For those of you who have traveled and fished a lot of places, have you ever run across a neat town that a die hard fisherman would like to live in ? Should have multi species of fish and be a decent area to live.
Here are my top 3, in no particular order.
Baudette Mn – Lake of the Woods.
Devils Lake ND. – Devils Lake
Escanaba Mi. Litle Bay de Nok, Lake Micigan.
-J.
I would second Escanaba….great place…I would love to go back. I was there for the FLW(RCL) League championship last year and the people were wonderful. While I would be getting gas for the boat or truck people would ask how the fishing was or tell me if they had good luck somewhere. It is a beautiful area as well.
I was bummed when the FLW decided on Winona this year even though it is about 5 hours closer to me…I would have rather gone back to the Bays and Escanaba.
JB
Hayward, wi plenty of water and different species.
I would say;
Juneau Alaska
Livingston Montana
Wintrop Washington
in no particular order.
dave
I agree with Gary that the Twin Cities is tough/impossible to beat for access to trophy fisheries. If the TC’s were a small town I’d be in heaven!!
John
The twin cities is top notch as mentioned. Another would be Duluth- walleye(river and lots of local lakes), smallies(river, and all the way up to the BWCA), trout(the big lake and all kinds of rivers and creeks), and salmon/lakers (the big lake), plus it still has a bit of “small town” feel.
I like the Grand Rapids/Marcell area. Alots of lakes many of them with portage access only(low fishing pressure) and very close to the Big Fork river.
I second hayward or any small town in that area
All good choices. If you like the bush, though, I’d try Red Lake, ON.
A third vote for Hayward, Wi. Great lakes and river fishing, any species you could probably want, not to mention the deer hunting.
Ninilchik AK Cook Inlet
Soldatna AK Cook Inlet
Isle MN Mille Lacs
For multi-species it is hard to beat a big river like the St. Croix or the Mississippi. Any town along the upper Mississippi would suffice. Personally I like Alma, WI, Fountain City, WI. or Bellevue, IA for small river towns. I live in Dubuque where we not only have the river but a few small lakes, ponds and cold water trout streams in the vicinity.
The Twin Cities do give you almost unlimited fishing possibilities but if you are not partial to large metro areas then there are smaller cities and towns with the same sort of opportunities such as Brainerd and Bemidji in MN or Eagle River and Hayward in WI. The choices are endless.
Eyehunter
I guess I’m partial to the small but growing community of IDA…I think it’s in Gumption County.
Although I’ve never caught a fish IN the community…I learn more here by accident than I learn anywere else…by design…
Funny…but true!
How about Pierre, South Dakota. I sure hope so because that is where we are retiring to. (Only 7 more years!!!!)
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I guess I’m partial to the small but growing community of IDA…I think it’s in Gumption County.
Although I’ve never caught a fish IN the community…I learn more here by accident than I learn anywere else…by design!
Sure beats Euphoria!
All Hail the Flashlight King! 
Now if you pardon me, I need to get back out in my garage and solve world hunger. 
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For those of you who have traveled and fished a lot of places, have you ever run across a neat town that a die hard fisherman would like to live in ? Should have multi species of fish and be a decent area to live.
Well, since you said “Traveled and fished alot of places…
#1 Key West Fl
#2 Bayou Labatre’ Al
#3 Baudette Mn
Guantanamo Bay Cuba has AWSOME fishing…but it’s a crappy place to live.
I’m kind of a homer, so my two votes would go to Pierre, SD (my hometown is Ft. Pierre) and La Crosse, WI (my current home).
The Pierre area has some super walleye fishing and you can catch them in open water 12 months out of the year. Much of Oahe freezes up, but below the dam the river stays open. The northern fishing in the spring is good and the smallies that were introduced in the past decade are really doing well there. There are plenty of good boat ramps and no wingdams either! It would be a great place to retire Redneck.
I’ve lived in La Crosse for two years now and have enjoyed the river. I haven’t ventured out of Pool 8, but I like being able to catch some quality eye’s, pike, and bass on any trip. And like Pierre, there are many good ramps to give you access to the water.
Ely, Mn. Lakes everywhere, specialty shops, and good bait stores. Just wish I could get up there more often.
BIRDDOG
alright, lets all be honest, we are all adapt to fishing our own towns that we live in, therefor we are fond of fishing in them. For example, I have fished pool 8,7, and 9 my whole 13 years of life and i love them! I have only fished anywhere else like once and that was when we went way up north to manaqua..it was way different because the water was clear, cold, and deep…it was hard to adjust. I would have to agree with eye hunter though that if you just find a town on the sippi, you will have a blast and catch fish… Examples: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Winona, Trempaleau,La Crosse, LaCrescent, brownsville, Debuque, Prarie du Chien and the list goes on…Too bad i dont really know any more cities any further down than that…Unless you want to start getting cajun! 
Anyway, find water that you can adapt too and fish it…YOu will be happy
In no paticular order:
Key West Florida
Isle, MN
Duluth, MN (to much so close by to leave this one out)
Get away from it all, pool 9 Genoa, Wi.
ok guys i think Soldotna Alaska is the best town lots of fish and lots of good people and the fish r huge!!
Although there have been many great fishing towns mentioned, I would have to agree with La Crosse. You have one of the most under rated fisheries in pools 7,8,9, (acording to Field and Stream a couple years ago), where you can catch just about anything, world class trout streams with in half hours drive (some call it better than the ones out West due to ALOT less pressure)and even some muskie water fairly close (Black river). To me, this is the best place and you don’t need to put up with the touristy things as with many lakes in northern WI and MN.
Just my 2 cents!
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