Hello all,
I have been on the westernbass.com website and there is a big thread going on about where is the best place to live and fish, California or Texas? I myself am a lifer in California and am looking to move to Texas soon. I was there a few months ago, caught my first Lake Fork bass and I would say my mind is made up. I was wondering what you guys would suggest about the best cities to live in the Dallas/FTworth area and beyond, your views of fishing and the state in general. Thank you in advance.

Great fishing throughout the state with very different types of fisheries too. Central Tx has a lot of clearer lakes with good smallmouth fishing in many of them and many of them as well as largemouth, Belton, Whitney, Buchanon, Travis, Stillhouse to name a few. East and south east Texas has more of your "classic" bass habitat with timber and various aquatic vegetations. Fork, Palestine, Lake of the Pines, Toledo Bend, Bob Sandlin, Cypress Springs (not much grass anymore), and Sam Rayburn are all good choices, there are many more though. North Tx (DFW area) has a wide variety from predominately rocky shorelines (Grapevine and west to Bridgeport) to timber laden lakes like Ray Roberts. Texoma is an often overlooked bass fishery but has a good largemouth population and smallmouth bass too. South Tx has a lot to offer, Falcon, Choke Canyon (grass and timber) and Amistad are all awesome fisheries, with many double digit fish caught in them. Not real familiar with lakes in West Texas but I do know O.H. Ivie, Hubbard Creek and Alan Henry produce their fair chare of lunkers and quantity too. Quite a few power plant lakes too if you like that type of fishing, Monticello, Fairfield, Martin Creek, Welsh and many more in the central part of the state. All in all, there are a LOT of great choices depending on what your other needs would be as far as housing, schools, etc would require. You don't normally have to travel too far to find good fishing in Texas. I think you would be hard pressed to find another state that offers as much diversity in regards to lake types and quality of fishing that Texas has. And the best part is, Texas doesn't seem to be as strapped with regulations as some places like California goes with access to water, times to fish, etc. I know all of Cali isn't like that but I do know they have some unusual rules in places for many water bodies there.

there is only one lake amistad

i would think the cost of living would justify texas over california. there are several great lakes to fish in texas as stated above.

Tyler would be great. 1.5 from about 5-6 great lakes.

Look in South Lake or Grapevine area. Centrally located in the MetroPlex and right in the middle of a brazzilion lakes. About 90 miles from fork and less than 20 to 20 other lakes.

If you are looking at the Lake Fork area then Tyler area would be a good choice. Not too big, not too small. It all depends on your preference for a large city. The D/FW metroplex and their smaller lakes are too congested for my personal taste. Tyler would not be too far for fishing on Rayburn or Toledo Bend, Red River in Louisana.
Personally I would prefer closer to Falcon and Choke Canyon. I love Rayburn but there is NO comparison to Falcon or Choke for fishing. Maybe someplace closer to San Antonio or South Texas if you don't mind doing without Trees. Lot's of Snow Birds from up north live down in the Rio Grand Valley. And I guess it would also be driveable to Amistad. The cost of living in the entire state is considerably less than California. Also, Texas does not have a state income tax. Do you want country or city/suburbs living? What is your major goal for the move? Is it fishing or other things. AND the major consideration- Is it YOUR choice or Her choice??? There is great hunting in East Texas and better hunting in South/West/Central Texas. Just some things to consider. Good luck on your choice.

welcome to Texas...
Have run into often strong opinions from fellow Texans bout Califionia but most always when asked, they say they never lived there and at best only visited the state. Texans "KNOW" Californians mostly from watching TV/news; not that much unlike many Californians "think" Texans are mostly all rich and kinda mean like JR Ewing.

I've spent years living in both states and found my cost of living in California was easily offset by the much higher wages and lower property taxes. Texas seems a better place to retire perhaps if you have unearned income and can get used to the property taxes here. Fishing can be great in either place but yes, the California scenery was incomparable. For Texas fishing, get prepared and dressed for the weather extremes... much more cold and hot humid periods, sometimes only weeks apart. It's bitter the 1st year here, but you get used to it. Texans will be more open to saying Howdy and sharing their fishing secrets once you get to know them. And the Tex-Mex and BBQ here is fantastic.

If I had my choice I'd live SE of San Antonio. Very close to Choke Canyon, close to Falcon, and even close to Laguna Madre and chasing redfish, speckled trout, and flounder.

Also got some giant deer(racks).

