Best 4 Season locations for freshwater fishing?

[Manly Studson]

Kentucky and Tennessee are fine states to live and fish. The seasons are distinct and the largemouth and smallmouth bass are plentiful. Kentucky gets the nod for me. It is beautiful. The largest smallmouth ever came out of Dale Hollow Lake.

[redmeansdistortion]

Michigan.  The smallmouth fishing is world class in the Great Lakes and Lake St Clair.  There's also an abundance of musky in Lake St Clair as well.  If you're hungry, there's no shortage of perch, crappie, or walleye that can be caught year round.  If you're not willing to punch holes through the ice a few months out of the year, you can hit the rivers and catch salmon and steelhead.

[FryDog62]

Florida, Michigan and Minnesota are great places to fish but I’m trying to avoid extreme climates...

 

Looking for more of moderate 4 seasons..

[moguy1973]

On 4/13/2019 at 8:26 PM, scaleface said:

Any of the Ozark lakes Missouri or Arkansas .

I 2nd this.  Branson area has excellent bass fishing from all three black bass species from 4 lakes (Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Norfork) and then world class trout fishing in Taneycomo.  Doesn't typically get extremely cold in winter in SW Missouri, summer heat at humidity can be a little unbearable sometimes but it's doable.  Plus those lakes offer stripers, walleye, huge catfish, paddlefish, and more if you want a little variety.

[Brad Reid]

Maybe I missed it . . . but not a single mention of Texas?

 

Hmm?

 

1) no state income tax and a booming economy;

2) more lakes and rivers than most other states owing to our geographic size, population;

3) close access to coastal fishing opportunities, to Mexico's bass fisheries;

4) not as many lakes as Minnesota . . . but it also doesn't get down to -60 degrees (ha!);

5) through 100) . . . I'll spare you guys a list that keeps on giving!

 

Homer . . . I mean Brad.

[FryDog62]

1 hour ago, Brad Reid said:

Maybe I missed it . . . but not a single mention of Texas?

 

Hmm?

 

1) no state income tax and a booming economy;

2) more lakes and rivers than most other states owing to our geographic size, population;

3) close access to coastal fishing opportunities, to Mexico's bass fisheries;

4) not as many lakes as Minnesota . . . but it also doesn't get down to -60 degrees (ha!);

5) through 100) . . . I'll spare you guys a list that keeps on giving!

 

Homer . . . I mean Brad.

Are there clusters or locations in proximity to several freshwater lakes/rivers or fairly spread out?

Also surprised hardly a mention of Tennessee... thought that would fit the moderate climate and multiple options equation best.  

[Catt]

3 hours ago, Brad Reid said:

Maybe I missed it . . . but not a single mention of Texas?

 

Hmm?

 

No good fishing in Texas!  ?

 

But ya might win a truck!

 

 

 

 

[Brad Reid]

On 4/17/2019 at 1:52 PM, FryDog62 said:

Are there clusters or locations in proximity to several freshwater lakes/rivers or fairly spread out?

Also surprised hardly a mention of Tennessee... thought that would fit the moderate climate and multiple options equation best.  

From where I am seated now, I am 180 feet from Lake Athens, 20 minutes to Lake Palestine, 20 to Purtis Creek, 15 to the Neches River and also close to the Trinity River, 30 to Cedar Creek, then within an hour of Richland Chambers, Fairfield, Tyler lakes, Lake Fork, Tawakoni. I'm getting writer's cramp and I could go on listing literally dozens of others.

 

One of the densest collection of fisheries in the country, not the only certainly, but one of the best!

 

Brad

[Darren.]

Gotta give bigups to Virginia. We've got some of the best striper

fishing for salt, not to mention reds, trout, etc.

 

Bass fisheries are fantastic from Briery Creek to the Potomac to

the Chickahominy River to Smith Mountain Lake to Lake Anna,

to the countless reservoirs around the state. I live a few miles

from two great reservoirs, and a short hop to many more.

 

And can't forget the James River for smallies and giant cats and

striper, the York River, the Chesapeake Bay. From where I live

I have access to an enormous number of fisheries.

[WRB]

On April 13, 2019 at 9:36 PM, NittyGrittyBoy said:

For the obvious reasons. 

I was going to let this go but couldn't ignor this morning any longer. 

Georgia is a fine State with good fishing opportunities but the Perry has never been authenticated, it was gandfathered as a world record without proof from a magazine contest back in 1932. I have studied everything available trying to determine if the Perry bass was legitimate for the simple reason it has always been my goal to catch a bigger bass. I have accepted the Perry bass only for it's legacy.

Now to claim a legitimate world record bass caught in Japan isn't the world record bass goes beyond comprehension. The Kurita bass was studied by people from IGFA, photographed, measured, weighed on several certified scales and no doubt about it's weight or genealogy as a world record LMB.

