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Spirit of Moonpie and I spent April 1-3 on the Nottoway below Courtland. The water was high at 9.88 on the Sebrell USGS gauge, fast, clear and 64 degrees. Trash was terrible, but I was expecting that after I got Norfolk Southern to clear that logjam at the train trestle. I picked up four bags full and one huge piece of Styrofoam. They were heavy bags too, lots of glass. Thank you, Rhett and Johnnie Ray, for helping me with that stuff. There is still a lot more trash to get up there.

The shad fishing started out slow, but the second day was fantastic for about two hours. About noon I really started catching them. I was using a three-inch Blue Back stick bait and tearing them up. I called JR and got him to come out and wouldn’t you know it, they practically stopped biting. We still caught a few, but it was not like earlier in the day. Oh well, that’s kind of how shad fishing is. I also did pretty good on a fluorescent orange Dardevle, a two-inch Fire Tiger Rapala, a chrome mini Big O and a red mini Big O-type lure. That was really fun catching them on those lures. I think all total the count was about 60 shad, only one American. I did not try for any other species of fish.

So, it was a really fun trip except for the pollen. I felt like I was in a banana boat by the time I left on the third day. Everything was yellow on the two rivers we call the Nottoway and Blackwater.

Jeff Turner is the Blackwater Nottoway RiverGuard. To contact him about river issues, send him an email at blknotkpr@earthlink.net. He can also be followed on the Blackwater Nottoway RiverGuard Facebook page. Search for “Blackwater Nottoway RiverGuard” on Facebook.