Texas, Longview or Gladewater, Fork,Bob Sandlin, Cypress Springs,Monticello,Welch,Quitman,Gilmer,Lake of the Pines,Lone Star Lake,Tyler,Hawkins,Gladewater,All of these lakes within an hours drive. HEAVEN!!!!!!!

i spent a year down there, it was nice but i still like the diversity of ne tx.

FALCONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live east of Tyler an I hear an see a lot people talking Falcon Choke Canyon Amistad first of all show me sharelunkers from Falcon Choke An Amistad all together .Ok not downing Choke ive been there 3 times love the lake,Falcon twice love the lake, Amistad do not like at all,but Fork I dont care who u are guide,pro. amateur,any one,U CAN NOT EVEN COME CLOSE TO FORK BY A LONG SHOT,29 out of top 50 biggest bass in the state plus record its not even up for ? LAKE FORK BY FAR BEST LAKE IN TEXAS PERIOD.........

Living in Texas is like living in a whole other country. There are lots of lakes to fish south of I20 and east of Abilene but if you like to fish Amarillo is not the place in Texas that you want to live. The lakes up here are drying up and the rest of the state is flooded. The closest lake to Amarillo is 30mi away and it is 75ft low and shows no sign of rising any time soon.

I would live close to where you work and even closer to where you want to fish.

Fork is a "has been" lake since LMB virus. STILL good but not what it was in it's prime. Those records don't reflect the current fishing on Fork. Same thing with Rayburn. The LMB virus really hurt, but both lakes are making a slow comeback.

I agree with Gtown.....count em'....and he left out
Winnsboro.:) There are some nice places for sale on or near almost all of these lakes. You would have to 'look' but there surely are some deals to be had. And, no matter what the weather, one or more of these ponds is fishable...everyday,
year around. Good luck and welcome to Texas!

east texas has some really good lakes: fork, cedar creek, etc.

DUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH are you crazy an im sorry i said 29 lunkers thats 34 biggest bass, out of 50 bass HAS BEEN CAUGHT ON FORK NO LAKE IN TEXAS COMPARES TO LAKE FORK. an fish over thirteen pounds a average all time FORK 91 percent FACTS SHOW.NO COMPARISON.

If its a has been why hasnt the other lakes caught up they never will LAKE FORK IS THE SH$$T NO LAKE COMPARES.......

East Texas for me hands down. Though I admit Hubbard Creek and Ivie have a special place in my heart as well and I could live out there too.

check this out http://www.lakehouse.com/browse_map.php?cat=45

Mineola TX Rocks

Everything and everyplace is good in Texas...except Gov. Rick Perry.

Nice link...

south tx-San antonio!!!!

u got lakes as close as 20 mins away and and some of the best big bass lakes in the country less them 3-4hrs, clear water, stained water, deep shallow, rocks, timber grass, u name it, its all here!!!! not to mention the cost of living is great here too!

Comparing Falcon or Choke to Fork is just not the same in my book. You go to Falcon or Choke to catch ALOT of fish and AlOT of big fish. You come to Fork and you will catch alot of solid slot fish for sure but you wont go out there and bang out a day where you have ten+ fish over 7 or 8 pounds like you would down south. There are simply more big bass down there. Not necessarily the biggest bass but definitely more of them.

I live in Hideaway on I-20 just west of Hwy.69 35 min. from Fork, 25 min. from Lake Palestine or Lake Tyler. Heaven on earth!--Smitty

Hey Timbass,
I did exactly what you are about to do - just about 1 year ago. Moved from So. Cal, but spent almost 25 years in CA, Northern & Southern. I now live in Flint, TX, just a few miles south of Tyler. Like many have said - WAY too many lakes to fish!!! Fork is 1 hour away, Rayburn is 2 hours away (my favorite) and just too many others within an hour or two drive - bass fishing heaven!!!! Tell you what - I'm going to send you an IM with my phone number, I'll tell you my experience in doing what you are about to do. Texas is fabulous!!!

spent my working life either in Corpus area or Houston. Corpus sucks to live there, but its close to Falcon and Choke. When lake Corpus chrisi had water in it it was a good lake. The south texas lakes can get hit hard with drought, I've seen Falcon, Choke and Lake CC almost dry up back in the day.

Houston traffic will make you want to give your boat away try ing to get to Rayburn.

The Dallas area would be my choice, Tyler second.

I work all over the state, lots of nice places to live

I live about 30 miles east of Dallas...I can still go there in a reasonable amount of time but do not have to deal with the traffic or noise...country living for me...if I had to pick the perfect place to live to bass fish it would be in the triangle boundries from Tyler to Canton to Athens...if you live in or around that area you are living in my favorite spot in the state and have access to many lakes with in a hours drive....

