Best bass fishing town/region to move to in NC

[snapshotmd]

My wife wants to move to NC in our later years. How is this state to retire to, and where are the best fishing locales?

[printman71]

I live in north Georgia, but East Tennessee would be better, no state income tax.

[Mechanic Bob]

Raleigh is a good location for Bass Fishing. Lots and Lots of options in all directions. 2 hours from Mountain Trout, 2 Hours from the coast for Reds, and bunch and bunches of lake within 1 hour drive.

Vacation there for a week to see what y'all think.

[snapshotmd]

I live in north Georgia, but East Tennessee would be better, no state income tax.

My FIL lives on Watts Barr Lake. Love going to visit him. But wifey likes NC better, because of the art scene.

[snapshotmd]

Raleigh is a good location for Bass Fishing. Lots and Lots of options in all directions. 2 hours from Mountain Trout, 2 Hours from the coast for Reds, and bunch and bunches of lake within 1 hour drive.

Vacation there for a week to see what y'all think.

Good idea!

[Neilslure]

NC has good fishing all around depending what you want. For big bass the Raleigh area is where its at. Also have several good fisheries in the Charlotte and Greensboro areas.

[455kHz]

Shearon Harris has 40# bags on the regular. Your legs will get tired from kicking out the 5 pounders that practically jump in the boat....

[Neilslure]

Shearon Harris has 40# bags on the regular. Your legs will get tired from kicking out the 5 pounders that practically jump in the boat....

Post of the year award.

[Frank A]

NOW I KNOW HOW THAT SAYING ABOUT FISHERMEN AND TALL TALES CAME FROM He must work for the chamber of commerce ….

[Jaw62]

I have to agree with Neil on this one. Does not give up much to me.

[snapshotmd]

I mainly target bass so Raleigh it is! Been reading on the taxes, cost of living, and all, and going to have to compare to what I have in MD, but I got time.

Thanks all!

[bassranger1]

Raleigh + NO!!!! Find you another town or someplace that has access to the highways leading to all the places you would want to go. I don't know how the guys that have to drive through that area on 40, 440 & 540 on a regular basis with a boat do it. But as far as fishing I think it's a great state to live in. The Chowan and Roanoke Rivers are great if you like rivers and lots of lakes.

[low slung cruiser]

seeing as how you didnt mention a $$ area, or a Country VS City area...id say WAKE FOREST/ BUTNER area if you wanted to be close to some GREAT fisheries but avoid the Major highways until needed...
both of those are Suburbs but really nice areas... and they are VERY central to the best fisheries...from Lakes to the Eastern Rivers ...

[crank68]

I would be more in tune to look east if Raleigh. I’m 1 hr from Harris and Falls, 1:15 from Jordan, Kerr, Gaston and the Washington and Plymouth areas. All around great fishing from panfish, crappie, white perch, Bass, Stripers, etc.

[kb_rn]

If it were me I would slap my wife for wanting to move to NCand then I would move one or two states further south or west or both.......

On a serious note though it really depends on what you like. If you are a largemouth(trash fish)guy......the Raleigh and Greensboro areas are alright. Like someone else said though, I wouldn't live in Raleigh or move to where I had to drive to it or through it. If you like saltwater you're not too far of a drive from it. Expect those 3 lakes around Raleigh to be crowded and overfished though. They all used to be phenomenal, but with age and pressure none of them are that great IMHO any more. From Greensboro you have access to more bass lakes but further from salt. I live in Greensboro and have access to about 20 lakes within a 1.5 hour drive. I'm partial to the lakes south and west though such as Norman and the other lakes on the Catawba river chain. There are also quite a few city lakes in that area to choose from if you don't want to deal with traffic on the yadkin, Raleigh, or Catawba lakes. If you like the mountain lakes, rivers or trout fishing move further west to the Winston or Statesville area. If you like spotted bass the Catawba lakes are full of them as well as a couple other bodies of water. If you like smallmouth then you basically have to drive to one of the mountain rivers to get into good smallie fishing. There are some lakes that have a few of them but they suck for the most part the majority of the year. Others mentioned the coastal region and that is an option too especially around the albemarle sound. I haven't basses fished down there the last few years but used to take trips to that area often in my younger years and it was good, but got worse through the years so we quit going. But again, if it were me, I'd choose somewhere different than NC. I go all over the south and up north to fish and every time I come back I realize how great bass fishing is in many other places compared to here. Having said that, there are a lot of opportunities to fish here. But we have a serious problem with having too many people in too small of a space.

[dwmgg17]

Pretty good summary there kb_rn.

[Jaw62]

Makes me want to move just reading it.

[BigBassMan84]

As someone who moved here from out of state a few years ago, kb_rn hits it on the head.

[berudd]

I agree on the traffic in Raleigh being pretty bad but if you look to some of the surrounding counties with the exception of Durham and Orange its is much different. The sprawl is currently pushing west into Chatham county. That used to be a great value but that is changing. Granville Co is rural and small town but still close enough to Raleigh and the lakes for convenience. One thing to consider in retirement is access to good health care so being close to Raleigh\Durham would be a plus in that regard.

Just out of curiosity, why does she want to retire in NC?

[jamey1e]

I honestly would look elsewhere but I've lived here all my life except for my time in the Military. I live right on the state line below Charlotte and within 1-1 1/2 hours I have the entire Yadkin and Catawba chain's. Not to mention Murray and Santee Cooper!