Many of the places I've fished in FL were very sparsely visited and DEEP in the sticks, yet they had much more and better ramps and docks than our flagship fisheries here. These places were not a factor in tourism - even locals didn't know about many of the places I've found. My old lady's jaw would hit the dirt as she wondered why such a remote site could be so nice while we get the shaft back home.

Interestingly, the best bass fishing I've found has been in ND and MN (check out NDyakangler on YouTube - the guy is a fish magnet). Both LM and smallies and occasional bonus pike. I was astonished. ME has also rung my bell real hard - the smallie fishing and lack of anglers who care about bass is amazing. Across the border in New Brunswick can be even better.

I've gotten skunked in TX many times, but I've never been skunked on "foreign" water. I take a 1-2 week trip every two weeks, so my sample size is quite large. Sometimes we'll throw a dart at a wall map and be rolling that way within a couple hours. Fortunately, my girlfriend likes bass fishing even more than I do, so I can devote significant resources to the cause without being, uh, hassled

TX is also not very friendly to boondock campers - RV campers who don't need (or want) a campground. I have a 21' globally-unique, utterly unstoppable 4x4 camper van - kind of a ghetto EarthRoamer - that is fully self-contained and able to provide a great living space without hookups for a good 4 days. We like to night fish, catch a few winks, then hit the sunrise but all too often we are awakened by a Maglite or baton smacking the door and a lawdog telling us we can't "camp" there even though nobody else is around and we're not remotely making a problem. It's a drag putting the boat back on the trailer in the middle of the night and having to head to Flying J or the like to catch a few winks. Fortunately, AK has zillions of great waterside boondock sites. Point is, I often hear windbags claiming TX is the greatest fishing state when it's actually pretty far down the list and the fishing doesn't seem nearly as good as it was many years ago.

And, I detest interfering in people's lives, but a few times I've seen people behaving so recklessly on the water that I had to call the authorities. Each time in TX there were no results. Each time in other states the lawdogs would show up very quickly and tend to the problem.

I certainly wouldn't mind paying more to The Man if the outdoor amenities could be elevated from lousy to merely deficient. Thanks for your insight, tight lines to ya, Mike.

I don't mean to be picky... but I believe that is a Rock Bass (AKA Goggle Eye). Warmouths are simular but have horizontal stripes (usually blueish-green) leading from the mouth to the body. Additionally, they often have vertical stripes of blueish green scales on the body.

Just curious... What river in Texas could you put a boat ramp in where there isn't one? Maybe Red below Texoma, but that is sketchy! Because of our drought/flood cycle and the small size of our rivers in general, it isn't feasible!

Those kind of trips will never get old. I went to college in Northeastern OK and had a few rivers/streams like that to fish that were loaded with smallies. Spent a couple days a week fishing but looking back I wish I would have gone more!

Just traveled through Missouri a couple weeks ago. Took a little canoe trip on the Niangua River. Absolutely beautiful classic Ozark smallmouth stream.

I understand what you are saying and I am not saying that TX cannot improve the TPWD. All I'm saying is that we are one of the few states without an income tax and this results in fewer State Parks and "amenity light" public use areas. Having 7% knocked off the top of your paycheck (in addition to Fed) does not feel good. This is part of the reason Texas is growing.

Florida is also one of the states without an income tax. However, their property tax is substantially higher. They even charge a 5.6% sales tax on all commercial lease payments (in addition to the already high property tax). Florida is the only state to tax lease payments and it generates billions of dollars each year.

I simply appreciate that Texas is truly a low tax state and I recognize that this comes with a few sacrifices.

I'm all for improvements to our public lands. Until then, I appreciate your points and I'll stop hijacking this thread

Love it or leave it ! Texas is great anyway you look at it !

we used to have smallies in PK but the alge killed them .Now TP&W refuses to restock them. ashame as they were great to fish for

I believe you are right!

Catch a 12# silver salmon on a stream/river in AK and you'll see why I call them a "smallmouth on steroids"! But river smallies are a blast.

Yes, the day trippers are obnoxious, but I still caught a few during the stretch where it was really crowded. We did an overnight canoe trip, and once we got past the main take out, it was quiet and we didn�t see many people. I�d like to do another overnight on the lower buffalo. Much less crowded and better fishing.

I'd take a 4# smallie over an 8# LM any day.

5 # :

I've lived in Maine and wife is from NB, Canada. Fished both, especially Maine a lot. Been skunked although not often. Also had a few 100 fish days. Fished the Penobscot River dozens of times. Fished at least 40 different lakes in Maine. My NB fishing was relegated to the St. John River system never the better lakes in the Harvey region. I never had good numbers days in NB. Did catch a few good fish though. I don't think NB is as good as Me.. I put a few 20# stringers together in Me. in T's. (Did some boatless bank trash fishing in Nova Scotia even).

I think these places are good because of extremely light fishing pressure, extremely.

So, Sam Rayburn is my home lake ... gets pounded daily and 100x worse on weekends. I grew up on it. Rarely has the easy fishing I had up north. The fish are hook and lure shy IMO. Not so in Me..

Having said that Rayburn and Toledo before that were ranked the #1 lakes in the nation by BM Magazine. Coulda been some payoff but I don't know.

Uh, no, it's not. In many ways, it massively blows.

I was wondering if someone would play the always-reprehensible and even-sillier "love it or leave it" card. No place is great "anyway you look at it." I've been all over the continent and the globe and that place does not exist.

It's generally best to beware those who misuse starkly absolute terms like "any" etc. in dishonestly pushing their argument Our beautiful language has a word at the ready for most any situation. Strive to be earnest and accurate in your communications. Realistic wouldn't hurt, either.

I think I'll slap together a little play real quick-like. It packs a cast of two:
1) Billy (that's me)
2) Dad (my 88 year old Air Force veteran father, blind from macular degeneration, numb in the hands and feet from tragically unnecessary Big Pharma poison, heavily dependent on me as the better half of his caretaking team, and an extremely fine gentleman.

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT
A one act mini-play.

BILLY: Dad, I'm leaving Texas.
DAD: Good. More fishing? Where ya going this time?
BILLY: Not sure yet, but it's gonna be permanent.
DAD: Oh no! Why!
BILLY: Some clod named W.BROWNING on TFF done up an' told me to.
DAD (nearly frantic): What on Earth is TFF???
BILLY: An internet site called Texas Fishing forum.
DAD (sobbing): Why did said clod tell you to leave?
BILLY: Well, I dared to state that Texas is not the best place in the world.
DAD: Of course it isn't. Far from it, actually.
BILLY: Well, duh! But, some people are quite biased and thin-skinned about such things. Anyhow, I'll miss ya, Dad. Have someone call me when ya croak, OK?
DAD: I think you should stay. What am I gonna do without ya? Many people here will be much worse off without ya.
BILLY: I'll probably send 'em all to Browning's house and he can enhance their lives. As for you, I guess you can be the first person in the history of our family to be subjected to the monotonous indignity of a nursing home.
DAD: How about ya just disregard that tw....uh, character and stay a while? When I die, surely pretty soon, you'll be even better off than you are now and will be able to do whatever you want for the next 40 years or so.
BILLY: I already do whatever I want, but what of Mr. Browning's eminently rational, practical, and reasonable demand?
DAD: (Bleep) him and the horse he rode in on, twice.
BILLY: Twice?
DAD: Oh yeah....twice, and with gusto.
BILLY: Why didn't I think of that? It's a deal. You're a pretty sharp ol' dude. Blow yer nose and let's seal the deal over home-fried chicken and cold beer.
DAD: Yowza! Welcome home, son!