It looks like I will be moving this fall to either Austin, Tx, Williamsburg, Va or mybee Berkeley, Ca.
I was just curious what people on this board would have to say about the fishing in these areas. Thanks for any input.
I’d have to say that there are many fishing opportunities in the Berkeley, CA! Please check out the following Northern California web site at [url=http://www.ncffb.org/.:e90b2]www.ncffb.org/.[/url:e90b2] Here you’ll be able to see some of the fishing opportunities in this area. There are more opportunities on the Eastern side of the Sierras too. Good-luck!
Williamsburg, VA has some good fishing as well. The James River is close by and is an excellent bass fishery. You have the Chesapeake Bay nearby as well for some salt water fishing. The Shenandoah mountains about 2 hours west of you have more great bass fishing and trout streams in the mountains.
Fish more, work less!
If you go to the following site it will show you some of the northern California fishing spots.
[url=http://www.flyfishnorcal.org/php-nuke/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=75:71b76]http://www.flyfishnorcal.org/php-nuke/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=75[/url:71b76]
if you decide on Berkely, hit me up with an email. id be happy to show you around some of my favorite and most productive fishing spots in the eastern sierra.
Thanks for the responses.
Unfortunately, Berkeley is the long shot of the three. I would love to live in Northern Cal but I will probably end up in Austin.
Austin’s a neat little town. there are lots of rivers and lakes in the hill country and the Guadalupe River is stocked with rainbows and browns in the winter just below Canyon Lake. plenty of opportunity for largemouth, smallmouth, guadalupe bass, bluegill, and other fishy on the fly. in the spring (like right now) the white bass go the creeks and rivers that run into the lakes and spawn and that brings out everyone and their mother to fish the run. there are also hybrid white/strippers and regular strippers in some lakes. another plus is that the coast isn’t too far away so you can hook up with redfish, speckled trout, flounder, snook, mackerel, and other fish. if you ever get bored, find a park pond and have some fun with the panfish using a 3 weight.
take him fishing
If your long shot comes through, you can find even more fishing info on California by checking out the many maps at:
[url=http://www.fishsniffer.com/maps/:0b5a3]http://www.fishsniffer.com/maps/[/url:0b5a3]
Also, the Dept of Fish & Game has an interactive fishing guide that used to be Windows only but apparently is now in Java so everybody can play along at home. It doesn’t cover every possibility in the state, but it has a pretty decent selection…see for yourself at:
[url=http://maps.dfg.ca.gov/fgw/jsp/app.jsp:0b5a3]http://maps.dfg.ca.gov/fgw/jsp/app.jsp[/url:0b5a3]
If I were you I would quit my job and move somewhere the fishing is really good, really close, as in a world-class trout river within 15-30 minutes. That’s what I’m doing; my priorities are 1. family 2. fishing 3. job.
If changing your job isn’t an option, keep in mind that the Bay Area has an incredibly high cost of living. Houses are a minimum of $500K for a dump and rent is like $1500-$2000 a month. The amount of money you save on rent or mortgage in Texas or Virginia might be enough to do 3 or 4 really nice trips a year. Just something to consider.
Best of luck,
-John
I like that suggestion, but its for law school not a job. In retrospect I should have applied at the University of Colorado.
Ahh, that makes sense. Oh well school is only temporary, and a good school makes a big difference.
I did my undergrad at Humboldt State and my graduate degree at University of Nevada, Reno. Both decisions mostly fishing motivated (I have a one track mind!) although they are both top-notch schools for my field (hydrogeology).
Anyway best of luck with your education, you’ll always find a way to get some fishing in wherever you go.
-John
PS there are too many people in the Front Range for my taste …sorry C.U. folks… there are better law schools fishing wise if you decide to re-apply somewhere else…
That is a pretty braod swath on the political spectrum. Go to UT or William & Mary, the faculty and students are much saner. The Bolsheviks at Berkely will ruin your mind, and after being in OK, you may not be ready for that bunch. I have a JD and an LLM, almost enough to qualify for an SJD in enviro/natural re. law. I can not imagine being a moderate or a conservative at UCB Law. A very strong political bent in the wrong direction, like UCB, Harvard, and many other places will diminish the law school experience.
