relocate for a hobby?

[soflabasser]

8 minutes ago, NYWayfarer said:

Loved it. I visit Florida every year for vacation since the 70's. My grandparents retired and lived there until they passed.

 

Nice place to visit. I am not a big fan of the heat. Don't think I could stand it year round.

Everyone is different when it comes to what weather they like. I can stand the heat+humidity+occasional hurricane but I would not enjoy waiting for frozen lakes to thaw and dealing with snow+wind+grey skies, already got a taste of that on vacation up north, not nice weather to say the least. 

[PourMyOwn]

I fully plan on moving back to Appalachia from NH when I retire. I just have to find a spot where I can be left alone and close to the smallmouth. I do love New Hampshire, and the fishing is great, but the winter is longer than I'd like. 

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, soflabasser said:

You got muskie, smallmouth bass, and other fish I enjoy catching but that's about it. How was your most recent trip to Florida, did you enjoy it? Any bass over 6 pounds? Would you consider retiring in Florida? I know I will never consider retiring up north since I like seeing green trees, open water 365 days a year, and catching big bass whenever I want without leaving my home state. I enjoy seeing alligators, iguanas, and other reptiles when I fish so that is a big plus for me. With that said I would still consider visiting up north for bucketlist fish and try ice fishing but never live in the frozen north.

I have lived through Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Wilma, and other hurricanes. It is not bad if you have a well made house and prepare in advance which is very easy to do. Beats living in a place where it is cold +9 months of the year and nasty, windy, cold, snowy, frozen lakes for +6 months of the year. Besides hurricanes rarely hit South Florida and where you live it gets hit by dreadful winters every single year. Saw in the news that there where storms with hurricane strength winds+lots of snowfall up north recently, that is even worse than a hurricane! We rarely see tornadoes and that seems to be common in some states. No drought either unlike other states, just lots of green plants everywhere and world class fishing both in freshwater and saltwater. Are the lakes still frozen in your area? Its late March already, open water can't come soon enough!

 I live through winter.

A-Jay

[Raul]

On 3/23/2019 at 5:08 AM, roadwarrior said:

I think that goes for a lot of us that are approaching or in retirement.

My daughter and grand babies are in Texas and we will be headed that

way in a couple of years. Anyone know if there are any good lakes to fish 

down there?

 

Nope, there ain't nuthin worth mention in TX.

[roadwarrior]

If I end up in Dallas, how far is the drive to fish with you?

[Jigfishn10]

I'm half way there, I own a home on this beach in ME:

My daughter is starting college in the Fall and my son is in HS. I would eventually like to sell my home in MA and would like to get a home in the VA/Carolina areas.

[Brew City Bass]

I would absolutely and plan to in the future. 

What hobby you ask? BASS FISHING. Spring to Winter I fish 5-6 days a week for bass. It consumes my life, but Wisconsin winters keep me down. Every fall I get depressed. It's like a bad break up. Ice fishing is there, but it's never consistent and it's kind of like cheap vodka. Nobody likes it, but it holds you over. 

I plan to move to Florida or Texas. I need those double digits and I need bigger lakes I can fish year round. 

[soflabasser]

2 hours ago, Brew City Bass said:

I plan to move to Florida or Texas. I need those double digits and I need bigger lakes I can fish year round. 

Central/Northern Florida would be your best bet in Florida if your goal is to catch double digit bass. Lakeland, Ocala, Jacksonville, Tallahassee areas are loaded with trophy bass, with many people catching +13 pounders. South Florida has much better variety of fish than Central/Northern Florida but the trophy bass fishing is nowhere as good as further north in the state.

[Hyrule Bass]

On 3/28/2019 at 12:02 AM, soflabasser said:

Last weekend I went surf fishing somewhere in Central Florida. I noticed that over half the cars parked in the beach had out of state license plates. Seeing this reminded me how fortunate I am to live in Florida and how miserable it has to be to live up north where people are willing to drive +1000 miles to seek warmer weather during the winter. Florida is truly a paradise for those who enjoy the outdoors and I do not blame the tourist for coming in droves to Florida every single year.

i would be miserable in Florida. just too dang hot all the time. i hate being hot. i would retire in Minnesota before i retired in Florida. and like someone else said, gators...no thanks. i dont want to have to worry about being eaten while im fishing.

[redmeansdistortion]

Come up to MI.  Ohio stinks :D.  In all seriousness though, this is the freshwater fishing capital of the US.  We have world class smallmouth, musky, salmon, steelhead, trout, and walleye fishing here.  The only thing the South has on Michigan is bigger largemouth bass and catfish, but largies aren't much fun to catch anyway (my opinion) because they're lazy and don't fight near as good as a smallie.  We have many fish here that peel line to the point you'll burn your thumb.  Ok, I exaggerated a bit there, but it's kind of true.  I never met a bass that peeled off 50yd of line, but I have caught plenty of steelhead in the 10lb to 15lb range that did.

