Many if not most of us have a favorite game fish. For me it's the smallmouth bass, with trout coming in second. But sometime during the year, I will also go after largemouths, stripers, catfish and various species of panfish. Virginia Game & Fish's annual fishing calendar tries to satisfy the angling needs of folks who have a favorite fish and those who are generalists. Here are some bodies of water that you may want to visit this year.

JANUARY
Panfish: Gardy's Millpond
Gardy's Millpond, a 75-acre impoundment in the Northern Neck, may just be the destination for those Tidewater anglers looking for some wintertime panfish action. Scott Herrmann, Region 1, District 1 fisheries biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), notes that over the last few electrofishing surveys biologists have conducted, the body of water has consistently produced redear sunfish up to 10 inches in length with the majority of fish in the 7- to 9-inch range.

Herrmann adds that the lake's bluegill population is making a slow comeback from the lake drawdown that occurred a few years back when repairs were made on the dam. A 2008 survey showed that the bluegills experienced a very successful spawn in 2007, and those are the fish that will be prime catching size this year. The same survey showed some larger bluegills still present, with some fish ranging in size up to 8.5 inches.

FEBRUARY
Chain Pickerel: Lake Moomaw
When I earned my driver's license, some childhood chums and I fanatically pursued chain pickerel in creeks in Roanoke and Craig counties. Then and -- unfortunately -- now, many people look upon chain pickerel as inferior game fish. Well, that attitude might change if you have the chance to tangle with the 3-pound-plus pickerel that lurk in 2,530-acre Lake Moomaw in the northwestern part of the state.

Last winter, Jerry Paitsel of Alleghany County and I went fishing on Moomaw, and Jerry landed one pickerel that easily topped 20 inches. Pickerel are one of the few species that consistently feed throughout the winter. And making them even more appealing is the fact that they will also move to shallow flats, even when the water temperature is less than 40 degrees.

Paitsel and I were targeting smallmouth bass that day, but few folks should complain about a game fish that strikes as savagely as a pickerel does or that slugs it out with such desperation. When the Jackson River was impounded to form Moomaw, many anglers felt that the river's native population of pickerel would not do well in making the transition to a new environment. Happily, that prediction has proved to be false.

MARCH
Crappie: Lake Gaston
South-central Virginia's Lake Gaston is primarily known for two reasons: its big largemouth bass and omnipresent boat docks. For years, tournament anglers have conducted milk runs based on those two traits of the 20,300-acre impoundment.

But if you're neither a tournament angler nor interested in run-and-gun style fishing, then you might want to pick out several docks to camp out on this month and angle for crappie. Given its location in one of the warmer areas of the Old Dominion, Gaston is often one of the first lakes to turn on in the early spring. And a dock with a few sunken brushpiles or cedar bundles in the vicinity may just be magnets for the tasty crappie.

APRIL
Drum : Chesapeake Bay
Carter Shewbridge of the Virginia Beach Fishing Center says that April of 2009 produced excellent numbers of black drum and very good numbers of red drum and that this spring should be another banner year.