Spirit of Moonpie and I spent the 8th through the 10th on the Nottoway below the Bronco Club. The water was clear and 56 degrees, air temps ranged from 37 to 65 degrees.

I saw very little trash and saw no water quality issues. The river is choked with leaves, but that’s Mother Nature’s trash and except for the fact it makes it hard to fish, there ain’t a thing I can do about that one!

The fishing on this trip was fair for casting and poor for catfishing. I caught a nice jack and 5 bass casting using a Mepps Minnow. I caught some speckle, bream and a shell cracker jigging a blade bait in 17 feet of water. Catfishing using limb lines was poor. I caught a total of 6 catfish the whole trip and none were more than 2 pounds. A friend of mine was also fishing for cats, and he did not do great either, so it was not just me.

It really did not matter too much though. It was a beautiful trip weather wise and the fall colors from the Lord’s palette on the trees out there were spectacular. I would say they are peaking as of this writing. I highly recommend a fall boat ride to check it out.

This trip did not start out so well for us. I believe for the first time ever I put the boat in the water without the plug in. Luckily as soon as I launched I realized my mistake. Well, it startled me so badly that in total disregard for the fact that I’m partially paralyzed, I tried to quickly get in the boat, which did not work, and I instantly fell in the 8-inch deep water. Moonpie did not know what the heck was going on and was hollering something about my agility.

I finally got in the boat and luckily I have an automatic bilge pump that was already pumping water. So that helped me get the plug back in and I pumped the couple gallons of river water out of the boat. That turned out okay except I was now wet up to my elbows. Luckily it was not all that cold. I have since come up with a new procedure so that issue will not happen ever again.

Strangely, I notice I have to keep on coming up with “new procedures” lately. It seems to stem from a lack of mental capability associated with my age. I guess the older I get the more “new procedures” will be required to keep Moonpie and myself going out on the two rivers we call the Nottoway and Blackwater.

JEFF TURNER is the Blackwater/Nottoway Riverkeeper. He can be reached at blknotkpr@earthlink.net.