College towns with good fishing to retire to; suggestions?

[Bestwifeever]

Even that's over 3 hours away, but no matter. The OP hasn't been back since asking the question. Hit and run.

He'll likely be back. In an intro thread the OP said

...

I'm leaving tomorrow for a vacation, to see my DD and get my fill of museums. I'm going to do this as a test drive and see if I can leave all the work-related worrying behind. I'm going to check messages on Tuesday and Thursday at noon. Wish me luck.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Boise

 

[friar1610]

Burlington/Middlebury VT. University of VT. St. Michael's College. Middlebury College. Lake Champlain. Smaller lakes and ponds. Lotsa streams and rivers. Oh, you said a warm climate?


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[skipro33]

Sacramento.
We have state college and university as well as jr. colleges and several private colleges. (My son is a director for a local private Christian university on the edge of Sacramento). Fishing is off the charts. I kayak fish with a group of guys from a forum called NCKA. (look it up) We have kayak fishing tournaments about once a month. Rock cod fishing just opened up. Yes, we go on the ocean and catch some BIG FISH!!! Salmon season is also now open on the ocean. Crab season finally got kicked off.
In case you haven't noticed, that's a lot of beach time for your wife to enjoy. Lots of fresh water fishing too;
Many lakes, ponds, an entire delta system with some of the world's best bass and striper fishing around. High mountain fishing for Kokanee, trout, etc.
Sacramento home values are reasonable.

 

[Rustic23]

I lived near Boise, I would not call it warm in winter.

 

[Big_Hitter]

This was a quick search of Boise in the winter. Not real sure this looks warm, unless you come from the North Poll.

uh, your link doesn't work - nice ninja edit

BTW, anything is better than a summer in the Houston area - I lived there 40 years - I know several people who moved here just due to the fishing

Plus we steelhead, ice fish and ski in the winter - there is a really good ski hill 30 minutes from my house

 

[Rustic23]

Big Hitter,
Nothing against Boise. A beautiful place, and we loved Bogus Basin to ski. But one of the OP's criteria was Warm.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I'd say we have mild weather....IMO...YMMV

 

[Brdofpray]

Upstate South Carolina. Plenty of lakes, Jocassee, Kiawee, and Hartwell. Plenty of trout streams in Blue Ridge Escapment. In fact, the border between South Carolina, and Georgia is a world class trout river, the Chattooga River. On a side note this is the river where they filmed "Deliverance". (Do you hear banjo music?)

 

[Brdofpray]

Forgot to mention. Clemson University sits right on the upper reaches of Lake Hartwell. If you do come here, you have to get used to orange!

 

[HadEnuff]

Upstate South Carolina. Plenty of lakes, Jocassee, Kiawee, and Hartwell. Plenty of trout streams in Blue Ridge Escapment. In fact, the border between South Carolina, and Georgia is a world class trout river, the Chattooga River. On a side note this is the river where they filmed "Deliverance". (Do you hear banjo music?)

In my younger days I spent a lot of my vacation time in the "low country"... The region you describe, the Ga-SC border is on my list of areas to look closely at.
What's the winter climate like.
Any particular cities/towns you'd particularly recommend..
(love to golf, fish, and hike, BTW)

 

[OnLakeKeowee]

+1 on Clemson, SC and lots of orange...great college town, clear lakes, good fishing, mountains, 1 hr to Greenville, and two hours to either Atlanta or Charlotte.

 

[gcgang]

I'd say you need to split your time between Bozeman, Mt in the summer and find a nice warm weather college for the winter, maybe San Diego.

 

[scrinch]

Another vote for the Davis-Sacramento-Stockton area. Bay Area access to the west, Sierras to the east, you're right on the delta, reasonably mild weather year round, and a number of nearby universities and colleges.

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[Bamaman]

Just about every large city in The South has a major college--ane a major lake. Noteworthy and great places with great lakes are:
Clemson, SC--with the lake running thru the middle of town.
Auburn, AL
Nashville, TN--"Athens of the South" with over 17 colleges and 2 major lakes.
Muscle Shoals, AL--3 major lakes and 2 colleges of 7,500 students.
Knoxville, TN--surrounded by lakes and mountains--and a very livable place.
Columbia, SC--with 48,000 students at U. of SC.
And the list goes on and on. But the biggest plus is a very, very low cost of living and houses.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Another vote for the Davis-Sacramento-Stockton area. Bay Area access to the west, Sierras to the east, you're right on the delta, reasonably mild weather year round, and a number of nearby universities and colleges.

For those who like sunny days, Sacramento made U.S. News' 10 sunniest places to retire list:

The 10 Sunniest Places to Retire - US News

 

[Big_Hitter]

A buddy of mine just relocated from Boise to Sacramento - I think his housing costs (and general cost of living) went up a at least 50%....we typically get people moving the other way

 

[jIMOh]

I have a 7 year FIRE horizon but DW will still be working for a few years after I dial it back. She's a university administrator and we like the balance and vibe of university towns.

