Possible relocation to the Twin Cities

First time poster, long time lurker. Have an opportunity to relocate to the Twin Cities. Posible job would be in the Coon Rapids area. Have the following criteria:

Purchase a condo or townhome
Kids in college so school district doesn’t matter.
Currently single, so wife/girlfriend isn’t a factor
Don’t want a killer commute.
All I want to do after work is fish, fish, fish. Multispecies with long term look at muskies.
Have a 17 foot deep v, but also a kayak.
Which suburb would you suggest I look at?

I have no answer to your question…Just wanted to say you are a man with your priorities in order. Nicely done! RR

Elk River would be a good place to start looking. Easy commute to Coon Rapids and even better you’re on the NW side of the metro which gets you to the quality fish areas a little quicker. Meaning that most of the higher profile areas like Mille Lacs Leech Winnie the Brainerd, Alexandria, Detroit Lake areas are all north and west of the cities. Good luck and welcome to IDO.

Sent you a PM. Anoka, Andover, Coon Rapids are all great spots for easy access to good lakes.

Dragon ‘Em In

Welcome to the posting side!

..and to MN.

Thanks for the quick response on the subject. My son and I have actually had 3 different trips on Mille Lacs with James as the guide. Two October night walleye trips and a smallmouth trip. Great body of water, but intimidating. By the way I currently live in Iowa, so you can imagine how excited I am.

hartridge,
I was also going to say Elk River, easy drive down hwy 10 to CRapids.
I had an appt there before I married and moved to the south metro long ago.
I’d rent for a while with short lease say 6months, so you can learn the area. I also think market is down for properties, but that could be a good thing if you are a buyer. Doesn’t hurt to look. Also across the river from Elk River is Otsego (i think that’s the name) which is a nice small community.

Also as mentioned, great fishing IS to be had an hour 1/2 north.
good luck,
and
Welcome to IDO
Jack

From Hwy 10 and main street in Coon Rapids it is 95 miles to the Garrison boat landing on Mille Lacs. It is a 3 minute drive to some great bass/walleye fishing on the Rum or Mississippi river. Then you can get out of town easily to the North and hit all the best lakes in the state within a 4.5 hour drive…including Lake of the Woods and Voyageur’s National Park. Choose a place in, Coon Rapids, Blaine, Andover, Burns, Elk River, Zimmerman.

In that area of the metro you will have close access to upper Miss so smallies should be on your agenda. As you know easy access to Mille Lacs. Not a bad location to base from. The only thing the NW metro doesnt have like the SE is easy access to Croix and P2-P4. But not that far if you want to fish them. Being on the north side of town is sweet if you like going up north like me.

What’s your higher priority – close to good metro area fishing for those after work nights? Or closer to the north side of town to get out of town faster on the weekends? If you look at a map you’ll see that there is little good fishing within 40 minutes of Coon Rapids. Some may disagree and I will concede that the Mississippi and Rum up in that area is excellent, but that is not “deep V” water. So if you want to be very close by somewhere to make your home water for those after work nights, I’d stay out of the N/NW ‘burbs.

I I would recommend Ham Lake, East Bethel. Not much for condos but homes with some land are going for same price. Like everyone else says you are near great fishing waters. Hour from mille lacs, 20 min from forest lake area, 40 minutes from pool 2. Welcome to posting and PM if you have any other questions.

I think D-Train is right on. If you want to fish weekdays, you’re probably looking at the Minnetonka area lakes or the Forest Lake area lakes. Maple Grove would give you good access to tonka, and south or southeast Ham Lake would give you good access to Forest Lake.

If you mostly want to fish on the weekends, Elk River would be a great place to live.

P.S. There are some crummy neighborhoods in the NW metro, specifically in Brooklyn Park and Coon Rapids. Keep that in mind when you’re looking.

I’d live in Maple Grove. Easy commute to Coon Rapids. Easy access to 94 and 169 to get north & just a short 15 miutes to Lake Minnetonka, or Medicine. Fish Lake & Eagle within minutes.

I’d rent for a while for a few reasons: 1) Just to get a feel for the area in general. As already stated, there are some not-so-nice areas you’d want to avoid. 2) You may only be 20 miles from work, but if you are going the wrong way during rush hour(s), you could be looking at an hour of travel time each way. 3) It gives you plenty of time to see what’s out there and get a real good feel for the housing market and prices. It still is a buyers market, so take a little time and you could save enought to buy another boat. Good luck.

Feel free to PM me. I know the area well and have more time on the water than I care to admit.

Unless you live across the street from where you work the Twin Cities are nothing but a “killer commute”. I just cringe every time I have to get near (let alone into) the 494/694 loop.

I respectfully disagree with the commute comments. If you’re not working in a downtown, and you pick your commute carefully, it’s not necessarily bad. For example, I live in St. Paul and commute to Mendota Heights. I virtually never run into slow traffic and its 10 minutes each way. It’s a sweet deal.

If you like to fish I would find something near the mississippi river or rum river. Great places to fish after work for a quick midweek trip.

Don’t be afraid to fly your Packer flag.

Purchase in Coon Rapids, Andover, Oak Grove. 45 min. commute to MPLS. Less if CR or Andover. Tons of foreclosed homes around. From OG it’s under an hour to Mille Lacs. 15-20 to Eagle Lake in Maple Grove, again from OG in traffic. Seen a few in the Miss below Coon Rapids Dam try to eat my cats. 45 to Fletchers on Tonka where muskies and cougars prowl.

Try living in Chicago or Atlanta. The traffic up here is laughable.
I lived in Champlin for a year back in the late 90’s. No offense to any current residents but I would not live there again. Anoka is nice. Elk River is nice.

Welcome to In-DepthOutdoors hartridge!!!

You are moving to the right state for some great fishing, I like to fish but I love to deer hunt and Iowa has MN beat big time when it comes to deer hunting, would love to live there but the wife thinks I am nuts for wanting to live there.