Hampton Roads area panfishing

I have been away from this forum site for a while and now moved to/stationed in VA. With the saltwater season coming to a close, I wanted to try some freshwater panfishing. I love eating crappie, white, and yellow perch, despite the fact that I still have some striper fillets in the freezer.
I have a 13' Ocean Kayak Trident with 4 fishing rod holders+ 3 storage holders. I still have dozen- hundreds of beetlespins, roadrunners, crappie tubes, baby shads/ other small panfish plastics from my SC and MD fishing days.

Are crappie caught all winter consistently?
How is Lake Smith crappie fishing- it's like 8 minute drive from my house?
When could I expect the perch spawning run in NW and North Landing River?

What are some other good bodies of water within an hour drive of Norfolk?

Will crappie bite gudgeons- the saltwater flounder bait? I can trap them near the house. I figure they can survived in freshwater.

Panfish can be caught year round in our area. All of the Suffolk water supply reservoirs hold good populations of crappie, bluegill, shellcracker and yellow perch. Western Branch is probably your best bet if you want white perch. Smith can be really good for crappie, but I haven't caught any other panfish of any size there. The yellow perch have probably already started to show in the rivers, but not likely in any great numbers. January, February and March are your best bets for those. Also, many of the creeks that dump into Back Bay can also hold fish year round and would be ideal for your kayak. Good luck!

I second what he said.

Smith is a great Lake to hit. Shallow and small lake. I have been doing very well slow trolling blue ice jigs and have caught many large bass and very large catfish. Personally caught crappie to 2.2 lb, bass to 7 lbs and catfish to 44lbs this year. All while fishing for crappie on 4 lb test. Have seen many 10Lb+ bass caught, including a 12 pounder. There are some decent bluegill and even some shell cracker in there as well. I fish it often as I live 10 minutes away. I fish from a red johnboat with Yamaha 9.9. If you see me, cmon over and I can show you some good areas.

I caught some large crappie on little creek base if you want to see my pics they are on the fishbrain app and I'm hookedonbluegill on it. And west neck creek I have caught some large yellow perch and white perch on it. And large bluegill as well. Also Northlanding river is good as well for all of the above.