Spirit of Moonpie and I spent the 26th through the 27th on the Nottoway below Delaware. Air temps ranged from 67 to 93 degrees and the water was 84 degrees. Trash was non-existent. I picked up one can! I was pleased not to find a single abandoned limb line. The local Conservation Police Officers for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries are doing a good job prosecuting offenders and keeping our rivers safe.

The fishing on this trip was terrible. Water temperature at 84 and stagnant with no flow equals a sad river. When we get these conditions the river just gets nasty. There is not enough outward flow on the lower river to flush out the accumulated nastiness. It goes out a little bit then the tide just brings it back. Back and forth it goes and so the nastiness just compounds. Maybe we will get enough rain this weekend for the river to take a good dump.

I did do fairly well on the flyrod catching bream, but most were real small. In fact, I caught one that was exactly as big around as a quarter.

Moonpie Critter Patrol got to see a couple of bald eagles, one at Point Seine Beach and one near the Bronco Club. We also saw a couple of beaver; a giant hawk and an osprey were the standouts.

We also deployed our bright yellow river shell with the Blackwater Nottoway Riverkeeper logo on it. It was placed downriver from the VDGIF ramp at Delaware. So we have one in the Blackwater and one in the Nottoway. If you find it, contact me.

Sorry for the short report, but a short trip means that’s what you get. Weather people screwed it up again. When I left it was not suppose to storm till Friday afternoon. Then Thursday they changed it and said it was going to storm that night and Friday morning, so I came in. Now it did not storm Thursday night and not supposed to storm ‘till Friday afternoon. Oh well, I guess it’s better to be safe than electrocuted 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.