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

Lews tournament my off eBay for 110 dollars, multiple gear ratios and left handed options. I'm in the left handed club as well

I second kickerfish1 for looking at majorcraft rods.

For baits like shad rap 5 and original floaters I use a ML spinning rod with a 25 size reel and 10lb braid with a 10 foot long 8lb fluorocarbon leader

The rig is the Alabama rig and the vault is a blade bait made by damiki

I use a ml/xf spinning rod with 10lb braid and a 8lb leader for 4in easy shiners on jigheads with a open hook.

I don't even think about throwing topwater in the winter. Last year there was one exception , the water temp was warmer than normal for the time of year and I was fishing a popper super slow . One pop then let it sit for about a minute repeat. I caught 1 fish.

Slick jiggah, pretty appropriate since I love fishing with jigs

My home town (Elkton VA) is a small town about an hour from Charlottesville and the people here are really nice. I live in the country so my neighbors always help me and I help them . North and South Carolina are also really laid back, the worst has to be Florida in the Orlando/Tampa Bay Area.

I could play rummy all night, my grandpa taught me to play and we would play every Sunday all night. He could tell you what everyone has while you where playing. BS is fun also , and another one of my favorites is scum and fish (not real name but I can never remember what it's really called). In fish you try to get 4 of a kind or a straight then you have to signal your partner and your partner has to scream fish.

Last week I was in my kayak fishing the pools below fast current when a bear started swimming across the river and almost ran into me. That was pretty scary. Then there is deer, raccoons, opossums, skunks, wild dogs, coyotes and snakes. Yesterday my brother was outside practicing with his squirrel call and all of a sudden a whole pack of coyotes started howling back at him.