If you were to move to ANY lower 48 state for fishing.....

Thanks everyone for the responses. For the summer, we are going to move to Alaska. I am still deciding between deckhanding in Seward on a halibut boat or working at an all-inclusive lodge on the Kenai River where I would start as a deckhand and move into river guiding the second summer. Don't know where we will end up this fall but definitely will continue to look back here for advice. Thanks!!!

South Florida for me but only for the winter and early spring. Than off to South Dakota or Wyoming for the fall.

Nowhere compares to Florida for fishing, but then you have to live and work in Florida. Texas is another option but I lived and worked there and would not return for any amount of money or fish. My only viable choice would be California and somewhere between La Jolla and the Mexican border. Fishing in the southern part of the state has benefited greatly from the abnormal water temps (which have hurt fishing further north) and as these are not influenced by bay and river pollution or water shortages the fish populations are probably going to continue to be OK so long as the state and feds regulate the commercial fishermen.

Living in the San Diego area you also have easy access to great fishing in Mexican waters and the amount they charge USA fishermen for a permit is chump change.

Oregon...................

Oregon...................

+1 Its honestly the only place that I could imagine living besides California.

  There is a bit of rivalry between Washington and Oregon. Soccer, basketball, football, pro and college. Both states are split by the cascades so there is a mild wet side and a hotter/colder dry side. Portland has a river. Seattle is in between the sound and a 30 mile long 800' deep lake. The north side of the Olympic Peninsula has lots of people from Cali. Sequim is famous because it's in a sun spot that gets about 20 inches of rain a year. Idaho and Montana are great, but for people that need saltwater, it's a long drive. Sturgen fishing is fantastic in the Columbia River and Portland is a lot closer to the ocean than Seattle. But Portland doesn't have spot prawns in May or dungies most the summer. 

Pick a city...any city you would consider living in and on a map draw a 25, 50, 75 100 mile  diameter circle around the city. Then consider the fishing possibilities within each circle. Should give you a pretty good clue where to move to.  Cheers and good luck

Somebody mentioned north Idaho earlier so I'll weigh in on that one. I moved from the Bay Area to Coeur d'Alene in 2010, and I've lived here ever since. The local fly fishing is outstanding, and with a 3 hour drive I can get into some seriously good steelheading. There are also several major lakes with lake trout, pike, landlocked salmon and a decent bass fishery. BUT, I constantly miss the saltwater fishing. Even with the occasional steelhead or lake trout, nothing compares to catching salmon, halibut, lingcod, and sturgeon from a yak. I just can't seem to get as excited about fishing here as I did in the Bay Area, and I miss the fishing there terribly. I want to leave north Idaho.

With that said, if I were moving with solely fishing on my mind, I would move to Florida. My dad lives there and I visit when I can. The variety of fishing opportunities there is top notch. When I consider everything else about life, and still place a high value on fishing, I would move to either San Diego or NorCal.