qmccharlie

If you look at the above picture of all the rods, you can see that the type of line determined the rod choice and the bait choice, most likely with few exceptions. First, for baitcasters, as a general rule, consider the line and the bait. A softer rod and line for a faster moving bait, a less softer rod and line for a slower moving bait. For example, for big cranks and spinner baits, use a long, more willowy rod which will serve to hook the fish, braid with a leader is probably the way to go. For pitching, flipping, slop stuff, use a heavier line and a heavier rod, get a fast tip. Use spinning gear for smaller baits, jigs, drop-shots, in line spinners, small worms, follow the same general pattern, fast bait more willowy, slow bait faster tip. You don't have to spend a lot of money on willowy rods, a lot of folks use glass rods for large baits. You do have to spend a lot of money for more sensitive rods, a hundred bucks is about the starting price point for the good stuff. Try this, one heavy weight baitcaster rod as long as you can stand for flipping and pitching with a heavy line. One heavy rod or medium heavy baitcaster for throwing big baits, this one can be glass or relatively inexpensive. One medium speed, medium flex spinning rod for stuff like in line spinners, small crank baits, etc. One lightweight spinning rod for stuff like jigs and grubs, drop shots, small moving soft stuff. Double, triple, quadruple your setups as you find you need them. There are bargains out there, but it is hard to beat Shimano and Daiwa for tough reels and their customer service and repair seem to be pretty good. For rods, it is hard to beat Berkeley for cheap ones; Fenwick(which is also Berkeley), St. Croix, Shimano and many others for medium priced; high priced rods you will get what you pay for or actually what you are feeling for in rod action. Storage on the deck, etc, can be an issue for longish rods. If you look above, you wonder where the fisherman is going to stand to throw all those baits. Overall, I catch the most largemouth on large soft plastics with spinnerbaits a close second, crankbaits are situation specific. Smallmouth, Senkos and everything else is second place. You are on your own with Walleye as there are about three of them in Virginia and I don't know where they live. I suppose if you intend to troll for Walleye, then you may troll for trout, so there can't be that much difference in the setups other than trout are bigger than Walleye in the Great Lakes. Overall, line type seems to me to be a much larger factor than the rods and reels, there is some stuff that work better with mono, with flouro and with braid, so maybe you should revise you question in that direction. It's raining and I am the only one awake so I thought I would give you an answer, best of luck.

I have found that the digital technology is a great battery saver. So, whatever thrust you decide, my advice is to get the digital. My batteries, 24 series Cabela's AGMs last much longer with the digital Motorguide than they did with the analog Motorguide.

Surf around and learn the manufacturer date code for the tire you buy. Even if a tire is new the shelf life is the same five or six years whether its on a trailer or not. If you Google tire sidewalls then you will find the code for the ages of tires. You would be surprised at the number of old tires sitting around and still sold as new. Take care, trailer tires are basically junk but the Goodyears seem better than most.

Me too, I will be up in August at the same resort. The lake is deep in spots and has a lot of shoreline. Throw three and four inch grubs, four inch senkos, they both work. There are a lot of smallmouth in this lake. There are also some decent pike, walleye and a number of panfish. The rock bass are pretty big and are good to eat. There are also some scattered largemouth. The fishing is good and there does not seem to be much pressure on the lake. The walleye minimum is about 20 inches. I have fished about ten percent of the lake and have caught plenty of fish beating the banks. The lake is big enough that a map is in order to find your way around and be careful, there are some unmarked shallow rock piles here and there which need to be avoided. Have had some luck with Mepps in the coves but have stuck to grubs the majority of the time I have fished there. It can be considered a good lake for smallmounth. Have caught a ton of little fish and a few big ones in the mix. Much of the lake is deep, have not been to the dam, but am hoping to head down near it in August. Never took the trip down, which is actually up, to Centennial, never needed to, there were fish all around. This lake is completely different from Norcan, which is the next lake downriver. Norcan is shallow and the pike are small, but Black Donald has way more smallies and the pike are much larger. There are legends of muskie, but have not seen any. It is deep and rocky. There was no current where I have fished, but it might be worth your while to be somewhere in the current if they are making electricity at the power station, but I don't know. I will definitely be drifting the channel in August to see what it holds. Cannot wait. Have not fished any of the deep spots at all, but there may be a reason to if the weather gets hot. For tackle, I take mostly all spinning rods and do a lot of dead sticking with the various baits. Colors are the greens, pumpkinseed and watermelon. Line is Stren and Power Pro in six pound test and diameter. Fish slow, bites are very light on the plastics, so keep an eye on your line. I did throw some DT-6 baits in fire tiger and also caught a few on that bait. For specific areas, I have fished the little islands to the left of the White Pines and have caught fish on them, also fished down the bank to the right and done well. If you head north, there are a couple of islands and coves that hold fish. There is a large stream near the top of the lake that held a good number of fish after a rain. Let me know how you did, it would be interesting to here. You want to hope for a west wind and some cloud cover, like everywhere else a bluebird sky and east wind will spoil the fihing.

1. Jig with pumpkinseed grub. 2. Mann's Baby 1- Grey Ghost. 3. Booyah 3/8 ounce spinnerbait, black, red and white skirt, copper blade and silver blade. 4. Bomber Model A in Baby Bass Color 5. Mepps Aglia, Silver Blade, White skirt.

I have a square bag for mine, got in on the internet and it was only about fifteen dollars. Works great.

I had a sore elbow for years, but have solved the problem. The doctor had me squeeze a rubber ball or one of the bean balls that they make for it to exercise your fingers, etc. I sit in the car and work the ball when I am driving. It will take the sting out in a few weeks. I have been doing it for a long time and have not had a recurrance of the problem. Like everyone else says, go see a doc to make sure it is only tendonitis. If it is tendonitis then the rubber ball will help to tone up the muscles and tendons that are causing the problem.

For Trout, lite and ultra lite 6.5 foot Cabelas IM7s, labeled fast but they are willowy. I got a good deal with the Cabela's rod and Shimano reel packages. For Bass 6.5 and 7 foot Med, fast for grubs and Mepps, slower tips for crank baits and worms. The 7 footers do not seem as sensitive as the shorter rods. All my bait casters are 6.5 feet and are right hand crank. All my spinning rods are left hand crank. I have no idea why I set up that way, but after 53 years, that is just the way it is. For Pike, 6.5 and 7 Foot Med Hvys, fast action, I hate when big baits put a big bow in the rod. The line is much more important than the rod, I use mono for the cranks and worms and the high tech lines for the rest of the stuff. Trout are all mono. I buy the lightest rods I can afford, All Star Graphite and St Croix sometimes are available at the fishing shows. Cabela's and BassPro frequently have sales, I have two Pfluegers that I got a BassPro for a song. I don't know anything about trolling or fly fishing, none of the lakes I fish present the opportunity to do that. Hope that helps.