How Far Down South

[WRB]

Climate San Diego average year around temp is 70 degrees, rarely exceed 90 a few days a year and lows in the mid 40's at night. World class fishing both fresh and salt water. No bugs.

Central California is a warmer climate and more rural atmosphere good fishing and hunting opportunities. Some bugs.

Northern California San Fransico north to Oregon border can be hot during the summer and colder winters, some light snow and more bugs. Bass fishing is world class.

SoCal were I live has fewer bass fishing lakes, good climate and over crowded.

Down side is the political climate and high cost of living.

Tom 

[BadContrakt]

37 minutes ago, WRB said:

Down side is the political climate and high cost of living.

Tom 

I'd be out of there so fast after living with those crazies.

[WRB]

3 minutes ago, BadContrakt said:

I'd be out of there so fast after living with those crazies.

California has nothing on Minnesota for crazy politics.

Tom

[BadContrakt]

Just now, WRB said:

California has nothing on Minnesota for crazy politics.

Tom

The difference is I don't live near the metro. Minnesota is all red until you get to the metro.

[TnRiver46]

5 minutes ago, WRB said:

California has nothing on Minnesota for crazy politics.

Tom

I've been noticing that......

[WRB]

11 minutes ago, BadContrakt said:

The difference is I don't live near the metro. Minnesota is all red until you get to the metro.

 

11 minutes ago, BadContrakt said:

The difference is I don't live near the metro. Minnesota is all red until you get to the metro.

So is California until you get to metropolitan high populated areas, 80% of the state is rural with excellent climate. My wife is from Minnestoa, extremely cold winters and hot humid buggie summers. My wife's family spend summers in Canada and winter in Arizona ( snow birds).

You can relocate anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line for year around fishing, good luck.

Tom

[Tennessee Boy]

There's no question that if you want big bass and nice climate,  California is the place to go.  The problem is,  just about every piece of fishing tackle I own has a warning on it that says it causes cancer in California.  No way I'm ever fishing there!

[BassNJake]

I live in east TN now after living most of my life about 45 minutes from Cleveland and Lake Erie.

 

The summers in Ohio were worse for me than the summers here in East TN

 

The humidity was horrible near lake erie and its pretty mild here for the most part.

Although I only fish til about noon or one on the weekends, I'm outside working in the yard the rest of the time.

 

I'm about 2 hours from Chickamauga and pass Watts Bar, Tellico & Fort Loudon as well as Melton Hill all on the TN river on my way there.

I can go about an hour and a half east and fish Watauga or South Holston Reservoir. (both gorgeous lakes)

About 45 minutes away are both Douglas and Cherokee lakes and I live 2 left hand turns from Norris lake.

 

There's more lakes than I have time for.

Plus, there are a ton of creeks and streams that are stocked with trout

 

 

7 hours ago, Oregon Native said:

Moved to Tn from Oregon ten years ago....sometimes wish I would have been born here....so many places to fish in such a short time!!

The first time I visited TN, it felt like the home I was missing

[BadContrakt]

5 minutes ago, BassNJake said:

I live in east TN now after living most of my life about 45 minutes from Cleveland and Lake Erie.

 

The summers in Ohio were worse for me than the summers here in East TN

 

The humidity was horrible near lake erie and its pretty mild here for the most part.

Although I only fish til about noon or one on the weekends, I'm outside working in the yard the rest of the time.

 

I'm about 2 hours from Chickamauga and pass Watts Bar, Tellico & Fort Loudon as well as Melton Hill all on the TN river on my way there.

I can go about an hour and a half east and fish Watauga or South Holston Reservoir. (both gorgeous lakes)

About 45 minutes away are both Douglas and Cherokee lakes and I live 2 left hand turns from Norris lake.

 

There's more lakes than I have time for.

Plus, there are a ton of creeks and streams that are stocked with trout

 

 

The first time I visited TN, it felt like the home I was missing

A lot of great Tennessee reviews... What makes it so great? Where should I look to live? How's the job market? How's the winters? I have a friend here in MN that was born and raised there. We actually just call him "Tennessee" he talks about it so much.

