Moving to TN

[Marc132]

I am at a cross roads and we are thinking of moving up near nashville, Tn.  We are moving from Orlando area of Florida.  I want to hit all the big lakes as often as possible.  Is nashville a decent central point for many of the nice lakes.  Alsoi was wondering how many months a year are fishable..  as here in florida I fish 12 months a year.  I am just really gettign into fishing competively.  Been fishing for a year and a few months and just love it.  If anyone knows of any aerospace / electronic jobs near Nashville, please let know.  I work for nasa right now but with the shuttle program ending  next year I am trying to beat the rush to find a quality job..  Hey hopefully in a few years I can fish for a living!!

Thanks
Marc

[flippinout]

Hey man...You're moving to a place that I consider the mecca of bass fishing.  If you live between Nashville and Clarksville, there's four lakes available to you within 11/2 hours drive. Kentucky, Barkley, Percy Priest and Old Hickory.  And several others within close proximity.  I was stationed at Fort Campbell for almost 10 years and that's where I learned to bass fish.  I'm stationed in the Florida panhandle now and absolutely hate the fishing here.  I'd give anyhting to be back in west TN again.

As for a job, check with Fort Campbell.  You've already got gov't experience so that might help you get a job faster.  Ft. Campbell has a bunch of rotary wing aircraft.

Good Luck Marc

[OutdoorFrontiers]

Hi Marc,

Right now, I'm taking a breather from packing, but come Wednesday night, I'll be a resident of Tennessee!

I can't speak of the job opportunities because I'm a retired firefighter, but from the standpoint of outdoor recreational opportunities, Tennessee rocks!

We'll be living about five minutes from the Paris Landing State Park boat ramp on Kentucky Lake and I'm really looking forward to getting my butt out of the frozen north of Wisconsin and working on my "ya'alls".... 

I'll be about forty minutes from Clarkesville and yeah, there's a lot of fishing in Tennessee!  It's one of the reasons we chose this state.  We've been researching where to move for almost two years and TN seems to be a great place.

Let me know if you end up anywhere near Paris, TN and we'll hook up.

Steve

[Eric C]

If your bent on moving to TN I would suggest Chattanooga. Volkswagon is building a 1 billion dollar assembly plant in Chattanooga and expects to employ 2000+ workers. As of now they are hiring all the white collar and managerial positions.

If its the outdoors you crave then Chattanooga is the place. The Tennessee River flows right thru the heart of the city and big bass can be caught from Chickamauga (lake in town) to the nationally known Lake Guntersville only an hour away.

Good hunting in this area as well.

[Keithscatch]

How are the taxes and other living expenses in TN? Property taxes etc? Some day I might land in that part of the country too. It sure is pretty up there. I just know when I went for my honeymoon their taxes were sky high. I don't recall if they have state tax either?

Thanks guys.

[OutdoorFrontiers]

Compared to living in northern Wisconsin, the cost of living in Tennessee is dirt cheap!

First of all, there is no state income tax.  We looked at homes online in the $100,000 range.  Most of these homes would be in the $150,000 to $175,000 price range.  In all of the realty websites that listed property taxes, none of the $100,000 homes had property taxes more than $700.  Here in Wisconsin, the same home would have had at least $1,800 per year property taxes.

Yes, Tennessee does have a higher sales tax, but again, when compared against other states, and the low cost of living, it's not bad.  And I feel it's a fair tax.  You're taxed when you spend the money, and not when you make it too!  Interestingly enough, I was recently down in Tennessee to find a rental until we decide where we're going to finally buy a house.  My wife ended up buying a laptop computer at Wal-Mart down there because (A) she needed to replace her computer and (B) it was $85 less than the same computer here in Wisconsin at Wal-Mart!  I looked at a 42" flat screen and it was $120 less than back here too.

Gas prices are about .30 - .50 less per gallon as well.

Vehicle registration costs are reasonable too.  It will cost me less to register my truck and boat in Tennessee than in Wisconsin.  And unlike some states, Tennessee doesn't charge a "personal property tax" on vehicles.  I looked into moving to Kentucky and based on what I was told, it was going to cost almost $2,400 to own my truck, my wife's car and my boat!

For me, because of the lower cost of living (in comparison to Wisconsin), less paid in taxes and less paid in utilities, it will be like getting a 20% raise in my pension!

Tennessee, ready or not, here I come!

Steve

[Marc132]

Thanks for all the info guys.  I am really looking forward to the move but it may be a little while.  We would probably rent for 6 months or so until we find a place of our own.  Sort of depends on what job we get.  I am hoping she gets a job making enough that I can fish for a living!!!  But we will see about that.  We will definately have to hook up and rip some lips, Steve.  I'll give you plenty of time to find some good honey holes by teh time I get there.

Thanks again yall

Marc

[Keithscatch]

Good info Steve, thanks. Florida is pretty high in property taxes. Be careful when looking at property tax. For instance my wife and I only pay about $1400 a yr for our property taxes. That would be the amount you would see if looking on Zillow.com or other real estate sites if we had our house up for sale. However, if we sold the property now whoever bought it would owe about $3,000 maybe even $4,000 a year.

Not sure if TN is like that or not but here it is based on your original price you bought the house for. Some states like NC actually raise it every time they do an appraisal if the house increases in value. Here at least it pays to live in the same house for a long long time. We couldn't afford to buy our own house we live in now if we had to as the darn property tax would eat us up.

My main fear of moving up to TN is not finding adequate sized bass  Having lived in Texas and Florida 2 of the top bass states in the country I would wonder how abundant 7+lb bass are up there.

