Central Minnesota. Mille Lacs lake is one of the top fisheries in the country for smallmouth, walleyes, and musky. Abundant public ground with a ton of different terrain types. Might be a bit biased… Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Pa is great, but I don’t think it’s the best for deer. Lake Erie is killer along with many other lakes and rivers for SMB. If I could make the move I’d go to Ohio for much better deer and some great SMB fishing with Erie/the tribs and Ohio river.
I fished the Susquehanna like 25 years ago....my buddy and I caught a bunch of smallies. What a great river.
How could I forget the Mississippi… also excellent smally fishing here in central MN. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Door County, WI. That’s where my smallmouth pics are from. There is a ton of public land there too that big deer get killed off of every year. When I can finally retire someday, I’d like to spend my summers up there and rest of the year in IL.
Mille Lacs ranked #8 this year. Think it’s been higher in the past. https://www.bassmaster.com/best-bass-lakes/slideshow/top-10-best-bass-lakes-of-2025/1322793 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mississippi River St Cloud to Elk River is also considered a world class smallmouth body of water as well. Plus it is not urbanized.
That stretch of river is pretty much 100% rock and shallow keeps a lot of boat traffic off the river. I grew up in Monticello spent my summers wading the Mississippi, bank fishing.
IMO you'd be hard pressed to beat Wisconsin for both smallmouth fishing and whitetail hunting. There's a reason they have more P&Y bucks in the record books than any other state. BUT if you're looking at overall climate, taxes, etc I think I'd consider TN/KY. Much lower taxes and cost of living, a more temperate climate so you can fish a lot more of the year in comfort, and very healthy deer herds in both states. Dale Hollow is still a world-class smallmouth fishery.
Id say Wisconsin. Fishing and hunting is very good. But like anything it depends on the area and situation. PA, if you want to just shoot deer, we're your state. We have a pile of them. We also have three rivers in particular that are phenominal smallmouth fisheries. Susquehanna, Juniata and Allegheny rivers. I swear there are spots on those rivers where you can walk across smallmouths.