[TnRiver46]

6 minutes ago, BadContrakt said:

A lot of great Tennessee reviews... What makes it so great? Where should I look to live? How's the job market? How's the winters? I have a friend here in MN that was born and raised there. We actually just call him "Tennessee" he talks about it so much.

The people are what make it so great! Where you want to live just depends on what you are after. Mountains in East Tennessee , hills/cliffs in the middle, and massive large scale agriculture out west. West Tennessee reminds me more of rural Indiana/Illinois/Ohio where you will never see traffic , with the exception of Memphis of course. It’s kind of like going back in time, which i enjoy about it. There’s also Kentucky lake out there, which is beyond huge and the fish are too. Job market is very good as long as you don’t mind sweating a lot. Winters are mild, maybe 1 or 2 snowfalls of a couple inches each year. It does get down to zero degrees or a little under on occasion but not often. One of my favorite things about East Tennessee is the wind rarely blows at all unless there is a storm coming 

[BassNJake]

3 minutes ago, BadContrakt said:

A lot of great Tennessee reviews... What makes it so great? Where should I look to live? How's the job market? How's the winters? I have a friend here in MN that was born and raised there. We actually just call him "Tennessee" he talks about it so much.

It's the peacefulness, the people and the slow pace, even downtown Knoxville has this homey quality to it.

(I'm about 45 minutes from Knoxville)

 

Although i lived in a more rural area in Ohio, I was always working in the city or the suburbs.

There I described the feeling as cutthroat. The drive was always white knuckle with fingers flying and horns honking.

Everyday shopping in a grocery store was like black friday with the rudeness and the me first attitude.

 

The job market? It will depend on your field and I know nothing about how the auto biz is here. Like just about anywhere the closer you get to the city the more opportunities there are. 

 

The winters are very mild compared to Ohio. The last month I was not able to fish was Dec of 2017 and I spent 3 weeks out of town that year or it would go back to 2015. I fished 9 months straight once in Ohio but 2 months were ice fishing.

[the reel ess]

That depends on how hearty you are.

 

I'm in the SC piedmont and I try to fish year round. I'll fish in winter in good conditions. But, honestly, there are cold snaps that I don't even consider fishing. There are days, sometimes several in a row, where the temps can be quite mild. I see FB memories in December where I'm wearing shorts, kayak fishing with bare feet. But then there's Jan-Feb where you get the occasional day or two in the mid 50's with full sun. If you fish those, you're probably fishing for one bite, but it will likely be a good one. Temps tend to be 10 degrees warmer near the SC coast in winter. March rolls around and you get a week of 70's. You go fishing and clean up. You think spring has sprung. Then you get a brutal cold snap with sleet or a little snow. So you can count on 3 months where you can fish, but it's not much fun.

[scbassin]

I have been in South Carolina since 1969 & don't plan on leaving. I fish 12 months a year. Between Santee Cooper Lakes & the Cooper River there is plenty of bass fishing. Plus the economy is booming. There are plenty of other lakes in the state that provide good fishing too. 

[JK Jake]

All of the places that have been mentioned are exceptional. I don’t know too much about other cities but the Dallas area is rapidly expanding, both economically and housing wise. Wether urban is your thing or not there are a lot of places down here. Like I said before though many of the previously mentioned places are rather good.

[senile1]

Any place with a latitude equal to that of southern Missouri and further south from there will guarantee you "year round" fishing.  None of Missouri's big southern lakes (Table Rock, Northern Bull Shoals, and Stockton) freeze during the winter.  The water temperatures in these lakes typically reach the low 40s during this time.  The winter air temperatures should be easy for a Minnesota transplant to handle. 

 

It all depends on what you want.  If you want some snow in the winter along with open water this latitude is for you.  If you don't care about experiencing all the seasons and want bigger bass move further south, but this latitude is where "year round" open water starts.

[Ratherbfishing]

I have never lived farther south than Arkansas but I can guess that, with the exception of night fishing, deep south summers are pretty unbearable.  You'll trade long cold winters for long hot summers.  Or am I wrong about this?  Seems to me that the mid-south would be a better compromise.