Peace, don't want to hijack this thread, just want to clear this up.

Tom

[Glaucus]

50 minutes ago, WRB said:

I was going to let this go but couldn't ignor this morning any longer. 

Georgia is a fine State with good fishing opportunities but the Perry has never been authenticated, it was gandfathered as a world record without proof from a magazine contest back in 1932. I have studied everything available trying to determine if the Perry bass was legitimate for the simple reason it has always been my goal to catch a bigger bass. I have accepted the Perry bass only for it's legacy.

Now to claim a legitimate world record bass caught in Japan isn't the world record bass goes beyond comprehension. The Kurita bass was studied by people from IGFA, photographed, measured, weighed on several certified scales and no doubt about it's weight or genealogy as a world record LMB.

Peace, don't want to hijack this thread, just want to clear this up.

Tom

Thanks Tom. I don't really know what he meant by that and I guess I still don't, but good post with reason.

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Is it or is it not considered the world record still? 

 

Has it been passed? Not tied, passed?

 

Wether or not you believe it or found facts to ease your mind, does it not still stand as a record? Legacy or not? 

 

Japan Bass was caught on live bait, that's why I personally disregard it. And what I meant by my statement "obvious reasons" was because I didn't want to clutter a thread with a debate about world record Bass. I trolled, and it got bit. 

 

I fish the Ocmulgee river, so I'm biased

[roadwarrior]

On 4/13/2019 at 11:27 PM, FryDog62 said:

My wife loves Nashville, been there once - is the fishing really that good in Tennessee?  Or do you have to drive quite a ways to get to the better places/variety?  

First of all, to address "four seasons".  In Tennessee the winter is very short and mild, snow is rare

and in 23 years I have lived here we have only had a handful of days of single digit lows. Early spring

flowers bloom in late February. Smallmouth are red hot from the middle of October through early June.

 

Summer sucks in terms of heat and humidity, but for those that can master ledge fishing it's the best

time of year for BIG largemouth.  Fall comes in late September and the weather is generally  great into

December. Some of the best fishing of the year begins in October.

 

Nashville is a "real" city and the home of Country Music.  Tennessee has NO STATE INCOME TAX! 

The cost of living is about average, but SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the coasts and Florida. Within

a 3 hour radius of the State Capital you have the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, Dale Hollow, Pickwick

and Kentucky Lake. Two lakes are virtually in the Nashville metropolitan area.  A bit further out are Wilson,

Wheeler and Guntersville.  Then there are literally hundreds of smaller lakes, rivers and streams. 

If you are a hunter the options are unlimited.

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/news/case-david-hayes

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Just dropping that here..

[FryDog62]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

First of all, to address "four seasons".  In Tennessee the winter is very short and mild, snow is rare

and in 23 years I have lived here we have only had a handful of days of single digit lows. Early spring

flowers bloom in late February. Smallmouth are red hot from the middle of October through early June.

 

Summer sucks in terms of heat and humidity, but for those that can master ledge fishing it's the best

time of year for BIG largemouth.  Fall comes in late September and the weather is generally  great into

December. Some of the best fishing of the year begins in October.

 

Nashville is a "real" city and the home of Country Music.  Tennessee has NO STATE INCOME TAX! 

The cost of living is about average, but SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the coasts and Florida. Within

a 3 hour radius of the State Capital you have the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, Dale Hollow, Pickwick

and Kentucky Lake. Two lakes are virtually in the Nashville metropolitan area.  A bit further out are Wilson,

Wheeler and Guntersville.  Then there are literally hundreds of smaller lakes, rivers and streams. 

If you are a hunter the options are unlimited.

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/news/case-david-hayes

Awesome info, sounds like there is a lot of good water nearby.  Job-wise I’d probably need to be in/near a larger city like Nashville.  Is it a reasonable drive to Chickmauga from there? When we visited Nashville, I saw the Cumberland River and wondered if it’s good for Smallmouth, and if I could get my Pro-V Bass w/jack plate launched there.  

 

Pickwick and Guntersville have always intrigued me too.  The summer humidity might be rough for a northerner like me (not my wife), but coming from one of the highest taxed states, the cost structure in Tennessee would be a definite plus...  

[TnRiver46]

On 4/14/2019 at 12:27 AM, FryDog62 said:

My wife loves Nashville, been there once - is the fishing really that good in Tennessee?  Or do you have to drive quite a ways to get to the better places/variety?  

Well that all depends on which part of Tennessee you live in

[TnRiver46]

14 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Awesome info, sounds like there is a lot of good water nearby.  Job-wise I’d probably need to be in/near a larger city like Nashville.  Is it a reasonable drive to Chickmauga from there? When we visited Nashville, I saw the Cumberland River and wondered if it’s good for Smallmouth, and if I could get my Pro-V Bass w/jack plate launched there.  

