Fishing is one of America’s favorite activities. While some enjoy catching their own dinner, others see it as a spiritual experience. As each state in the US boasts solid fishing, it’s not always easy to choose where to go.
To help you decide, we at FishingBooker dug into our data to find out the best towns in most US states. Below, we’ll explain the methodology behind the study and share the ranking of the top fishing towns across 38 US states.
Methodology
We selected 6 criteria based on FishingBooker’s internal data from over 100,000 fishing trips and related reviews and reports in the past year. The criteria are:
- Number of available fishing charters
- Average review score
- Average recommended score
- Number of guides with the Angler’s Choice Award (FishingBooker’s award for the top guides on the platform)
- Number of bookings
- Minimum price of a fishing trip
All of the above criteria were taken from the past year alone. We also made sure that there was at least one booking in the location in the last 365 days. Because of this, we couldn’t make meaningful rankings for 12 out of 50 states, so they have not been included in the study.
Using the accumulated data, we scored each location in each state between 1 and 10 points for each of the 6 criteria, based on groups of 10 percentiles for each point increase. This means that the maximum number of points a location could get was 60. Importantly, we only compared each location to other locations in the same state, and not to all locations in the country.
This is how we got the ultimate list of the best places in each state, ranked from best to worst.
Top Fishing Town in Each State
In the table below, you’ll find the top-ranking town for each state. In Colorado and Massachusetts, two towns shared the top spot! If you want to see the full rankings for each state, you can do so here.
| Location | State | Points total |
| Orange Beach | Alabama | 52 |
| Homer | Alaska | 55 |
| Morristown | Arizona | 60 |
| Hot Springs | Arkansas | 44 |
| San Diego | California | 55 |
| Columbine & Loveland | Colorado | 39 |
| Clinton | Connecticut | 48 |
| Lewes | Delaware | 47 |
| Destin | Florida | 59 |
| Savannah | Georgia | 53 |
| Kailua-Kona | Hawaii | 49 |
| Waukegan | Illinois | 59 |
| Jamestown | Kentucky | 25 |
| New Orleans | Louisiana | 50 |
| Saco | Maine | 58 |
| Ocean City | Maryland | 53 |
| Gloucester & Dennis | Massachusetts | 53 |
| Traverse City | Michigan | 59 |
| Duluth | Minnesota | 42 |
| Biloxi | Mississippi | 52 |
| Branson | Missouri | 54 |
| Ennis | Montana | 42 |
| Rye | New Hampshire | 35 |
| Cape May | New Jersey | 53 |
| New York City | New York | 54 |
| Wanchese | North Carolina | 58 |
| Lakeside Marblehead | Ohio | 55 |
| Kingston | Oklahoma | 45 |
| Portland | Oregon | 58 |
| Erie | Pennsylvania | 50 |
| Narragansett | Rhode Island | 55 |
| Hilton Head Island | South Carolina | 49 |
| Rutledge | Tennessee | 46 |
| Galveston | Texas | 55 |
| Heber City | Utah | 43 |
| Virginia Beach | Virginia | 53 |
| Seattle | Washington | 52 |
| Sheboygan | Wisconsin | 50 |
Now that you’ve got this list to inspire you, where are you going fishing next?
