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I am less than a year from retirement. Have been trying to decide if I want to stay in Utah, or relocate. So I've been checking some of the other state forums here on BFT. It is my unofficial observation that Utah has just about the most active forum on BFT.
I wonder why that is?
Looked at the Texas forum, last post there was in 2018 by our very own Wiperhunter2. [cool]
Some the states where I have fished in decades past, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, even California (don't have any intention of moving back to California), either have very low activity, or all the posts seem to be from just 1 or 2 people. [:/]
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I looked at Wyoming, not much, Oregon, found not much.yes Utah has a great bunch of fisher's. Very helpful . I wish all boaters were that way.
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They have diferent forums that have more activity than Utah BFT. Texas and Florida have huge forums. I suspect CA does too. I know of one in OR very active. They have WAY more water and WAY more fish in those states too. The Great Lakes region? Northeast? Utah is the second driest state in the union. Its mostly desert and sagebrush. Some states are mostly water, with coastline as well. If you want to retire and fish, Utah ain't really it. Florida? Gulf Coast? Summer-north, Winter-south? That's what I'd do, but I'll never retire.[:/] But I've lived in sort of a semi-retired lifestyle all my life too.[  ]
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[quote Tin-Can]
I am less than a year from retirement. Have been trying to decide if I want to stay in Utah, or relocate. So I've been checking some of the other state forums here on BFT. It is my unofficial observation that Utah has just about the most active forum on BFT.
I wonder why that is?
[/quote]
It isn't "just about the most active forum on BFT, it is, by far, the most active forum on BFT. The reason it is is because it got off to a great start. Utah Fish Finder used to have an active forum, and because it was neglected by the owner, it went down in flames. At that time, Predator was a moderator on the Utah BFT forum and he actively recruited members from Utah Fish Finder. He was successful in recruiting several active members and that provided the foundation that caused it to grow and flourish. Many of the original active members have moved on; however, fortunately, new active members have come along.
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I would love to know how to search those other state forms. Oregon, and Wyoming. I have used BFT in those states, but what other forms are there. Can anyone share?
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Florida has a huge forum community, just not BFT.
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Use Google and try, "Oregon fishing forums" or "Wyoming fishing forums".
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I cannot substantiate this urban legend but Lake Powell has more "coastline" than California.
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Also, a lot of the internet forums have been replaced or supplanted by Facebook groups.
When I was in Washington State, we had their own awesome forum (washingtonlakes.com). I had a couple of decades of post and had written several how-to articles about walleye fishing, etc., for them. It was bought out, the name changed ( http://www.northwestfishingreports.com/). I suspect that they still exist because they kept the links to the previous site to theirs and joined several states.
Utah is NOT the only great fishing in the US. It is pretty darned good, but I would trade two Willards and three Starvations for Lake Roosevelt or the Potholes in WA as far as Walleye are concerned. I would trade every Trout lake in Utah, with our give-up-quick Bonneville Cutties for The Redbands and Browns I found there as well.
I would trade every bass lake in UT, including Powell, for one Toledo Bend in Louisiana/Texas.
I would .......
OK, my wife and I have lived in 9 states over my career. Moving to Utah was to help family and it is the right thing to do now that I am aging. I have worked in far more states do to my previous career as a major Project Manager, so I have found a lot of great fishing around the world. Having said that.....
Utah actually seems to have the best combination of good to great fishing. We are the second driest state in the US, and yet we still seem to have lots of places to fish, from fly fishing for trout (not going to happen in Louisiana), Huge catches of Catfish (even more then I saw in Louisiana and bigger then Washington or Idaho), to Wipers and Stripers.
My wife has asked me if there is some place else I would prefer to move for my final retirement. Unless there was another reason to move, like family, health reasons, cost of living, etc., I think I will stick it out here in Utah.
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I agree with all of your observations with the exception of catfish and Idaho. I have seen some huge catfish caught out of The Snake River in Idaho.