Tim, I'm a Southern CA (San Diego) transplant. Your thread seems to have gotten a little hijacked because it was more a question of where in the metroplex area to live. It depends on your situation and finances. Are you retiring here? Will you be working? If so, you have to consider where your job will be. can you work from home? If so, you can move further out to East TX to be close to the lakes there. If you need to be closer to the center of things, you may want to consider Richardson, Plano, Frisco type areas. Close to the heart, but also close to metro lakes like Ray Hubbard, Lavon, Grapevine, Lewisville etc. Urban lakes but still some great fishing. I live in Garland which is 8 miles east of downtown Dallas. Housing is cheap, it's close to where we both work and I'm a city boy, so it works great for me. As for the west side of town (Ft. Worth), I don't live over there, so Ill let others comment on good places to live there. By the way, from my house, I can be at Ray Hubbard, Lavon, Grapevine, Lewisville, Ray Roberts, Tawakoni, Fork, Bonham, Quitman, Cedar Creek, and loads of others in less than 90 minutes. Hope this helps.

If I had my choice I'd live SE of San Antonio. Very close to Choke Canyon, close to Falcon, and even close to Laguna Madre and chasing redfish, speckled trout, and flounder.

Also got some giant deer(racks).
_________________________
+1 on this.

If you love to fish South Texas / San Antoino has it all. Excellent Salt water fishing for Reds, trout, flounder, etc right at a 2 hour drive and the best bass fiheries in the country only an hour and 4.5 hours away with Choke / Falcon / and Amistad. About the only place you can not make a day trip out of is Amistad and Falcon. Also, SA have 2 good powerplant lakes for cathcing stripers, reds, and bass less than 20 mins away. Also have Canyon and the river system about 30 mins away for smalls and stripers.

Cost of living is the best in the country by far for the 7th largest city in the nation.

But just my .02

What is the "largest" city in east TX closest to Monticello, Welsh, Fork that has some form of civilization? i.e (Target,Movies,Dentist,Hospital,Bar,paved roads). Also what is the nearest airport?

Mt Pleasant

Emory,u got Quitman,Minneola,Gilmer,Pittsburg,but Tyler or Longview are the biggest

In a bass boat.

I am a new transplant from Nebraska, 5 weeks now. I have 4 and 7 year old girls, love bass fishing and have fished in my share of Club and Money tournaments over the years. My wife's parents live in just outside Mountain Springs near Vally View (north of Dallas some 50 miles just off of Ray Roberts). I work out of the house (Software Engineer), so can live anyplace I want to. We chose Krum due to it's size (Pop 5K or so), location to her parents (25 miles) and for it's school system.

I am < 30 miles from Ray Roberts, Lewisville and Bridgeport (probably others). < 60 miles from Texoma, Grapevine (and others). 107 miles from Fork. Fishing wise, trying to learn those lakes alone will keep me busy for many years to come. Location wise, Krum seems to be a perfect fit for us. For you, just depends on what you are looking for.

I don't think you will find a shortage of fishing living anywhere around the Metroplex area. Just depends on what you are looking for. The M-plex is a pretty busy area in comparison to the Omaha NE area I came from. But for you, it might not seem that way. There are smaller cities like McKinney. Smaller towns like Krum, Pilot Point and others mentioned here. There are lots of ranches in the area as well.

So depending on what you need as far as your job location and what you are looking for will go a long way on what area of the M-plex you will want to look. You can pretty much find anything you want in the area, but it is a big area so going to be hard for anyone to tell you exaclty what would fit you best without a few details on what you are looking for.

Hey Husker! Toledo Bend Country is the DREAM!

www.toledo-bend.com

Dallas Ft Worth and beyond. I just bought some land to retire to in TX (so I picked Texas), you are still working I take it. I would get something close to work, at 3am when you go fishing you can get thru the traffic OK. Home prices are also important, so close to work and affordable, etc.

I bought land on Sam Rayburn, I have been in and stayed in Longview, Tyler and Lufkin. I thought Tyler was a really nice place and is close to Lake Fork. Longview and Lufkin, seems like Lufkin is up and coming ... but they all had a nice feel to them, not too big or small. Now Tyler seemed a bit bigger. I liked them all.

Good luck.

P.S. I have a home in New Mexico and my plans are to live in Texas during the winter/spring and NM in the summer/fall. I doubt that will work out for me, so I will be getting use to the weather in TX too.