[TOXIC]

1 hour ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Come up to MI.  Ohio stinks :D.  In all seriousness though, this is the freshwater fishing capital of the US.  We have world class smallmouth, musky, salmon, steelhead, trout, and walleye fishing here.  The only thing the South has on Michigan is bigger largemouth bass and catfish, but largies aren't much fun to catch anyway (my opinion) because they're lazy and don't fight near as good as a smallie.  We have many fish here that peel line to the point you'll burn your thumb.  Ok, I exaggerated a bit there, but it's kind of true.  I never met a bass that peeled off 50yd of line, but I have caught plenty of steelhead in the 10lb to 15lb range that did.

Myself and a buddy almost bought the cottage we have been renting every year for 16 years on Harsens Island but in the end we didn't feel it would be fair to our wives since he and I would be gone every chance we got.  It sold and now we rent from the new owner who doesn't rent it out very often.  The other factor to be truthful are the brutal winters.  

[redmeansdistortion]

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

Myself and a buddy almost bought the cottage we have been renting every year for 16 years on Harsens Island but in the end we didn't feel it would be fair to our wives since he and I would be gone every chance we got.  It sold and now we rent from the new owner who doesn't rent it out very often.  The other factor to be truthful are the brutal winters.  

The winters really aren't too bad up here as long as you prepare yourself.  Dress in layers, invest in winter tires, and turn off any outside spigots.  Other than that, not bad at all.  We usually get a decent snow storm once per month from December through March, and most times it's about half a foot +/- an inch or two.  From what I've seen these last few winters, those on the northeastern seaboard have gotten much worse snow storms than we have in SE MI.  Now if you were to go to the UP, Lord help ya lol.

[MN Fisher]

4 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Come up to MI.  Ohio stinks :D.  In all seriousness though, this is the freshwater fishing capital of the US.  We have world class smallmouth, musky, salmon, steelhead, trout, and walleye fishing here.  The only thing the South has on Michigan is bigger largemouth bass and catfish, but largies aren't much fun to catch anyway (my opinion) because they're lazy and don't fight near as good as a smallie.  We have many fish here that peel line to the point you'll burn your thumb.  Ok, I exaggerated a bit there, but it's kind of true.  I never met a bass that peeled off 50yd of line, but I have caught plenty of steelhead in the 10lb to 15lb range that did.

 

18 minutes ago, redmeansdistortion said:

The winters really aren't too bad up here as long as you prepare yourself.  Dress in layers, invest in winter tires, and turn off any outside spigots.  Other than that, not bad at all.  We usually get a decent snow storm once per month from December through March, and most times it's about half a foot +/- an inch or two.  From what I've seen these last few winters, those on the northeastern seaboard have gotten much worse snow storms than we have in SE MI.  Now if you were to go to the UP, Lord help ya lol.

So far you've described Minnesota to a 'T'.

[redmeansdistortion]

5 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

 

So far you've described Minnesota to a 'T'.

True lol.  I have family in the Twin Cities area.  I want to fish every time I go see them, but they aren't fishermen and I don't even know where to start out there

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, redmeansdistortion said:

True lol.  I have family in the Twin Cities area.  I want to fish every time I go see them, but they aren't fishermen and I don't even know where to start out there

Next time you're due out here - drop a PM. You can either bring your boat or I got a stadium seat for the front of my canoe.

[redmeansdistortion]

7 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Next time you're due out here - drop a PM. You can either bring your boat or I got a stadium seat for the front of my canoe.

I don't have a boat, mostly fish from the bank or in waders.  I'll take you up on the offer next time I make the trek down I94 .  How much is a non-resident MN license?  Do they offer 1,2, or 3 day licenses?

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, redmeansdistortion said:

I don't have a boat, mostly fish from the bank or in waders.  I'll take you up on the offer next time I make the trek down I94 .  How much is a non-resident MN license?  Do they offer 1,2, or 3 day licenses?

Non-Resident license fees for 2019

Angling - 24-hour Code 139 (nr)  $14.00
Angling - 72-hour (nr)- Code 127 $36.00
Angling - 7-day (nr)- Code 126  $43.00

[soflabasser]

On 4/4/2019 at 3:19 PM, Hyrule Bass said:

i would be miserable in Florida. just too dang hot all the time. i hate being hot. i would retire in Minnesota before i retired in Florida. and like someone else said, gators...no thanks. i dont want to have to worry about being eaten while im fishing.