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I grew up in South Dakota, Oregon, and 6 years in Western Montana (Missoula) - all have fantastic fishing - South Dakota has some of the best Walleye and Northern fishing and don't forget about Pheasant hunting - Probably about as RED state has Utah. Now Oregon has some great fishing if you like crowds - combat fishing seems to be the normal for Steelhead and salmon if you're on the bank - not quite so bad in a boat but still lots of people. You also have the ocean fishing options. Western Montana is great if you're a fly fisherman or like diff boats. And the big game hunting has gone down a bit since the wolves were re-introduced in many areas. Winters suck in 2 of the states.
Let get back to the most important subject (at least too me) Retirement. I'll be heading down that road in 3 years and will do the winters in AZ (Lake Havasu) and summers at the cabin at Strawberry. Of course traveling to fish in other waters will always be an option. I have my bucket list (Cascade Res. -ice fishing for perch) etc.
Hope your retirement plans work out for the best and the year till your exiting the work force goes fast... Good Luck!
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I have been retired for 20 years, it is great and I highly recommend it. My only regret is that I did not do it 20 or maybe even 30 years sooner.
Ice-sled has less than a year ‘til retirement too and at any time he can tell you the exact number of days he has left.
Plan and play... life is short.
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Tin-Can, you can't retire. TubeDude and I are enjoying the heck out of your social security payments.
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[#0000FF]Yessir. Love the 7 day weekends.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]But I stay so busy now that I wonder how I ever got anything done while I was working.
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[#0000FF]Some problems are better to have than others.
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Hey congrats Forest, I kind of like Utah for being in the middle of lots of great spots to road trip to as well. I can't think of a spot I'd rather be, but I got deep roots here so wouldn't transplant very well... Good luck with your decision... Later J
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When we decided to buy here and relocate this was the most active forum I could find and yes the other states are pretty quite. Glad I joined as all have been great with info and the reports
For the Calif coast Coastside Fishing Club is pretty active but if you want to see all the posts you have to pay ( 25 a year) but there’s good info and current reports if your chasing fish in the salt. As Anglinarcher said North west fishing is pretty active and covers Oregon also. Most of the west coast fishing has moved to FB with the salmon and steelhead pages going crazy with different groups
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I've been retired for 11 years and love every minute of it. It's so nice to fish weekdays when it's not so crowded. I won't fish weekends anymore.
As far as forums go, like stated above search Google for other state fishing forums. I was a moderator for over 10 years on 'The Refuge Forum' for Utah (waterfowl forum)and the forum used to rock but social media took over and eventually it all but died. I haven't even looked there in years myself.
I think the weather along with the type of fishing and also what type of fish you like to fish for would be a big factor in your selection. Personally I don't think I could handle the south because of the humidity with high temps. For myself I'd take the west. But it depends on how much you like cold snowy winters.
Good luck on your choice.
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Congrats on retiring, I'm only about 20 years behind ya hahaha.
But I know I will be settling down in Cape coral FL. Life on the water is the life for me[cool]
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I have lived in a lot of states as a very young kid and did quite a bit of moving around even in some of those states. As a kid it was a rough life changing schools and making friends. I did enjoy those times fishing in the different states. Advancing to the latter part of childhood into my high school years was in Huntsville, Alabama, loved this state for it hunting & fishing. Then I joined the Air Force which consisted of 2 terms (8yrs) active duty. First term was northern Calif, 2nd term was Hill AFB here in Utah from 76-80'. Terminated moving back to northern Calif working as a civilian for DOD Navy & Air Force departments until relocating to Oklahoma City for 2yrs in 1997. One more relocation put me back here in Utah 1999 and retirement came in 2011. We have 2 sons that elected to stay in northern Calif while me & mama moved on which their ties with their families are holding them there. Both of my sons are native Utahns. All those years living here I've enjoyed fishing/hunting and glad we made this final stop. I had to cease with hunting as my knees are unable to tromp thru the hills anymore but still going strong with the fishing. This is a good find for retirement at least for summer weather.
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WOW !! 18 REPLIES [b] I sure didn't intend to start anything derogatory about Utah. I have been here just over 20 years, purchased my first boat here 15 years ago, have fished many, but nowhere near all of the waters in the northern half of this state. [/b]
I am going to attempt to reply to most of the comments made, but will be down at UL - LB trying to "poach" one or two of BLK's 30+ incher Cats this weekend.
Thanks ya'll for the massive response.............[ ]
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