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Spirit of Moonpie and I spent April 17-19 on the Nottoway below the Bronco Club. The water was high at 1.73 on the Riverdale USGS gauge, fast and 59 degrees. Air temps ranged from 47 to 79 degrees, a bit warm to be in the woods for me and Moonpie… she oozes when it’s that hot! Trash was ’bout as bad as I have ever seen it on that part of the river, but that’s because we have had so much high water recently. I saw no water quality issues. 

I am worried something has happened to the nesting pair of eagles upriver from the Bronco Club. I never saw any of the adults the entire three days I was out there. I also thought the nest looked kind of shabby. I glassed the nest but didn’t see anybody home. I hope I just wasn’t there at the right time and that they are OK. 

The fishing on this trip was fantastic, for largemouth bass, anyway. I tried the stripers but could not really fish for them because of those pesky white perch. I couldn’t get my blade bait to the bottom without catching a white perch. I could have caught a thousand, I reckon. So, I gave up on that and tried the pre-spawn stick trick with the bass. I was glad I did. I reckon I caught 20 largemouth up to three pounds, all on the Rogue stick bait, meticulously working it very shallow. It was a lot of fun. I even caught one three-pounder when my line was over a tree limb, which was good, actually, as it kept the lure in the bed or soon-to-be bed. The bass, aggravated by the flipping flopping Rogue, finally got mad and tore into the lure. It struck so hard it pulled the line off the tree limb. That was pretty wild; it’s a technique I usually perform accidentally, hhaaaa. 

So, it was a great trip again, no back problems, thank the Lord. I don’t think I’m going to get many more land-based trips this spring as it seems to be getting pretty hot rather early this year. I reckon I better chase the wasps out of the pontoon boat and get her ready to get out 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.