Best And Worst (Hardest) State To Fish?

[Airman4754]

Oregon bad, California good. 

[sprint61]

Western KY is phenomenal. KY lake, Barkley, barren river, and green river to name a few are great. But the eastern part where I live can be very tough. 

[Derekbass02]

Wisconsin is pretty good when it's not winter. The largemouth fishing is good for how far north I live. There are a good bunch 3 and 4 pound fish as well as some larger one's. I once heard of someone who caught a 7 pounder in the 200 acre lake I always fish. Obviously the smallmouth fishing is great in some places. The only bad part is that we have to have a 6 month break called winter.

[clh121787]

Texas isn't much good. Better off going else where

[Fishinthefish]

Any lake surrounded by private property for a man without a boat. Worst fishing ever.

[Zippyduck Krimm]

Pennsylvania is terrible if you don't count Erie. State only stocks trout, musky and walleye. Lakes all have been depleted from the Amish keeping everything they catch. and every decent lake is highly pressured with tournaments every weekend. We also have long winters with ice being on the lakes but usually not safe except for about 1-1/2 months.

Look at the Classic in Pittsburgh 1# fish ad very few limits, welcome to our tournaments.

[Paul Roberts]

Montana?

[gardnerjigman]

Kansas is pretty tough, we just make it look easy

[contium]

On 12/9/2014 at 2:20 PM, gulfcaptain said:

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

That's the truth. I've been doing pretty good and then bam, skunked twice in a row. Not even a single hit fishing around 9 hours each day. 

[Bankbeater]

Favorite place to fish is down in the Missouri Ozarks.  You have multiple lakes down there that are only a couple of hours away from each other.  Eastern Missouri, especially around St. Louis is very tough.  These lakes and ponds have very heavy fishing pressure.

[blckshirt98]

I can't complain here in California but one thing we lack here are any "secret" spots.  If there's water, and there's fish, it's been fished and there's going to be trash laying around.  One regret I have is I lived in St. Louis and Atlanta for about 6 years combined in the early 2000's and wasn't fishing back then.  Now I look at all of the good places a short drive away and wish I had.

[ranger7717]

i hear a lot about california's giants....is that exclusive to certain waters or pretty typical throughout the state?

[blckshirt98]

 

48 minutes ago, ranger7717 said:

i hear a lot about california's giants....is that exclusive to certain waters or pretty typical throughout the state?

Throughout the state, DD bass are in pretty much all of the major reservoirs, though the places with larger forage like hitch and trout get some real tanks.  I'm not sure why the fish in Cali get so large compared to other places around the country.  I do know pretty much all of the largemouth bass here are Florida strain or hybrids that are genetically Florida-dominant that have taken over most of the state.

[Andy Stocker]

I have good luck here in Southern Indiana, not sure why people think it is so hard to fish here.

[John P Bitondo]

New Jersey ,hands-down is one of the worst states for Bass Fishing, it only has two lakes over 1000 acres, lake Hopatcong and Greenwood Lake (straddles NY/NJ). Both bodies of water leave a lot to be desired for a serious Bass fisherman and aggressive recreational boaters can make a day on the water a nightmare. Almost all of the reservoirs do not have boat ramps and/or do not allow power motors. Most of the large rivers in the north of the state are so polluted that eating a fish out of the waters will be a high risk endeavor(no choice but to catch and release).  The so-called Lunker Bass lakes are Assunpink in Monmouth County, Parvin in Salem County and Delaware Lake, Warren County. In addition, Boonton Reservoir, Morris County, also known as Jersey City Reservoir, is listed as a “smallmouth lake,” though there are largemouth bass in abundance in this body of water. Nonetheless, Boonton Reservoir has a 15-inch size limit for smallmouths, and a 12-inch limit for largemouths. The creel limit is three bass in total.