[RB 77]

On 8/5/2019 at 9:47 PM, soflabasser said:

Florida is full. On average we get +900 people a day moving to Florida. Go to Southern California, you can catch lots of big bass there. Texas is also a great place for big bass. 

 No, no... you really should move to Florida, plenty of room last time I was there. I mean, there is an entire strain of Bass named after the state for cryin' out loud! That should be a slam dunk. I know OP said its out since you lived there before, but man you should see the renovation they have done to the state since then and it is home to "Florida Man" after all. A potential tourney partner. Haha...

On 8/6/2019 at 11:51 AM, BadContrakt said:

I'd be out of there so fast after living with those crazies.

 

Yes. The politics, politicians and the following cronies for the most part in this area are bat you know what crazy!

On 8/6/2019 at 12:12 PM, Tennessee Boy said:

There's no question that if you want big bass and nice climate,  California is the place to go.  The problem is,  just about every piece of fishing tackle I own has a warning on it that says it causes cancer in California.  No way I'm ever fishing there!

Yeah, good ol' Calicorny... Couldn't even buy waders online form Academy because of that nonsense...

[JediAmoeba]

I wished I lived in Minnesota...

[Armtx77]

On 8/5/2019 at 5:38 PM, BadContrakt said:

Do you have to go to have "year round" bass fishing seasons. The wife and I are not wanting to stay in Minnesota for long (maybe a couple years at most) and no state in particular has us 100% convinced. Texas is very high on the list of places to live, but there are other states on the radar.

 

Just curious, if a guy were to choose a state with a great bass population, size, and year round fishing, which state would that be?

 

(Florida is out, we've lived there).

I will toss my hat in for SE Louisiana.

I catch them all year long

Plenty of size

You can learn to catch Reds, by utilizing Bassin' gear.

Never shovel snow

Best food in the country

Ziedeco music

 

 

22 hours ago, Ratherbfishing said:

I have never lived farther south than Arkansas but I can guess that, with the exception of night fishing, deep south summers are pretty unbearable.  You'll trade long cold winters for long hot summers.  Or am I wrong about this?  Seems to me that the mid-south would be a better compromise.

You know, mid June through the 1st, maybe 2nd week of October for ugly hot and humid weather here in SE LA. 

Im originally from NW Illinois(Quad Cities) and by mid October, boats,jet skis, canoes, Harleys...etc are getting winterized and dont see the light of day, until April...late March if we were lucky.

 

Just one mans observations.

 

 

[Koz]

On 8/6/2019 at 1:18 PM, EGbassing said:

Are gators that prevalent in all of SC or is it just the area you live in? We were thinking about moving to Greenville soon..

I just moved to the Greenville-Spartanburg area and I can confirm that there are NO alligators in this area. You nee to be south of Columbia and near or into the Lowcountry area of SC before you start seeing alligators.

[Alex from GA]

I live and fish in N GA mostly.  I'm about 70 miles NE of Atlanta and the summers are hot and the winters are cold but the lakes are open.  I start fishing before sun up in the summer and quit about noon.  When I'm here in the winter I'll fish from noon until dusk if it's above 50.  There are plenty of places to fish with the streams and lakes around here.

[Harold Scoggins]

On ‎8‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 2:33 AM, jbsoonerfan said:

I live in OK and find it great for year round fishing. That being said, I would seriously consider TX, TN, GA and AL. If you can move anywhere you want, you will surely find a good landing spot.

Yep. No bass here in OK, just minnows and bluegill.

[jbsoonerfan]

43 minutes ago, Harold Scoggins said:

Yep. No bass here in OK, just minnows and bluegill.

We have no deer either! Lol

[TnRiver46]

7 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

I wished I lived in Minnesota...

More water than land= fish paradise! (I don't know if that's true but it sure seems like it)

[Catt]

2 hours ago, Harold Scoggins said:

Yep. No bass here in OK, just minnows and bluegill.

 

My nephew's 11 lb 3 oz!

 

I wanna say Grand but don't quote me on that.