Howdy! Long time lurker and first time poster. 

 

Intro on myself: I've had a fishing rod in hand for as long as I can remember—I tell my wife that it's likely I came out of the womb with one in hand (our first-born, 4 months old now, did too). I grew up with a dad that prioritized fishing over most other things; we fished the everglades (both salt and fresh) on a weekly basis, took trips offshore to scratch the big game saltwater bug often and as I grew older, the general fishing bug has never left. After high school, I decided that I wanted to make fishing a career and had the opportunity to mate/deck on multiple sportfishing outfits that traveled the east coast and Caribbean. Eventually, one of the outfits led me to California where I decided to shift from the vagabond life and move into the marketing space. It's there that kayak fishing and the swimbait bug bit me. I had the opportunity to fish the SoCal lakes that I'd read about in books: Dixon, DVL, Hodges, Castaic, Perris, Clear Lake, etc and fished multiple kayak tournaments with the SoCal Kayak Anglers club. Fast Forward to 2020 and my now wife and I decided to pack up and head back east, landing here in Richmond. Since our arrival, I've been again been bit by a new bug: river smallmouth and tidal largemouth.

 

Shifting to now: When I'm not tied to raising a new-born or working a demanding job, I'm running up-river from Richmond in my little jet sled for smallmouth, picking away at the tidal largemouth fishery nearby (James, Chick, Pamunkey, etc) or trying to figure out these VA lakes (Chesdin, Chick lake, Lake Anna, SML, etc). I've had good success learning the ins-and-outs of river smallies through all seasons, of note, the need to throw a ned rig when nothing else works, but have recently shifted my goals to getting back into honing my largemouth fishing skills and finding a club to join (and ideally a few tournaments to fish).

 

Moving forward: I'm looking forward to sharing any knowledge that I gain with the crew here and in return, will absolutely be using this space as a resource to learn and connect with others. I've recently thrown my hat into the co-angler bucket for two BFL Piedmont series tournaments (SML and James River), but looks like I've been booted to a waiting list. I'd love to figure out a few other opportunities for tournament fishing as a co-angler while I'm still looking into upgrading my non-tournament rig.

 

A few questions:

• Anyone in the area need a fishing buddy? Happy to throw in for gas and bad jokes.
• Are there other series that I should be looking into locally?

 

Cheers and looking forward to connecting with y'all and learning the ways of the bass.    

Shoot me a message if you want to fish! If you are still into kayak fishing you should check out NVKBA & VKT. Both very well ran kayak fishing tournament trails here.  

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource  ~

Nice Intro.

A-Jay 

@Scott804 - Appreciate the warm welcome. Always open to new fishing buds and exploring new territory—will shoot you a message.

@Scott804 - Scratch that, looks like I can't PM people yet. Maybe because I'm a new member? Can you send one my way?

Welcome to Bass Resources ?

 

I'm a VA resident as well but on the west side.

I hit Anna 3 times a year, an all-time favorite big lake in the state but 2 hr drive.

 

Welcome aboard. Sounds like you may be bringing quite a bit of knowledge with you. ?

@Bird - I make it out west quite often with my wife's family in Roanoke (and a general need to scratch a musky bug). Are you fishing the New? Love the section between Radford and Eggleston for targeting big number smallmouth days and Musky.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome @GaryH!

welcome aboard.  While central VA doesn't have the monsters as some other places it does have variety and decent fish of many types.  I fish out of a kayak and primarily hit the James but also hit a bunch of the lakes within about an hour drive.  

4 minutes ago, TheKurrent said:

@Bird - I make it out west quite often with my wife's family in Roanoke (and a general need to scratch a musky bug). Are you fishing the New? Love the section between Radford and Eggleston for targeting big number smallmouth days and Musky.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome @GaryH!

I'm retired and fish all over the state of VA and WV. 

The wife and I camp at various lakes each year, Smith mountain and Philpott are her favorites.

I live right on the north fork of the Shenandoah and not far from the south fork.

That's where I target Smallmouth.

 

Oh, my oldest daughter lives in Roanoke.

Hello and welcome to the forum.

River smallies rule!  I don't live too far from you, probably 40mins depending on which part of Richmond you live in.  I primarily target smallies myself, welcome!

Welcome welcome! Bass resource is a great place to be.

I too live just outside of Richmond.

I primarily fish the Pamunkey and Chickahominy Rivers.

Tidal Largemouth are a blast to catch in our local river systems.

I've been wanting to small mouth fish the New River, just haven't carved out the details and planned the trip yet.

Looking forward to having you on board!

@Sam has recommended local anglers to tournament clubs in the past if i'm not mistaken.

Good luck and happy fishing!

Hello from the Sunshine State of Florida.

Welcome!

Welcome to the forums!

Welcome!

Welcome aboard, fellow Virginian!

Hello @TheKurrent from Northern California, welcome to Bass Resource and the Forums!

Welcome to Bass Resource!

Welcome @TheKurrent ! I'm always down for a trip if you ever want to go somewhere west of Richmond. I'm near Charlottesville and fish almost all of the local waters. Would like to spend more time on the James but am usually chasing bass, crappie and catfish in the local reservoirs, lakes and streams.

Great having you with us.

Welcome to the Forum.

Howdy back!

@wasabi_VA - thanks for the welcome! What would you consider the local waters for Cville? Would love to get out more out west on the reservoirs / lakes.

Hi, Kurrent. Virginia is beautiful. I walked across it on the Appalachian Trail and always wanted to live there since.