Y’all are basing your answers on your personal preference but the fact is Alabama is number one for bass. Pick wick and Wilson in northern Alabama are great smallmouth lakes. Guntersville needs no description. The Coosa River lakes along with the Alabama River has the best Spotted bass in the country, and then further south is Eufaula

Texas 

Texas, no question about it.

Texas has produced 18 teeners this year

Largemouth..........Texas

Smallmouth.......... Battle for Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and New York.

 

It would have been Mexico but Johnny Morris hasn’t bought Mexico yet.

On 2/24/2014 at 9:51 PM, flyingmonkie said:

Oklahoma!!!  The eastern half is loaded with beautiful lakes, and cost of living here is dirt cheap.  We also have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation and were recently voted the most "recession proof" state.  Tulsa is a great city with several AWESESOME lakes, including last year's Classic lake, within an hour drive.

 

Where I'm at, on the other hand, isn't that great. I would love to either be in the NE, or SE corner of the state.

 

Geographic fact, Oklahoma has almost 56,000 miles of freshwater shoreline.  I grew up hearing this was more than any other state, but Minnesota has us beat.

Eastern Oklahoma would be good.  Same with Arkansas and Louisiana.  Texas looks better on paper than in reality, just because it's so big.  You may not have to leave the state to fish other good lakes, but you'll likely be spending the same amount of time on the road.  But Texas is still a fine choice.  

 

The problem with any of them is jobs versus housing.  If you have a job where you can work from anywhere, then eastern Oklahoma into Arkansas and down into Louisiana would be a great place to live.  Lots of fine lakes in that area, many of which aren't nationally recognized, due to their smaller size (so they don't host tournaments).  But they're still excellent lakes to land multiple double digit bass in a day.  Housing is cheap and taxes are reasonable.  The problem is, the jobs don't pay well around here, so if you're also looking for a job, it might be hard to make it all work.  That, and if you have kids, our public school systems are typically really bad, especially as you drift further away from the larger cities. 

 

Also, do your research on any town or city before moving there.  A lot can surprise you.  For instance, the small(ish) town of Muskogee in eastern Oklahoma (which would be a short drive to many great bass fishing lakes) has more violent crimes per capita than Washington D.C. or New York City.  And it's not the only small town in the area with crime rates way worse than you'd imagine.

Alabama, Texas, Florida possibly New York 

I'd be reluctant to leave NY off any list, because of the St. Lawrence river and the Great Lakes.  But I doubt anyone would be willing to move here just for the fishing (including me, if I didn't already live here).  Pretty high taxes.  And winter.  Lots of winter.

I've been looking at Tennessee or Idaho

Sinaloa

Tom

16 hours ago, Columbia Craw said:

Largemouth..........Texas

Smallmouth.......... Battle for Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and New York.

 

It would have been Mexico but Johnny Morris hasn’t bought Mexico yet.

I guess that would be the state of Sinaloa

I vote for Florida unless you’re a crappie guy...Texas has too many bass fishermen as is ?.

 

Edit:  And Texas isn’t full of Texans.  Half of California has moved here ?.

Good greif..it's not where you want to fish, it's where you want to LIVE! The correct answer would be Michigan. Hands down. You don't want to deal with the weather disasters that sea bordering states deal with. Tornado alley doesn't appeal to me either. If i had to move, i would stay at least 2 states "in" from any saltwater state. We might have a week or two of 90 degree temps, not months. Yes, i can't fish for 5 months, but it makes me want it more. Plenty of lakes and a foreign country to our south!

4 hours ago, detroit1 said:

... You don't want to deal with the weather disasters that sea bordering states deal with. 

That only applies to states on the East Coast or Gulf of Mexico. 

 

Washington, Oregon & California really don't have weather disasters caused by the Pacific Ocean.  Our disasters are caused by knuckleheads who live here.

1 minute ago, OCdockskipper said:

That only applies to states on the East Coast or Gulf of Mexico. 

 

Washington, Oregon & California really don't have weather disasters caused by the Pacific Ocean.  Our disasters are caused by knuckleheads who live here.

Boy, ain't that the truth..

Shocked not to see one Tennessee reply yet?

Pickwick

Kentucky Lake

Chickamauga lake

Dale Hollow

2 hours ago, E-rude dude said:

Shocked not to see one Tennessee reply yet?

If you scroll back to the beginning, 3-4 different people said “shocked not to see TN”

Fits in western TN where my family is from - hardwood bluffs and muddy bottoms - and probably many places in the Southeast.  

Driving the high-bermed highwys across the muddy bottoms, you see what look like mud puddles along the road  - these are borrow pits, where they took the fill to build the road berm.  You can stop at just about any one of them and catch 5-lb bass on just about any lure you daub in there.  

 

As far as the live part, it's going to be states where you can fish 12 mo/yr (sans ice auger).  

Florida has the most places for you to fish that don't freeze of any state I know of. Water is everywhere. I fished with a guide there who drove us an hour, mostly on dirt roads, to our destination. He told me we probably passed a hundred places I could put the kayak in and catch good largies or peacocks.

10 hours ago, detroit1 said:

Good greif..it's not where you want to fish, it's where you want to LIVE

 

The title of this thread is literally Best States To Live In For Bass Fishing!

 

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

If you scroll back to the beginning, 3-4 different people said “shocked not to see TN”

Does that make me 4th or 5th to say it?

?

I mean if we are going to correct people we should know the exact number? Yes?

8 minutes ago, E-rude dude said:

Does that make me 4th or 5th to say it?

?

I mean if we are going to correct people we should know the exact number? Yes?

Sorry bud, I just thought it funny how it was phrased the same way 

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Sorry bud, I just thought it funny how it was phrased the same way 

Ok that my have sounded like I was mad. But I was kidding. Guess I could have worded it better. 
 

9 minutes ago, E-rude dude said:

Ok that my have sounded like I was mad. But I was kidding. Guess I could have worded it better. 
 

My bad! Ain’t it funny how text can do that?