Do you love big bluegill?

Maybe moving to Texas. Your thoughts?

Hi all,

As the title suggests, we're kicking around the idea of maybe moving to Texas. I'm a remote worker, so as long as I have a reliable and fast Internet connection, I can work from anywhere (currently in southern California).

A couple places that look kind of good to me in preliminary poking around are New Braunfels and San Marcos. Of course, I need to know good places to catch bluegill around there :-)

Other than BG, though (and the fishing is probably better there than it is around here), what do you all think of those places? They seem attractive to me because they are far enough for San Antonio and Austin to be enjoyable, yet near enough that if I need to go into the city for anything, it's doable. My employer has offices in Austin, should I need to get on our corporate network for any reason.

I have three kids - one in high school, one to be in high school next year, and one in grade school, so having a UofT campus in San Marcos is a plus for me, too.

If those are great places to live, you can tell me the truth. I promise not to try to make them like California :-)

Thanks!

Jonathan

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by 10.5" RES Sharon on March 31, 2017 at 7:29pm

I moved to tx 12 years ago. I love it here, but there are downsides. So, though I've never visited the two cities you mentioned, I'm going to put in my two cents anyway. 1. Stay out of tornado alley.

2. TX is unbearably hot 3 months minimum. If you like summer outdoor activities, beware.

3. I live in a tiny country town with terrible internet connections, and doesn't look like it will get better.

4. Home buying market is great, try to resell, and you may not succeed.

5. UnitedCountry.com is a great realty resource to see what's available without being bothered by agents

Permalink Reply by Clay Thompson on April 3, 2017 at 10:05am

Legal-Begal stuff: This posting is only my opinion. Please don't take this as gospal or plan your life around this!

We have been to San Marcos many times in my life, once as a child on a family trip and many times for Cheerleading Camps. (3 daughters, all cheerleaders) There is a river that runs through town and my youngest daughter and I caught 15 bluegills in less that 10 minutes. Then she told me that she was "full of this". There are many place to fish right in town.

Now Canyon Lake is equal distance from San Marcos and New Braunfels so that makes it close from either city. I am going to New Braunfels at the end of this month for a Triumph Convention. (took a lot of work to set that up!) Of the two of them, I like San Marcos better. You do have to realize that it will be a college town.

Clay

Permalink Reply by Clay Thompson on April 3, 2017 at 10:10am

I can put you in contact with a GREAT real-estate agent who does work in the Hill Country at times. He sold my house in Houston in less that 12 hours for twice the money I was expecting!

Permalink Reply by Leo Nguyen on April 3, 2017 at 12:20pm

I feel you JB. I want to move out of SoCal as well. Way too much politics, and too little benefits. My brother and his wife already moved to TX, and my sister and her family planned on moving to TX from FL as well. I'm on the border right now. The only thing I have issue with is the wild flowers in TX. We were slammed with allergies three folds compared to CA. Aside from that, VA is perfect for my wife's position, and for my position, well, I can retire early.

Fishing holes are a heck more abundant in TX than CA for sure.With cheap land, and plenty of water rights, I can even breed them to create genetic monsters. Just a thought.

Permalink Reply by JBplusThuy on April 3, 2017 at 1:34pm

Thanks to all for the great info!

Clay, if this goes from kicking it around to reality, I'll get back to you for the name of that agent. I think I could well plan my life around catching 15 BG in 10 minutes :D I've looked into schools a bit and the ones in NB seem to be rated higher (sometimes much, much higher) than the ones in San Marcos. Need to do more research on that re: why.

I've heard about the heat, Sharon, but I like it :) My wife, maybe not so much, but Montana and Wyoming are out of the question because she sure doesn't want to live where it snows. Texas has cheap electricity so it's easy to run the AC a lot.

Leo, where in TX did your brother go? It hadn't really crossed my mind about buying some rural land with a pond, but now you've got me thinking... :D Where in FL is your sister? My sister lives in Tampa and seems to like it, and I've enjoyed FL for travel, but I think it has some of California's drawbacks: also very crowded, also far from just about anywhere, also kind of expensive to live there. One of her sons moved to TN, so people do seem to leave FL, too.

Permalink Reply by Leo Nguyen on April 3, 2017 at 1:58pm

My brother lives in Richmond, with a custom 3600sqft home, on a 1/3 acre lot, costed him a total of $320K (with extras he went crazy on). Just a warning, humidity is off the chart, tons of fleas during the high humidity, and of course, prone to flooding during hurricane season. My parents will be moving to my brother in November, rather than dealing with California's nightmares. They'll put up with the weathers and fleas, rather than dealing with California's blood suckers.

We also have relatives living in Dallas, Forth Worth, and Arlington. Great places to live. Humidity is not too bad.