My wife and I are taking our 1 yr anniversary in Gatlinburg in Aug. So we will be up there real soon. I am looking forward to the change of scenery. While the high temps probably won't be any different I am hoping that the humidity and suffocation levels will be lower up there.

Anyway, good luck to you and also to you Marc. I hope you find all that you are looking for up there.

[OutdoorFrontiers]

Well, I'm finally here in Springville, Tennessee and loving it so far.  Janet and I have been working like dogs to get the truck unloaded and everything put away in the house.  I have a "Man Cave" with brick and wood paneled walls, my mounts are on the wall now and today the guy from Charter came, so I have my internet back and hi-def cable hooked to the 42" TV!

I love the fact that I filled my almost empty gas tank in the truck with $2.23/gal. gas!  Grocery prices are the same or less than I am used to paying and other prices seem to be less too!

My neighbors appear to be really nice and Richard (my new neighbor) showed me a HUGE tom turkey that he shot this spring in the back yard!

So far, life is good now that I'm "hooked up" again.

Steve

[Marc132]

sounds great steve.  Things are pretty uncertain here at Kennedy Space Center.   I wish i could just find a job fishing in TN...LOL

[bassindude]

I am SOOOOOOO jeleous of you guys moving to TN.  i moved away from there and back to Indiana a few years back because my wife missed the family too much ( me too a little ).  The Nashville area is awesome, and very centrally located for great fishing.  You now have Old Hickory, Cordell Hull, Center Hill, Pearcy Priest, Dale Hollow, Barron river in KY is not too far also. I fished all but Priest when i lived there.  You will love it.  I joined the Macon CO. Bassmasters.  a bunch of good old boys for sure, and pretty competitive.  My last trip before leaving was on Old Hickory the same weekend as the FLW tourney, and if you check my old posts there is a 3 day write up of my adventures of the weekend.  it was an awesome weekend to say the least, by my standards anyway.  Anyway good luck and enjoy.  I gotta get my but back down there!!!!

[trent]

  Welcome to TN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Hope you enjoy your new home!

[Rincon2388]

I lived in NW Tn for 10 years and loved it. Yes the sales taxes are high but everything else is lower than most states as mentioned before NO INCOME TAX. When I was there no trailers were licensed, horse trailer, camper, boat, utility no license. In IL I pay 18.00 a year for a small utility trailer and same for boat trailer. Good luck finding a job and I'm sure you will love TN. The fish may be smaller than FL and TX but people are real nice.

[OutdoorFrontiers]

I'll say the people are nice!  My wife and I were furniture shopping and got to talking with the owner of a shop in Paris.  We never laughed so hard while furniture shopping (which I normally hate).  The owner is a hoot!

Anyway, she ended up our visit by saying, "Hey, y'all probably would use this.  My husband and I were going to go, but our plans changed."  She handed me two tickets to the NRA Banquet being held next month.  $50 worth of tickets to a stranger!

Now that's nice.  Guess where we'll be buying furniture?

Steve

[Keithscatch]

Just got back from our 1 year anniversary trip up there. We loved it. It is amazing how much better the atmosphere is there then it is down here in South Florida. People are very friendly and I will miss that.

We stayed in the Gatlinburg area at the huge Westgate Resort. We drove to Pigeon Forge most of the time as Gatlinburg was very crowded.

I got to fish this time so I can now add TN to my list of states. I managed to catch 2 smaller Small mouths in the little Pigeon River. I even saw a small baby largemouth which blew me away. I didn't know largemouth live in that cold of a river?

We drove Cades cove Friday before we left. What an amazing place. We saw a Bear up in a tree while driving and got it on photo and video. This is our 3rd trip there and we have seen a Bear all 3 trips Pretty cool.

It was pretty hot there this time but still much cooler feeling then it is down here. I can stand outside and not break out in a sweat just by standing still like I do here. Plus at night it cooled down nice and we could enjoy sitting on the balcony.

Gas prices are cheaper by far. I saw $2.35 as the cheapest while down here in S. Florida $2.59 is the cheapest I have seen so far.

I picked up some of those free land and home magazines while there and there sure seems to be some great buys on houses.

Is there any good fishing anywhere near Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge? I mean besides the river? Is Fontana Lake the closest lake? Is it any good for largemouth? Or if you move up there do you have to convert to a Smallmouth bass fisherman or a Trout fisherman?

What about Chattanooga? (sp?) is that a decent place to live? Fish? Or is Knoxville better?

If we moved there it would be the East side not the west so it would have to be close to the mountains.

We both love the mountains there and the serenity of driving around there. Allot would have to happen for us to be able to move but maybe someday.

Thanks for the info guys.

[Marc132]

We are still trying to get up there.  Jobs are going to be the  big thing.  I had a company locally in melbourne show some interest here lately but  Ya never know.  The wife definately wants out of florida, but I still love it down here.  I love being able to fish year round.  we will see what happens

Nashville area is our first choice having 5 lakes within 1.5 hours away... NICE

[OutdoorFrontiers]

Well, keep trying to get up here.  Talking with my neighbors and some other local contacts I've made recently, there IS fishing year round.  In fact, from what I've heard, the best time for MONSTER crappie is December thru February.

Steve

[fisherdad]

we're in the same boat, down here in florida wanting to move! My wife and I both grew up here since elementary school, and have been wanting to move for the last 5 years or so. We researched and wanted to move to Knoxville or Nashville (we have friends in nashville). But when the housing market and economy went down the toilet, job interviews dried up and never got the opportunity. But yeah living is a little cheaper than central florida, and probably marginally cheaper than south florida as well.

As far as fishing... well Bill Dance seems to find some good fish all the time

We're actually now planning on moving to Reno... I guess I'll start learning how to fish for trout and maybe smallies.