Thinking of moving to MN...

[AlphaPlex20]

My wife and i have been thinking on this for some time now.  We are looking to move somewhere with a more robust winter.  We do not know anyone in MN and currently live in SW MI.  We love MI; however, the winters are hit or miss.  It seems like we have been having 2 good years followed by 2 very very bad years when it comes to ice.  I am an avid waterfowler and ice fishermen so being near these opportunities is very important to me.  Obviously i would never uproot my family and move without some forethought or a plan.  We recently sold our house and are renting until this summer.  I wanted to get some input from this community while we do some research and look for potential jobs.  My wife and I have (1) son who is 1.5yrs old.  We also hold good jobs with a pharma company, Perrigo, where we are both QA technicians.  Our employer has a facility in Minneapolis that we could potentially transfer to; however, we are not opposed to finding new jobs under the assumption we could come close to what we make now.  I have been scoping out Warroad and love the idea of being so close to LOTW.  Any and all input would be welcome.  I know this is a very general post on a fishing forum, but i love this site and have always found this community to be helpful.  Thank you in advance!

[E Z turn]

Grand Rapids and Bemidji areas along with Duluth have a lot to offer. If your interest is in Lakes and Rivers check out the Minnesota DNR site
Good luck.

[dugan127]

We are also thinking of moving to Minnesota for the same reasons. We live in Buffalo Ny and the winters here are either tons of snow,(8'  at time), or no snow (this year). We finally got sledding yesterday for the first time and no icefishing yet. We are looking more near the  Minneapolis areas for the jobs and schools. There seems to be a number of lakes in the area, is there any good fishing either ice or open water? The closest real lake we can get on is about 45 minutes at least so it would be nice to have a lake closer.

[Hard_H2O]

Great ice fishing and winter sports opportunities pretty much throughout the state.

Same for open water fishing.

Jobs are similar to most states. My wife is a pharmacist. She works the insurance side. Retail there are pharmacy jobs available statewide I assume. My wife has not worked retail pharmacy in several years. There are other opportunities in pharma type positions mainly in the twin cities. Not so much outstate. Probably be tough finding such employment in Warroad. Nice thing about MN is everything is withing a days drive. Even Canada and LOTW from the twin cities.

Good Luck.

[thorson]

Check out Otter Tail County, in West central MN  We moved here 18 months ago and love it!

[flylinemt]

We moved back 2 years ago from Montana, We where out there for 25 years , it was time to come back home. Ive got more fishing in a hundred mile radius than i will ever be able to explore in my life time. We moved an hour from the Fargo , Moorehead area. I comute weekdays. Seems like this area has been booming for a long time.

[AlphaPlex20]

Thank you everyone for the responses.  We are looking in the areas suggested above for available jobs and homes to get an idea of what to expect.  And as far as work goes, we dont necessarily have to stay in the pharma industry; i am a plastic injection mold maker by trade and have managed a GM dealership and owned my own business.  I am open for a new adventure and experience, but i am not opposed to sticking with what i know; although, I have been in the pharmaceutical industry for about 10yrs now. 

I really liked the Otter Tail area.  That seemed to be a good area for waterfowl too. 

Keep the suggestions coming, any help is greatly appreciated.  Im kind of scratching my head wondering why i have never lived in MN!  Seems like my home land. 

[stout93]

I'm in central MN and if you are wanting a good winter you're going to have to go way more north. We've had a mild winter to say the least, actually last year was just as bad. It poured rain on Christmas day which is unheard of. It rained last night when we were out ice fishing, nothing worse than fishing in the rain during winter. The only nice thing was that it was mid 30s out. This week is going to be upper 30s and maybe hit 50 by next weekend. That's 50 degrees in the middle of February, unbelievable. We shouldn't be at 50 degrees for another 40-50 more days. And forget about snow, it's all gone. We've had maybe 2 "big snow storms" this year. The current definition of "big snow storm" is 3-4 inches. I just bought a new sled last fall and have got about 6 hours on it this winter and don't anticipate any more. This is a far cry from the winters we had 20-30 years ago...

[Kopower]

Maybe check the Grand Rapids area? It is a little bigger city, about 3 1/2 hours north of MPLS, but close to a lot of great fishing lakes, summer and winter. Might have more opportunities for work too.

[littlepineguy]

For an outdoorsman, it's tough to beat Ottertail county.  Deer, ducks, turkeys, occasional pheasants, and something like 1,100 lakes.  Some great golf as well if you get into that. Biggest thing is probably the size city in which you're looking to settle, as that may well dictate the economic opportunities for your family.  Like others have said, everything is an easy drive up here (as long as you steer clear of the 494/694 ring!).

[AlphaPlex20]

I really like Ottertail county from the looks of it.  Seems like a good fit.  We will have to do some research and take a deeper look at the area and the state as a whole.  Uprooting my family will obviously be a large undertaking, but we have been preparing.  Maybe a spring trip might be warranted soon.  My wife is excited at the idea of move to MN; however, their are many challenges that await us if this is to come to fruition.  We will just have to cross our fingers and hope we can find a good solution that makes a move logical for us.  Work will be the hardest part.  Walking away from what we have will not be easy; especially since we enjoy our jobs.  Maybe its time for an adventure. 

[thorson]

The crappies are biting come on out now!

[Reinert]

I'm in the same boat! My youngest son is graduating next spring and my girlfriend and I decided to go make a new start up north.I'm a welder and the Roseau area is looking really good if I can get work at Polaris.life can be painfully short so a move to better fishing makes sense to me.