I live in Jackson MS today and enjoy fishing the white river about 5 times a year. I have an opportunity to take a new sales territory over for my company. I am looking for a good place to raise a family(3 boys ages 9,7,6) and be able to do some fly fishing on a more regular basis. I have been offered Atlanta, Michigan or Scranton Pennsylvania markets. Atlanta is probably the best territory and it keeps me in the south, but my new Orleans born wife is talking north. Anyone have any opinions on fly fishing opportunities and family raising in any of the three areas mentioned? This is an odd request I know, but I trust you guys over random Internet chatter. Thanks for the help
Do you have a choice of where you locate in Michigan? In many ways the Southeastern part of the state around Detroit is totally different from the rest of the state. From there you would usually be traveling several hours to fish for trout though there is some good warm water fishing. It also has all of the cultural advantages and disadvantages of a big city. If you can live in the Northern part of the state you can easily live within a few miles of a good trout stream and there are usually homes for sale right on many rivers. Many schools have been hurt by the lack of state revenues tied to the sales tax but you should be able to find a district that is still doing well.
My wife is leaning towards Michigan. I think we could live anywhere But my wife is talking Ann arbor. Do they alow SEC families in Ann arbor?
Bedlam, my wife is from Jackson, Michigan, about an hour west of Ann Arbor. From a fishing stand-point, you’ll love it. Lots, and LOTS, of little lakes everywhere. Most are inter-connected with small streams. If you have a kayak or canoe, even better. But, it’s all clear-water fishing, so you’ll be fishing deep, or long-distance.
You might want to download the Michigan Fishing Guide, http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364---,00.html Study it! They have some funky “seasons” for fishing. Many streams and lakes are classified by type, usually meaning if it’s stocked with trout, salmon, etc.
What is SEC families? Stay out of the Detroit area.
Michigan has been going through some terrible times, we still have family back there and it isn’t easy. However, some places have fared much better than others. The southern areas and cities where GM once had plants are still bad, BUT places like Traverse City look like boom town in comparison. Traverse has fine fishing of all kinds, lots of summer activities and then winter snow skiing, snowmobiling, ice skating…But for your southern born wife, she may not have developed a love for the cold white stuff! (But the kids will love it!)
I know that you’ve also factored the weather in your decision but after growing up in New England and moving south to Miami, then Atlanta over 30 years ago, I don’t think I’d enjoy the winters at all. I own my own business and have to travel some in the winter into the areas you’re considering and 20 degrees and blowing snow just isn’t any fun at all. The fishing “seasons” up North also limit the amount of fishing you can do. While Atlanta can get hot in the summer and the traffic is simply awful, there are a lot of different fishing opportunities here ranging from outstanding warm water bream and bass to nice sized striped bass in the big man-made impoundments (state record is 63lbs) to decent trout fishing within the perimeter in the Chattahoochee river to nice trout fishing in the mountains. All this is within two hours drive of Atlanta, most of it much closer. The best part is with the exception of some of the trout streams, we fish all year round.
All that being said, there are many other factors to consider which are more important such as the educational systems. Parts of North Atlanta have good school systems or private schools are always an option. We sent our three children to Catholic Schools here in Atlanta and the education is outstanding. Bottom line though, if your wife has her heart set on Michigan, then I suggest you start researching housing opportunities there. Good luck and drop me a line if you choose Atlanta and I’ll share what fishing areas I know in the area.
Jim Smith
The SEC is the major religion in the south. Southeastern Conference Football.
Bedlam, come on over to Atlanta where SEC is spoken with fervor and conviction. You need to come over for a familiarization trip, bring your waders, I have an extra float tube we can spend as much or as little time as you have on the Hooch a few miles below Lake Lanier. Even if you attended Oxford Jr. College. If your wife is from Nawlins, Atlanta is north. I am a native Mississippian, have travel to the major cities of the USA. Atlanta is one of the better places to live, raise kids and work.
Seriously, drop me a PM if you are coming over and we may be able to wet a line. I was a reluctant Georgian but after 20 years have no desire to move.
Ice fishing… worth moving for!
Uncle Jesse, some SEC schools have basketball programs, too. 
Maybe not the University (sic) of Georgia, but some do.
Atlanta lays claim to what are, arguably, the best chili dogs in the Known World (Varsity’s), and the best fried catfish (Rio Vista). The fact the Rio Vista has (or at least had, the last time I got any) the best hushpuppies in the world is not open to debate.