 

Pickwick and Guntersville have always intrigued me too.  The summer humidity might be rough for a northerner like me (not my wife), but coming from one of the highest taxed states, the cost structure in Tennessee would be a definite plus...  

There’s smallmouth in downtown Nashville in the Cumberland. And some 60 lb stripers!! Yes you could use that boat all the way upstream until you Start getting into trout water where they run jets. I’ve never driven directly from Nashville to Chattanooga but I’m guessing 2-2.5 hours on I-24. Its a treacherous stretch of road according to Johnny cash coming down monteagle mountain. “It’s a loooong steeeep grade!” (You should check out that song) The two main bass lakes near Nashville are Percy priest and old hickory. Lots of LM in both, good SM population in priest. Center hill dale hollow and Cordell Hull are also in the area 

[WRB]

16 hours ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Just dropping that here..

Goerge Perry was borne in 1912 and was 20 years in 1932 when he caught the 221/4 lb bass. How old is the guy holding the bass?

The more you study this catch the more questions you will have.

Tom

[Brad Reid]

On 4/20/2019 at 1:21 PM, WRB said:

I was going to let this go but couldn't ignor this morning any longer. 

Georgia is a fine State with good fishing opportunities but the Perry has never been authenticated, it was gandfathered as a world record without proof from a magazine contest back in 1932. I have studied everything available trying to determine if the Perry bass was legitimate for the simple reason it has always been my goal to catch a bigger bass. I have accepted the Perry bass only for it's legacy.

Now to claim a legitimate world record bass caught in Japan isn't the world record bass goes beyond comprehension. The Kurita bass was studied by people from IGFA, photographed, measured, weighed on several certified scales and no doubt about it's weight or genealogy as a world record LMB.

Peace, don't want to hijack this thread, just want to clear this up.

Tom

Good point, Tom. The Perry bass could be partly apocryphal . . . like some of the Georgia strrongman, Paul Anderson's lifting records.

 

But, to what extent will we recognize, with the same zeal, any new WR largemouth bass if they are of the genetically altered, forced-fed sort? I need to revisit that video of the Kurita bass but it seemed . . . contrived. We have a private lake here in Texas chock full of giant bass, too. They are genetically predisposed to great size, forced fed like sumo wrestlers.

 

For me, any record produced in this manner, while super impressive, just won't be the same as catching a monster wild bass. 

 

Another topic for us to opine on?

 

Brad 

[Alex from GA]

I moved to N GA 20 years ago from S CA.  While in CA I fished mostly in the ocean and some in Castaic, Piru and Cachuma for bass.  The bass fishing here in GA is usually very good and the weather is OK for most people.  In summer I fish the rivers in a kayak for bass and it's excellent with not much competition.  I spend the winter in FL because it's too cold for me to fish in the winter.

[greentrout]

 

[Tennessee Boy]

On 4/17/2019 at 2:52 PM, FryDog62 said:

Also surprised hardly a mention of Tennessee... thought that would fit the moderate climate and multiple options equation best.  

We don't like to brag in Tennessee but since you asked.  Our largemouth record is only 14.8 but our walleye, smallmouth, and crappie records are world records.  Pike and muskie can be caught in east Tennessee but I'm not sure how it compares to up north.  It does get cold here though.  I've seen small ponds ice over for several days ?.

[Tennessee Boy]

On 4/22/2019 at 12:45 AM, WRB said:

Goerge Perry was borne in 1912 and was 20 years in 1932 when he caught the 221/4 lb bass. How old is the guy holding the bass?

The more you study this catch the more questions you will have.

Tom

There are other credible reports of world record bass being caught in Georgia.

 

 

[HeyCoach]

Move to north Alabama and you’ll have access to the Tennessee River, Guntersville, Pickwick, Smith, Weiss and the Coosa chain, etc. 

 

You’ll be able to fish for largemouth, smallmouth, spots, strippers, white, and hybrid bass, catfish, different species of panfish, and crappie. 

[Tennessee Boy]

1 hour ago, HeyCoach said:

Move to north Alabama and you’ll have access to the Tennessee River, Guntersville, Pickwick, Smith, Weiss and the Coosa chain, etc. 

 

You’ll be able to fish for largemouth, smallmouth, spots, strippers, white, and hybrid bass, catfish, different species of panfish, and crappie. 

I used to live in north AL and I have to agree the fishing is great.  Guntersville and Pickwick are world famous.  Weiss Lake is a very fun lake to fish.  You left Wilson lake off your list.  It's a great smallmouth lake that held the world record before it went to Dale Hollow.