lakeannaangler

Very late to the party here but just wanted to see how everyone else has been doing on the river. I live just a couple minutes from the town of Shenandoah and fish there all the time. Egypt Bend has been producing well and floating from Island Ford to Elkton or Elkton to Shenandoah have been getting lots of numbers.

Scored a KVD tour casting rod (MSRP 150) for $31

Can you please let me know how you like the elite. I have a tec spec black and love it and I was looking at getting a elite for a jig rod

This and the zoom tiny chunk

Also some saltwater including dolphin, wahoo, red drum, and other small species. I love fishing for Spanish mackerel when I go on vacation. Also caught sharks . Other freshwater species include yellow perch, catfish , stripers, hybrids, muskies, snakehead, many species of trout ,and any and all panfish. My family and I are going out on a charter boat on the Chesapeake bay on Saturday fishing for big stripers.

Catch New PB Catch another citation smallmouth Catch a 50" muskie( highly doubt it's going to happen in VA) Start saving for a bass boat Donate gear to local kids

Depending on your budget I could recommend a few different rods for you. For $50 you could get a 7 foot medium heavy lightning rod shock. It's rated as fast but it fishes more like a mod fast . For $100 look at the dobyns fury 734. For $150 I can recommend the iRod Genesis 2 7' 2" stone cold swim jig/ vibrating jig rod

TFO lists their Mag heavy rod as being two power above the listing , for example a Mag heavy would be like a XX heavy

Ugly stik catfish rod with a Swedish made Abu ambassador

I would use the winch for crankbaits and the rocket for flipping/pitching or topwater/jerkbaits

The faster the reel the better for jerkbaits and topwaters

I think a reel with a lower gear ratio will reduce fatigue significantly. Look for something like a 5.4:1 or something similar

This^^

Spinner baits are good but my favorite baits for snake heads are hollow belly frogs like the booyah pad crasher fished in heavy grass.

Most of the time for crappie you just kind of reel into the fish while lifting the rod tip