You got the living legend master of ponds (Pond Boss), Bob Lusk, living at northern part of TX. We visited his place, and were in awe. Plenty of rooms for ponds, the so called "drought" is nothing like California's drought, perfect ambient temperature, hated the allergies, and perfect environment to grow hardy fishes. Land is cheap, building home is even cheaper, and the only thing you will be missing is the culinary delights offered by the melting pot of California.

Permalink Reply by JBplusThuy on April 3, 2017 at 4:24pm

Ah, OK. Houston metro area. Yeah, I've heard all about the humidity there. Don't think Thuy would go for that, it's too much like Sai Gon lol. She's not too keen on hurricanes, either, and Houston is close enough to the Gulf coast that if one comes in around Galveston, Houston gets walloped, too. I'd buy on high ground and take my chances, though :-)

I'd go for Austin, but Travis Country generally, and Austin in particular, kind of seems like the Berkeley of Texas. I know that's something of an exaggeration, but a couple of the most liberal people I know (relatives by marriage, and I like them in spite of their politics <g>) view Austin as the "good" part of Texas. Being that we go in the conservative direction, I'm not sure how well we'd fit in there, even though I'm sure it's not nearly like Berkeley. Too many Californians have apparently gone to Austin, though. To the north, Pflugerville seems nice and Round Rock as well, but I think they're both still in Travis County.

I'm sure the fleas wouldn't be too popular with our cats, either. They're total indoor cats, I never let them roam (I like them as they are, rather than as coyote poop), but fleas will find their way in, I'm sure.

Since we'd like to buy a hair salon, will also be looking at opportunities to either buy or build one in whatever communities stay on the short list for a potential move.

If only Kaiser were in Texas. I really like them and would sure miss being a Kaiser member.

Permalink Reply by carl hendrix on April 3, 2017 at 10:58pm

OK-- I;LL EVEN PUT IN MY 2 CENTS WORTH HERE. IVE WORKED SEVERAL TIMES IN TX.. SOME ; ARE OUTSTANDING; INCLUDING THE HOUSTON AREA;; ALSO WORKED IN; AMERILLO ( UGH ) AND SAN PECOS ( ITS OK THERE ) BUT ; BY FAR; MY CHOICE WOULD BE;; CORPUS CHRISTY ;; HANDS DOWN !!! BEAUTIFUL AREA ! SALT WATER FISHING; AS WELL AS FRESH WATER;; GREAT PEOPLE TO !! BUT;; OF ALL THE STATES ; AND AREAS IVE HAD TO WORK IN AND AROUND;;; NOTHING BEATS; NASHVILLE TN AREA ! LIKE TX.;; ITS A;; NO STATE TAX STATE !! --- HOWEVER;; THEY WILL GET YOU ON ITEMS;; LIKE GAS;; GROCERIES ;; ETC !! JUST A FEW DAYS AGO; ON THE LOCAL NEWS-- IT WAS REPORTED; THAT AS MANY AS;; 82 PEOPLE; HAVE MOVED INTO THE NASHVILLE TN. AREA;; PER DAY !! FOR THE LAST- 2 YEARS ! FIGURE THAT UP !! AND;; THERE IS NO LET UP IN SIGHT ! THERE IS A GOOD REASON ; PEOPLE MOVE HERE !! WE;RE FRIENDLY PEOPLE;; GREAT FOOD;; COURTIOUS;; AND JUST DOWN RIGHT ---- SOUTHERN !!

Permalink Reply by chris kowaleski on April 6, 2017 at 7:02pm

Well, the tap water in Corpus Christi isn't safe to drink any more. haha. :-X

Permalink Reply by chris kowaleski on April 6, 2017 at 7:04pm

Living in San Marcos I often have to problem of not knowing where to fish because I have too many options. Lot's of good places to fly fish in the area, and tons of different species. But, it is a college town, and an area with alot of tourist traffic so on the weekends alot of spots are blown out on the weekends/during the weeks in the heat.

Permalink Reply by carl hendrix on April 6, 2017 at 10:18pm

CHRIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE IN THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN BUDDY ! YOU;VE BEEN GONE FOREVER IT SEEMS LIKE ! I THOUGHT A ARMIDILLO TOOK YOU AWAY ;; LOL !!

Permalink Reply by JBplusThuy on April 7, 2017 at 3:52pm

Those armadillos are vicious ;-)

Now that's a problem I'd like to have, too many options on where to fish :D

My wife's not too high on moving again, but if California continues on its present trajectory, she may change her mind LOL. Will probably be taken a vacation this summer to Carlsbad Caverns and the New Braunfels area, so will get to see it for myself. People also say I should camp at least a night at Aransas, down by Corpus Christi. Will probably give that a shot.