Nearby Marietta lays claim to a world-class piece of sculpture, the Big Chicken. 
Ed, who has Georgia Tech alumni in his family.
P.S. Bedlam would arrive already knowing the language and without need for a passport, in Hotlanta.
Ed, my froggy friend, you know the only southern states where basketball is revered is Kentucky and North Carolina, SEC football is king. As for you comment about catfish, until you complete a tour of all the catfish restaurant in Mississippi your opinion will not be consider valid. Atlanta is a virtual desert when it comes to catfish and barbecue. But Bedlam would fit right in language wise.
I think the popularity of the GPS must have removed the Big Chicken from place of note, prior to the GPS all direction in or around May-retta began at the Big Chicken. I am rebuilting a little Zebco rod and reel with Yellow Jacket colors and decals for my Bible study teacher first grade son. Grandpaw in a Ramblin Wreck and dad is a Ga. Bulldog fan.
Bedlam needs to come on up to Suwanee, Sugar Hill, actually Buford may be best (smaller school system) but the best schools in the state are along I-85 in north Gwinnett County. His wife will have a 2 million sq. ft. shopping mall at her disposal, the Chattahoochee River will be no more than 12 miles away with year round trout fishing (saw a 20" brown a guy had caught Sunday).
My apology to the frogs for confusing them with toads.
If you are really thinking Michigan let’s talk. I grew up in Detroit and now live in Ann Arbor(well OK just south of it) and spend a lot of time in T.C. and the North. feel free to P.M. me.
Scranton, PA would not be my choice of a town to relocate to, EXCEPT that the Delaware River watershed is just a short distance over the mountain to fish. Some of the best trout flyfishing oportunities east of the Mississippi.
John
Thanks for all the info guys. I think Atlanta area might be better for my career and knowing I have local trout fishing is very exciting. My wife is really on the Michigan side of the fence so we might be making some trips to check out both Buford or cumming GA and Ann arbor Michigan. Have rod will travel!
The Hooch is stuffed with trout (plus stripers, shoal bass, etc.) The Fish Hawk in Buckhead is one of the best fly shops in the country. There are lots of good casters in town and, as others have mentioned, warm weather and SEC sports are a big plus.
I’m biased, though. 
Make sure you get your priorities right on this one. I moved a lot during my career (16 addresses in our first 32 years of marriage) and learned the priorities that worked best for us via experiences good and bad.
#1 for me is how good a place it will be for my family’s happiness and success. The wife has to like it and the kids have to get a good education.
#2 is income and savings/investment potential. What can you earn, what are the house prices and the taxes? For the same price, we have lived in standard cheaply-built suburban housing on tiny lots and near-palatial estates on multi-acres. We’ve lived in high tax and low tax areas. We were able to save and invest a lot in some locations and barely broken even in others.
#3 is climate. Believe it or not, winters vary hugely based on where you live. I grew up about 100 miles north of Scranton. We rarely saw the sun in the winter and the snows were wet and heavy. I loved the Springs, Summers and Falls there, but would never put up with another of those gloomy and awful winters. Where I am now in CO, the winters offer a lot of sunny days and most of the snows are fairly light in weight. I enjoy this.
Way down on the list is the fly fishing nearby.
Take care of #1 and #2 and you can retire within a mile of great fishing waters, with the same wife you started out with, and with well-educated and successful kids. Put fishing at the top of your list now and that might not happen.
There’s a ton of good information on the Net that will help you select between potential locations. Look hard before you leap!
Brad
Uncle Jess, I get out your way sometimes to visit my daughter in Atlanta. I got to fish a day in the Hooch. It may have been my first time going to a new river by my self. I’d to do it again someday.
Craig
When you get back this wasy let me know, maybe we can float a section of the Hooch. A fellow angler showed me a 20" brown he caught last week. There are some nice fish in the river and lot of their small kin (the ones I catch.)
Whew…and there I thought I was out of it, because I don’t know what a SEC family is, either.
SEC= Southern Conference Football??? ROFL…
Re: Michigan… Your in the NORTH brother… Yankee country… BUT FOOTBALL is big…especially in Ann Arbor!!! Go Blue!!!
If it’s fly fishing you’re looking for… Michigan is at the top of the list. Ann Arbor has a warm water trib with great small mouth bass fishing but you’re really a very short drive to blue ribbon trout and steelhead streams. In Michigan you’re never more than 5 miles away from great fishing, no matter where you are. …and it’s cheap to live there.