Best States For Fishing: See Where Florida Ranks

What is the best state in the U.S. for fishing? Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's Florida. "We compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on community interest, access to gear and bait shops, license affordability, and proximity to water sources among 22 total metrics," Lawn Love explains.

Lawn Love explains, in order to properly determine that Florida was ranked the best state in the country for fishing they had to compile and analyze the right data sets. They gathered publicly available data on community, access, affordability and fishing supplies. "Next, we calculated weighted scores for each state in each category," they explain. "Finally, we averaged the scores for each state across all categories." The states were then ranked by the highest average score.

Florida's overall score was a 48.95, which was seven points higher than the number two ranked state (Alaska). Their community and access rankings were one and two, respectively. Having the second most miles of shoreline in the country certainly helps as well. Florida has the most charters and guides in the country, which makes sense because the Sunshine State also provides the second most miles of shoreline. There's an abundance of opportunity here. Florida also was number one in the amount of fishing piers accessible.

Florida has 7,700 lakes, 10,550 miles of rivers and 2,276 miles of shoreline. Visit Florida detailed that tarpon, sailfish, sea trout, snook, grouper, snapper, mackerel, and large mouth bass can all be found with 100 miles of Tampa Bay.

The Florida Keys were called out as some of the best saltwater fishing. For a unique underwater excursion, book a summer trip to go scalloping along the Gulf Coast. In addition, the Gulf of Mexico coast was named the best for scalloping. Regardless of your preferred fish or body of water type, Florida is the best state for fishing.

The 2023 Major League Baseball season is officially one week away. Next Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rays will host the Detroit Tigers at Tropicana Field. Of course, not all Major League Baseball players from Tampa Bay play for the Rays. According to baseball almanac, there sixteen currently active MLB players from Tampa Bay.

Manager Kevin Cash starts his 9th season as the manager of the Rays. Cash is a hometown guy. Hailing from Tampa Bay, Cash was part of a local team that made it to the 1989 Little League World Series. He then went north to play for Florida State University better getting into the Toronto Blue Jays system as a catcher. Cash's first stint back in Tampa came when he was traded to the Rays in 2005. His second round with his hometown club came when he was hired to be the manager in December of 2014. At the time, Cash was the youngest manager in MLB, solidifying his presence in the Tampa baseball once again.

In fact, the region has a deep history with breeding major league ballplayers. The roster of MLB players from Tampa is quite impressive.

Here is a look at some of the most recognizable names that came from the Tampa, FL area.