Woods & Waters Magazine

02/11/2024

W2 Pro Team members Brian Green and Aaron Ball enjoying the start of muzzleloader season. Green’s first buck in 20 years!

02/11/2024

Good luck and be safe out there today! Let’s see those bucks!

31/10/2024

Our November edition is packed with hunting and fishing adventures and information! Our cover story is a special Destination File on our return to the North Maine Woods for grouse camp at Ross Lake Camps, Inc., some 11 years after our last visit. Deer hunters will enjoy our visit with DWR's Katie Martin who provided an insightful look at this year's acorn crop and how it affects deer season. We also have a prediction for the upcoming waterfowl seasons for all you duck hunters! W2 Pro Team member Noah Peters Fishing helped us out with an article on the often over looked Roanoke Rapids Reservoir. Smith Mountain Lake striper fishing has been very good this summer and fall and we focus on that great Virginia fishery with an interview with Chad Gilmore of the Smith Mountain Lake Striper Club. River smallmouth guide Chris Gorsuch of Reel River Adventures shares some fascinating observations about fishing the annual fall rise. There's all that plus, Brian Boog's Small Waters piece on Chickahominy Lake, Kate Ahnstrom's Winged Wisdom and Steve Chaconas' Hook, Line & Thinker piece on the new regulations on forward facing sonar in the national tournament circuits. Pick up a copy at your local outdoor retailer or click https://woodsandwatersmagazine.com/ -df_4687/1/ to read the online edition!

31/10/2024

Interesting change coming for the South Anna River. Kayak and canoe anglers should be seeing some new species in this small river not far from Ashland.

Heavy machinery is used to dismantle a dam on the South Anna River in Ashland, VA, on Oct. 1. Removing the dam gives several species of fish access to more than 400 miles of historic spawning grounds.

The environmental studies professor can’t help but whoop when he rounds the corner to see heavy machinery demolishing a dam that has blocked fish passage for more than a century.

“I love that,” Charles “Chas” Gowan hollers over a barrage of hydraulic hammering.

Gowan works at Randolph-Macon College a few miles from this stretch of the South Anna River in Ashland, VA. He’s been waiting a long time for this dam that once ran a mill to be removed. So has Alan Weaver, fish passage coordinator for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, who’s monitored fish species here for more than 30 years.

To hear them tell it, species like hickory shad, American shad and striped bass have been knocking at the door of this dam for years, waiting for its removal to open up more than 400 miles of historic spawning grounds. Weaver has seen similar species venture to the upper reaches of the Rappahannock River since the even larger Embrey Dam was removed in 2004, and he’s confident they’ll see similar results here.

📸 Whitney Pipkin

30/10/2024

New at Fishing Pro Tech this month are two excellent fall baits from Strike King: their Tour Grade vibrating jig and two sizes of the Hybrid Hunter crankbait.

29/10/2024

As we prepare for the rut and the start of blackpowder season, we wanted to wish everyone good luck! Our annual Big Buck Contest runs through January 15. All you have to do is post your pic here or email it to us at [email protected]. Our winner can count on a $50 Green Top Sporting Goods gift card and some great W2 swag. Some of you and your harvests will even be featured in our annual Buck Tails article! Photo of John Hofmeyer of Tomahund Marine and his award-winning buck from last season.

29/10/2024

Guy Crittenden artwork kiosk at Green Top Hunt Fish is yet another great gift option for sportsmen and women as we head into the holiday season.

26/10/2024

W2 Pro Team member and Shenandoah River guide Lonnie Conner reports the Shenadoah River is now in the 50s and smallmouth fishing is hot! You can read his Regional Focus Report in each edition of Woods & Waters Magazine.

23/10/2024

Share your harvest pics if want to possibly be featured on the December edition cover of Woods & Waters Magazine. We know it's been hot out there but if you harvested a nice buck, let's see if it's cover worthy! We'll award you one of our new W2 tees and sticker if we choose your photo.

21/10/2024

Great idea, Andy Lavin!

Don’t forget to join us! We plan on this being and awesome event for the anglers and community!
Let your non fishing family and friends know to drop by, this is also a full day toy drive event!
Get signed up,
https://www.fomntt.com/pageflow.cfm?callpage=eventdetail&schid=9636&divid=50&divname=Virginia%20East%20-%20Classic

17/10/2024

The video from our trip to Maine is up
on the W2 YouTube channel. Hope it brings you a smile and inspires you to join us in a future year.

A video detailing a fall grouse hunting trip to the North Maine Woods.

17/10/2024

Like bird hunting or want to know more about it? Here’s a great opportunity with a new chapter of the Ruffed Grouse & American Woodcock society organizing in central Virginia’s Orange County.

16/10/2024

Our December cover is pretty special because we like to feature a reader and a deer they harvested. If you dropped a good one so far this season, post it here as a Comment or email it to us at [email protected] and we'll see about getting you a cover shot!

12/10/2024

This special pheasant shoot at Rose Hill Game Preserve is filling up fast…

Don't miss out

11/10/2024

W2 Pro Team member Lonnie Conner says the Shenandoah River is on fire! He’s had two citations and numerous smallies over three pounds this week.

09/10/2024

Day 3 & 4 of Grouse Camp were highlighted by a beautiful 52-degree clear Monday with the discovery of a new Grouse Alley that produced 14 flushes. The hunt out day (today) started with 35-degrees, frost and a stunning sunrise but plenty of birds getting grit and multiple moose sightings. One of our Pro Team even dropped a double. Ross Lake Camps, Inc. is where we stayed and our hosts were wonderful. We had flush toilets and hot showers - a real luxury in the north Maine woods! We’ll feature the trip in our November edition.

06/10/2024

Day 2 of Grouse Camp 2024 brought a chilly morning rain that gave way to a cloudy, 45-degree afternoon. Flushed 17+ grouse and woodcock.

05/10/2024

Day 1 of Grouse Camp with Ross Lake Camps in the remote Maine North Woods saw 16 flushes and a limit for our young buck. Birdie, at just at a year-and-a-half is doing well, too.

01/10/2024

Impressive payout and year for James River Tackle Co Weekend Bass Series on the James River!

01/10/2024

Fishing Pro Tech is loaded up with new baits for you to try this fall including options from ZOOM, Yamamoto, Booyah, ZMan and IMA.

30/09/2024

Congratulations to Jillian Wingfield, part of the Ed Allen's Boats and Bait LLC crew on her harvest of this buck over Youth Deer Hunting Weekend. Anyone else have a harvest pic to share?

30/09/2024

Visitors to the Chickahominy region that stop at Adams Sports Mart for fuel, food and fishing/hunting supplies are often greeted warmly by this young lady proudly sporting her W2 tee while checking out our October edition!

30/09/2024

This weekend is the annual Green Top Sporting Goods Outdoor Expo and today we visited briefly with GT’s Glen Harper, who oversees much of the event. He noted the parking lot/store transformation has commenced to create the largest outdoor show in Virginia. Make plans to attend with the whole family and we promise you’ll be glad you did!