Toledo Bend, Lake Murvaul, Lake Pinkston, DEEP EAST TEXAS!

The BEST 3 if you ask me! (Kinda like if the glove dont fit, you

must acquit!

I believe you. But our move wasn't just about the fishing. I lived in Omaha for 19 years and it was great, the winters were just a little to long. This move was about getting away from those winters and moving closer to the in-laws. If it were only about fishing, I would have moved to Fork's, Falcon's, Amistad's, T-Bend's, S-Rayburn's, Clear's, C-Dela's or G-Vill's door step (notice all but a few of those lakes are in Texas). Maybe in another 20 years or so. The Krum area is a pretty good fishing move from where I am coming from, at least on paper. Ask me a year from now .

I have given this subject much thought over the last 10-yrs, things to consider for us were not only the excellent fishing and quality of life an area provides, but the health needs for our latter yrs, and of course the dreaded property taxes.
To choose wisely is very important at the start, or you'll waste needed earnings on a bad decision.
East Texas offered everything we sought in the Best place to live category. More(GOOD)lakes than you can shake a fish'n pole at. Dallas,Tyler,Longview,Greenville,etc... all within an easy commute from Lake Fork.
Great people and fantastic neighbors, and both of our families are in either Winnsboro, or Pittsburg. That's convenient at Holidays or just whenever.

Good luck with your choice, if it makes you happy, it's a good one.

East Texas is great. I lived in California my whole life. [Bakersfield] Great city kind of like Texas. Great trout fishing in the Kern River from the mouth of the canyon all the way up to Johnsondale [8,000 ft] and only 2 hrs from the Pacific Ocean [Morro Bay] i miss all that but took a job transfer to East Texas [4 years ago] got hooked on Bass fishin and will retire here. Live north of Longview and there are many lakes to fish that are very close.Going to Fork next week on a trip with James Caldemeyer. Can't wait,Its quite different out here [property taxes the weather] but the air is clean people are friendly and the fishin is great. WELCOME!!!!!

If you like the city or being close to it, I'd definately say Dallas.. Any kind of fishing you want within an hour and a half.

are you frickin stoned again?

SAGINAW, TEXAS

Got to be Tyler area. Great lakes within one hundred miles circle of this city. Bet you can't wait for Cali. to start taking 10% of your paycheck. Good luck

Best thing to do is live around the San Antonio area and you can fish all the top lakes. You will be close to Amistad, Falcon, and Choke Canyon, these 3 are the top 5 lakes in Texas.

wtf, the prices over there are more expensive then Dallas.

i LIVE IN wINNSBORO tx AND AM 15 MINUTES FROM fORK. tHERE ARE ABOUT 10 MORE LAKES IN THIS AREA WITHIN 30 MINUTES TO GET TO. WE HAVE COOLING LAKES FOR POWER PLANTS AND A LOT OF THE SMALL LAKES IN AND AROUND HERE. EAST TEXAS NEAR LAKE FORK FOR SURE IS THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE!!!!

What are some good lakes in East Texas which allow you to have a boat dock / waterfront property besides Cypress, Sandlin, Fork, and Winnsboro. Thanks

deffinatly think falcon compares to fork... Honestly fork is a honery old lake lol, I love to fish it but still... If we are talking about staying around the metroplex then I am a ft. worth man all the way. I REEEEAAALLLY can't stand dallas. But it isn't exactly close to fork. I have a buddy who has a lake house on a private lake south of Longview... DEFFINATLY the place 2 me in my mind. If you wana be out west I would say san angelo. Less than an hour to O.H. Ivie which is one of the most overlooked lakes when out of state ppl look at texas. 2 hours to amistad and sunny suuuunny most of the year., 3 lakes in town...(really 2 now O.C. Fisher is dange near dry) but the buttes and Nasworthy have produced many double digit fish.

Just my thoughts

Rockwall.
About 30 minutes from the "Big City" yet still has that old city feel.
Was just named as one of the top 10 places for a family to live:
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2009/jul/02/rockwall-named-among-10-best-places-families-famil/
Also surrounded by quite a few lakes.

Cedar Creek has all of the above. It's far enough from the Messoplex but only an hour and a half from Dallas.

In my opinion, it depends upon a couple factors:
1. Why you are moving here in the first place?
2. Where are you moving from?
3. What is important to you in deciding what community to live in (school systems, proximity to work, nice houses/lot size, proximity to ocean...)?

I am born/raised in LA/Palos Verdes and lived 20 years in San Diego. Some of my suggestions in comparing what I was looking for were relative to those locations.