Colorado will be getting a new school due to ABA accreditation issues, but it is no fun to be there while they are building it. Only when they are done. UW in Seattle got a huge infusion from Bill Gates to build a school named after his father, who is an alum and founded the predecessor to current firm of Preston, Gates & Ellis. UW has nowhere to go but up as a public law school.
Good luck on getting in, those are some pretty tough schools to get into. I can only tell you from personal experience how great it is to go to a public law school and get a JD on the cheap (JD public/LLM private). A $100k in law school debt takes a long time to repay, even as a silk stocking lawyer. My Georgetown graduate cousin knows from experience.
[This message has been edited by Rawthumb (edited 23 March 2005).]
[This message has been edited by Rawthumb (edited 23 March 2005).]
I would move to Berkely
Rawthumb- thanks for your response. I understand what you are saying about Berkely. I am looking to get into enviro law so I thought it might be a good choice. I am liberal by Oklahoma standards, but would probably be considered very conservative somewhere like Berkely. I actually haven’t been accepted there yet, but I have at the other schools.
[This message has been edited by Blake (edited 23 March 2005).]
[This message has been edited by Blake (edited 23 March 2005).]
Stanford has a far better envior program/curriculum than Berkeley. So does Georgetown.
Lewis & Clark is the catdaddy, my LLM school, and Portland is not a bad place to be as a fisherman. The wet winters will break any southerner/westerner, however. My friends tell me that this one has not been bad, but that adversely affects snowpack and summer water levels for fish.
Enviro is really slow on the regulated party side now, jobs are not abundant. Let me know if you want to discuss anything on private email.
[This message has been edited by Rawthumb (edited 23 March 2005).]
I currently live in Williamsburg. Before I get into the fishing I’ll cover another important area: If you are looking to party a bit in school, then William and Mary is not a “party” school. Sometimes it’s hard to tell that this is a college town.
Locally in Williamsburg there are several reservoirs that have excellent warmwater fishing. Waller Mill Reservoir even has place that you can rent a John Boat, trolling motor and battery for 15 bucks a day. Waller Mill has rep for having big Stripers and Largemouths. There is also Little Creek Reservoir which I believe offers the same kind of fish. Chickohominy is another very good lake. There’s also tons of ponds that you have look around for and it’s fairly easy to get access. There are also tons of saltwater opportunites, salt water fly fishing seems to be really catching on in the Hampton Roads area. There is even an Orvis Outlet in Wmsburg that usually has a good supply of your basic fly fishing needs.
As far as trout fishing goes, what Rick said is right. It’s about 2.5 hours from my front door to the first decent rivers on the east slope of the Shenandoah. They are totally worth the trip on Saturday or Sunday. There are also some decent Spring Creeks, but I haven’t hit any of those yet.
The closest place to Wmsburg that I am aware of that you can trout fish is Fort AP Hill. They stock two ponds with big trout on every friday during the spring. It’s only stockie fishing but hey, it’s a decent way to practice casting since there is plenty of room and you can catch fish at the same time.
[This message has been edited by Devil’s Ditch (edited 23 March 2005).]
Originally an Okie, I have lived in both Oakland, CA and various Texas cities. Berkeley and Austin are two of my favorite places. In the days before fly fishing, catching stripers in SF bay was the most fun I ever had fishing. I’d love to do that again, but with a fly rod this time.
Not putting down Williamsburg, if you wind up in either spot, I would say that you’re into a run of good luck.
I too have heard tons of good things about Striper fishing in San Fran. But to reclarify my earlier statement, in the Hampton Roads area of Va, there is like an entire industry built around fishing for stripers. They are probably the most pursued fish in this area in both fresh and saltwater.
Thanks everyone for the responses.
Rawthumb- I’m not dead set on enviro, it just seems to be the thing I am most passionate about right now. I considered Lewis & Clark, it looked like a great school. I may shoot you an e-mail about the job market. Thats something I know nothing about, I really haven’t looked that far into the future.