 

[Wayne Atherley]

Utah has a huge span of species including many trout as well as large and small mouth bass. Catfish and Kokanee as well as plenty of small breed like bluegill and crappie. Hundreds of small mountain lakes as well as plenty of well maintained easily accessed large lakes. Come to southern Utah sometime and I'll show you a good time for largemouth. Up to about 6-7 lbs is biggest but there are plenty in there 

[gardnerjigman]

11 hours ago, blckshirt98 said:

  I'm not sure why the fish in Cali get so large compared to other places around the country. 

Warmer waters more times of the year than most places so the fish actively feed more. No different than mexico, florida, Texas etc. 

[blazerrick]

On 2/5/2016 at 3:08 PM, Mosster47 said:

Oregon bad, California good. 

While CA has bigger fish in the big lakes that grow while eating all of the stocked trout, Oregon has the John Day and Columbia rivers for good smallies.  Quite a few in the Willamette, too.  Well, at least there are until people pull every last one of them out thanks to the ODFW removing the bag limits.  Oregon isn't nearly as bad as CA in the amount of annual AND daily fees just to be able to get on the water.

[blazerrick]

1 hour ago, John P Bitondo said:

New Jersey ,hands-down is one of the worst states for Bass Fishing, it only has two lakes over 1000 acres, lake Hopatcong and Greenwood Lake (straddles NY/NJ). Both bodies of water leave a lot to be desired for a serious Bass fisherman and aggressive recreational boaters can make a day on the water a nightmare. Almost all of the reservoirs do not have boat ramps and/or do not allow power motors. Most of the large rivers in the north of the state are so polluted that eating a fish out of the waters will be a high risk endeavor(no choice but to catch and release).  The so-called Lunker Bass lakes are Assunpink in Monmouth County, Parvin in Salem County and Delaware Lake, Warren County. In addition, Boonton Reservoir, Morris County, also known as Jersey City Reservoir, is listed as a “smallmouth lake,” though there are largemouth bass in abundance in this body of water. Nonetheless, Boonton Reservoir has a 15-inch size limit for smallmouths, and a 12-inch limit for largemouths. The creel limit is three bass in total.

 

NJ is good if you like fishing smaller waters for medium size bass.  I have no interest in fishing a 1000+ acre lake.  Manasquan Res, Assunpink and Mercer are plenty big for me and my kayak.  The state record didn't come from a huge lake.  The lakes do get a lot of pressure, but luckily most people catch and release, so there are usually fish around.

[TommyTreble]

Maine fishing can be very satisfying -- lots of smaller bodies of water filled with aggressive bass and little pressure.

[blckshirt98]

" Maine fishing can be very satisfying -- lots of smaller bodies of water filled with aggressive bass and little pressure. "

This is what I want...lots of smaller lakes that have never seen a lure where you can throw anything and get a fish.

[slonezp]

ILLINOIS SUCKS FOR BASS FISHING. Fishing is expensive and our public waterways are poorly managed due to politics and lack of funding. I spend a lot of time fishing Wisconsin waters to make up for the poor fishing here in Northern IL. Consistently, the best bass fishing I have ever experienced was on KY Lake. I've made numerous trips and have never been disappointed. Guntersville would be my next choice.

[BassObsessed]

10 hours ago, gardnerjigman said:

Warmer waters more times of the year than most places so the fish actively feed more. No different than mexico, florida, Texas etc. 

And the trout they feed on is like steroids lol. Beats the heck out of lousy Delaware fishing.

[bonzai22]

20 hours ago, slonezp said:

ILLINOIS SUCKS FOR BASS FISHING. Fishing is expensive and our public waterways are poorly managed due to politics and lack of funding. I spend a lot of time fishing Wisconsin waters to make up for the poor fishing here in Northern IL. Consistently, the best bass fishing I have ever experienced was on KY Lake. I've made numerous trips and have never been disappointed. Guntersville would be my next choice.

X2 on Illinois being god awful. On the lakes I fish if you catch a limit it's a large miracle.

[Last_Cast]

NY!!!!!

Fishing in NY angers me..Dont get me wrong I go every chance I get but it could be better.