Barry, It's o.k. to disagree. Personally I think Florida is a great salt water fishing state. But, other than that all you have is Largemouth. "Panfish" I don't even count but that's just me. There are lots of Perch, Crappie & Bluegills here too but most fly roders don't even pursue them here.
In about 2 weeks you could catch buckets of crappie on a good sized lake 2 miles from my house with a white Clouser yet, you would have to search very hard to see a fly rod. We have large mouth too but, the only ones pursuing them with any regularity are the Bass Tourney guys that take over the town for a few days.
Warm water here for the fly fisherman is almost exclusively Smallmouth Bass then Pike & Muskie. I suspect the reason less panfish are pursued is because there is such a variety of sport fish both warm & cold not, because of lack of them.
Economically and in terms of warm weather it may be better in the South & South West and many move there for that. From Minn. to Wisc. to Mich and upstate NY along with our neighbors In Canada fisherman in this region choose to live here.....................for the fishing.........oh yea, that and the home cook'in diners that still dot the land. I do miss the "real" Mexican food ,hot chilly, nice people of the small towns and catfish steaks of Texas though. The Florida salt water fishing I would take...............the zoo of a life style in the metro area's you can keep.
Regards,
Bill1227