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Spirit of Moonpie and I spent May 18-20 on the Blackwater below Franklin. The water was a tiny bit high, a little murky, very fast and 71 degrees. Air temps ranged from 57 to 83 degrees. I saw no water quality issues, and trash was light. I did pick up a bag of trash that ended up being quite interesting. Enough so I cannot talk about it, and suffice to say, it was a significant enough find that some detectives from a police department came and collected it from me. I will elaborate possibly at a later date.

The fishing on this trip was pretty good. I caught plenty of bait easily enough. I caught three catfish the first night and two the second night. All were like three pounds. I caught a few bass and jacks also casting, but by the second day, all that new water from upriver was upon me and the fishing for bass kind of dropped off. 

I checked on the eagles at the Cherry Grove nesting site. I’m happy to report I saw two juveniles in the nest. They looked like they will be hopping about in a very few days. They were huge. I also saw two adults near the Pretlow Farm. A few years ago, there was a nest in that area, but it was destroyed by natural ways. I cannot see that that nest has been rebuilt. The tree is pretty hard to see, but I think there must be a nest somewhere nearby, even if not in that cypress tree.

So now, I’m going to talk about boat ramp etiquette. All these examples I use have actually happened to me or been witnessed by me. It truly blows my mind the ignorance and lack of consideration for others some people display at these public facilities. 

Once at the old Hercules ramp, I went to launch one morning when it was very cold. I got there only to find the ramp blocked by a couple of duck hunters that had built a fire on the ramp, blocking anyone from launching. They put it out and *allowed* me to launch… 

At the Franklin ramp I once came upon a person that had launched, then pulled up into the boat prep lane and parked, blocking Lane One for most of the day. That’s what the parking lot is for… 

At the Franklin ramp I’ve seen people retrieve their boat, then pull out and park in the prep lanes to secure the boat for going down the road, putting tackle away, etc., the whole time blocking others from using the ramp. Again, that’s what the parking lot is for, not the boat prep lane. It doesn’t even make sense to do that because then you have to back up out of the prep lane to leave the facility. If you park in the parking lot, all you have to do is get in and go home after securing the boat… without having to back up or be blocking the ramp. I have seen people even fishing *on* the ramp at Hercules — lawnchairs, coolers and the works… 

I once watched a guy at the Franklin ramp fixing his rods and tackle, etc. I asked the guy why he was doing that in the boat prep lane and explained to him that he was blocking people from using the ramp. He told me he was just diddling around waiting for his fishing partner to show up. I told him he needed to do that over in the parking lot. The guy replied that he was not blocking the ramp because nobody was trying to launch and would move if anyone asked him to. I told him nobody wants to or should have to ask you to move from a place where you are not supposed to park. That’s like parking in a handicap space, not being handicapped, and saying, “Well, I would move if anyone asked me.” 

I’m sharing these experiences in hopes that people who are new to boating can learn the proper etiquette at the boat ramp. 

As for experienced boaters who do these things… I can only wonder why you want to be so hard to get along with and be so disrespectful to the rest of us that know how to launch and retrieve a boat in a timely and considerate fashion on the two rivers we call the Blackwater and Nottoway. 

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.