We currently live in the upper Midwest and would like someplace warmer, and we'd like to start spending some longer vacations as dry-runs in some of these places.

My hobbies are fishing and fine and performing arts. She likes access to beaches.
I would love to be someplace where there is cold water (trout) fishing, as well as bass fishing. I'm not a saltwater guy. The place people always suggest is Asheville so that's on the list - any others?

College or university town
Warm/mild weather
Good fishing for trout and bass
Access to beaches within 4-5 hour drive
Access to museums and classical music within 2 hours

What kind of fishing?

For example Tampa, FL has numerous universities in area, but not sure if the fishing matches what you are after.

Tennessee has numerous universities, and people there LOVE the outdoors. There are places in TN where it does not get above 90 degrees in summer (Norris Lake Region) and there are enough Universities around the various cities.

And to think outside the box- West Virginia. It's cheap, it has "some" colleges, and the culture as a whole values going outdoors.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

A buddy of mine just relocated from Boise to Sacramento - I think his housing costs (and general cost of living) went up a at least 50%....we typically get people moving the other way

Pretty different vibes between Boise and Sacramento. Which one is the best fit for a retiree probably depends on many individual factors besides weather and cost of living.

 

[beanctr88]

Add Oxford, Mississippi to the list of great southern college towns. Plenty to do from an arts, literature and sports perspective. Great dining and shops. Low cost of living and plenty of places to fish.


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[AboutThere]

A belated "thank you" to everyone who replied, as I was on a glorious vacation visiting DD in NYC.

Some odds and ends, addressing various issues that popped up:

I will have a couple of years to scope out retirement places while my DW is still working at our current location. We also aim to take some long vacations as test runs.

I'm fairly confident that my lifelong interests will remain intact through retirement, though I find it fascinating that others haven't found that to be true. There have been some changes (e.g., I no longer sing publicly, but still attend concerts) but the core interest remains.

It seems like that stretch from Tennessee through NC and western Virginia might be tough to beat. Rare combination of mountain trout fishing and warm water lakes. Maybe not the last word in arts stuff but enough at a local university to keep me going.

I had frankly forgotten about the trout fishing in Sacramento.

As far as fishing goes; I'm a minimalist - no boat, just waders and a rod.

 

[target2019]

Charlotte, NC - look at Lake Norman, or further south to Lake Wyle.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/N...2!3m1!1s0x88541fc4fc381a81:0xad3f30f5e922ae19

Lots of beer, wine, and what have you...

 

[jIMOh]

A belated "thank you" to everyone who replied, as I was on a glorious vacation visiting DD in NYC.

Some odds and ends, addressing various issues that popped up:

I will have a couple of years to scope out retirement places while my DW is still working at our current location. We also aim to take some long vacations as test runs.

I'm fairly confident that my lifelong interests will remain intact through retirement, though I find it fascinating that others haven't found that to be true. There have been some changes (e.g., I no longer sing publicly, but still attend concerts) but the core interest remains.

It seems like that stretch from Tennessee through NC and western Virginia might be tough to beat. Rare combination of mountain trout fishing and warm water lakes. Maybe not the last word in arts stuff but enough at a local university to keep me going.

I had frankly forgotten about the trout fishing in Sacramento.

As far as fishing goes; I'm a minimalist - no boat, just waders and a rod.

I have gone fishing at Lake Moomaw in Virginia, and that was a fun trip. We were all novice fisherman and didn't catch much, but someone told us we needed to fish deeper.

Blacksburg VA or Roanoke VA might be the culture location+college+fish location... I have been there for work and interviews before, and I believe the reporter sitting next to me on the plane told me how cultural it is for what is not really a small town (80th biggest city in country I think).

 

[EastWest Gal]

I'm not into fishing but understand central PA has great fly fishing. However, not so warm in the winter. I agree with the folks about looking in Virginia and vicinity. It is beautiful, plenty of great college towns too.

Davis? It's local terrain is flat as a pancake. It gets really hot in the summer, too. It's not far from the Bay Area and the Sierras, but for me it would be too far. After living in CA for 39 years, I really like the east for it's year round beauty. In our area we have several colleges, many local theaters and music groups. California is a cultural wasteland in comparison.


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[AboutThere]

I'm not into fishing but understand central PA has great fly fishing. However, not so warm in the winter. I agree with the folks about looking in Virginia and vicinity. It is beautiful, plenty of great college towns too.

Davis? It's local terrain is flat as a pancake. It gets really hot in the summer, too. It's not far from the Bay Area and the Sierras, but for me it would be too far. After living in CA for 39 years, I really like the east for it's year round beauty. In our area we have several colleges, many local theaters and music groups. California is a cultural wasteland in comparison.


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Central PA is fly fishing paradise, but as you guess it's the weather that's the issue there.