That is ok with me since Florida is getting too packed, especially compared to 10 years ago. Seems like more and more people move to Florida every year, many of those people are from Northern States. I do not blame them since Florida has the best weather in the continental USA among other things that makes Florida a great place to live. I prefer living in a tropical paradise with green trees, open water, and big bass everywhere than somewhere up north with gloomy miserably cold weather, hard water for 4-6 months, and other less than desirable aspects of living in some northern states.

8 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Come up to MI.  Ohio stinks :D.  In all seriousness though, this is the freshwater fishing capital of the US.  We have world class smallmouth, musky, salmon, steelhead, trout, and walleye fishing here.  The only thing the South has on Michigan is bigger largemouth bass and catfish, but largies aren't much fun to catch anyway (my opinion) because they're lazy and don't fight near as good as a smallie.  We have many fish here that peel line to the point you'll burn your thumb.  Ok, I exaggerated a bit there, but it's kind of true.  I never met a bass that peeled off 50yd of line, but I have caught plenty of steelhead in the 10lb to 15lb range that did.

Michigan, Minnesota, and other northern states has excellent freshwater fishing but I would not call any of those states the freshwater fishing capital of the USA. That would be Florida which has much more variety of freshwater fish. We have bigger largemouth bass, peacock bass which beat smallmouth bass in fighting ability, freshwater snook that are often +40 inches long, and other freshwater fish. Muskie are one of my favorite freshwater fish to catch but they are no match for a big barracuda, especially the ones that are +50 inches. 

[redmeansdistortion]

1 hour ago, soflabasser said:

Michigan, Minnesota, and other northern states has excellent freshwater fishing but I would not call any of those states the freshwater fishing capital of the USA. That would be Florida which has much more variety of freshwater fish. We have bigger largemouth bass, peacock bass which beat smallmouth bass in fighting ability, freshwater snook that are often +40 inches long, and other freshwater fish. Muskie are one of my favorite freshwater fish to catch but they are no match for a big barracuda, especially the ones that are +50 inches. 

I bet if you hooked into a big steelhead, the fight would spoil you.  I know I was.  That's why I travel and seek out the chrome bullets and their cousins the Atlantic, Coho, and king salmon.  They're about as sporty as you can get in a North American freshwater fish.  Explosive drag frying runs, going airborne, trying to control the fish so it doesn't run into logjams, it's a heck of an experience.  When you think the fish is done and you're about to net it, it snaps back into action and the fight is on once again.  It makes largemouth bass feel......tame, very tame.  Almost to the point it's boring to me.  Heck, I took a nearly 20 year hiatus from bass fishing in general and just got back into it last year.  During that time, smallmouth were nothing more than by catch as they liked to hit on the spoons, Wiggle Warts, and Hot n Tots I throw for steelies.  Steelhead and salmon spoiled the heck out of me.  I could never willingly live in a state with no salmon or steelhead fishery.  

[soflabasser]

On 4/5/2019 at 10:12 PM, redmeansdistortion said:

I bet if you hooked into a big steelhead, the fight would spoil you.  I know I was.  That's why I travel and seek out the chrome bullets and their cousins the Atlantic, Coho, and king salmon.  They're about as sporty as you can get in a North American freshwater fish.  Explosive drag frying runs, going airborne, trying to control the fish so it doesn't run into logjams, it's a heck of an experience.  When you think the fish is done and you're about to net it, it snaps back into action and the fight is on once again.  It makes largemouth bass feel......tame, very tame.  Almost to the point it's boring to me.  Heck, I took a nearly 20 year hiatus from bass fishing in general and just got back into it last year.  During that time, smallmouth were nothing more than by catch as they liked to hit on the spoons, Wiggle Warts, and Hot n Tots I throw for steelies.  Steelhead and salmon spoiled the heck out of me.  I could never willingly live in a state with no salmon or steelhead fishery.  

Forgot to mention earlier that tarpon live in many South Florida freshwater canals. Tarpon are considered one the best fighting gamefish in the world and the best part is you can catch them from land. No guide needed if you know what you are doing. I am sure salmon fight well and taste very good but they do not compare to a tarpon in fighting ability, especially a big one. Once you hook into a 20 pound or better tarpon in freshwater on spinning gear you will understand why people spend thousands of dollars to travel to Florida to catch them. Have seem tarpon in excess of 100 pounds in little freshwater canals and seen +200 pound tarpon while freediving. They are absolutely beautiful animals and no northern freshwater fish compares to them pound for pound! As for eating fish we have hogfish, snapper, grouper, dolphin, snook and other fish that for me taste much better than any salmon I have eaten.