of the state seems to be only interested in garbage trout, they wont put any money into warm water hatcherys, good thing idaho is only about an hour and half away, way better fishing and not nearly as many people.

I've found southern utah (St George area) to be excellent bass fishing. Must be Salt Lake City area too many people.

[Team9nine]

This one is easy Florida is the best, and Indiana is the worst. OK, so it's not quite that easy, and obviously this is a pretty subjective subject, as every state has its share of good waters and bad. However, I did run an analysis a couple years back where I tried to determine this exact thing. It's not perfect, but it at least puts some factual numbers out there for discussion.
 
What I did was use the FLW Outdoors BFL divisions from across the country to help eliminate variability and be able to compare "apples to apples" as best I could. One organization with 24 tournament divisions all being run under the same set of rules. I used the full field from each of the first 4 events (excluded the Super Tournament since it was a 2-day event with a cut that eliminated much of the field of anglers), and then calculated the percent of each field that weighed in a 5-fish limit for that event. Did that for all 4 events, then average across those events to get a ranking of the overall "best" fishing waters (by state), and the worst. Here is how they all shook out when done.
 
Just for kicks, I even went so far as to compare the percentage of the field in the Elite Series events (same year) over the first two days (previous to any cuts). I figured if they were Elites, they should have better percentages overall than the lower BFL divisions. Sure enough, they topped all BFL divisions pretty easily. You could argue that they should though, because they intentionally try and put them on the best waters at the best times. Again, not a perfect way to compare, but a fun set of numbers to play with and argue over - LOL. 
 
-T9

 

 

[Lunker Huntin]

I've found southern utah (St George area) to be excellent bass fishing. Must be Salt Lake City area too many people.

You are definitely right there, down south has some great fishing around st george and lake powell, to bad its about 5-6 hour drive for us northern guys.

[hoosierbass07]

 Yep, after two years of bass fishing here in west central Indiana, I've learned Indiana is tough and depressing.  I've not done any fishing in other states yet.  I'm going to have to remember this discussion during the summer of 2015 when I'm out in my kayak trying to catch big bass and only catch small ones start getting depressed.  Also, maybe I'm justified in my enjoyment for soft plastic worms and stick baits over big jigs, crankbaits and spinner baits.  Perhaps Indiana is only a "finesse" state.  I watch videos of fishermen using big jigs with trailers, pitching and flipping and catching big bass.  I just don't see that happening much here in Indiana.  My plans for 2015 - fish hard in the spring, from early March to June, and fish the one big lake closest to me, Raccoon Lake.