June 28th Through 30th Blackwater Trip
Freezing Deer, Spirit of Moonpie and I stayed on the Nottoway the 28th through the 30th below the VDGIF ramp at Hercules. The water was a tad bit high but clear and nice. Trash was light and we saw no water quality issues. I did not take my water testing equipment but I believe the dissolved oxygen level must have been pretty low because we caught a lot of mud-gappers and they tolerate those conditions well. The fishing was fair. We caught right many bream and a few small bass. I also caught a gar that weighed 8.2 pounds and was 42 ½ inches long making it qualify as a Virginia Trophy Fish. I have never seen a gar that was as black as this one was. It almost looked like it had something on it like oil, but nothing came off of it so I guess it was just black. We also caught a few small catfish at night, but nothing outstanding. Let me take a second here to ask for your help. Last trip if you remember was a trip I took on the Blackwater way upriver where my regular boat will not go. I have to take a small jon boat up there. In years past and on this trip as well I always carried the boat to the river in the back of the truck because there is no trailer for it. Well I found out this trip that I am getting to old and feeble too do that, plus the new Riverkeeper truck is really high off the ground making it impossible for me by myself to get the boat in the bed of the truck. In fact if it were not for a nice feller at the boat landing that helped me load it that day, I guess I would have had to leave the boat there. So if anybody out there has an old boat trailer that will fit a flat bottom 12-foot boat please let me know. Okay, back to the report: We did a lot of riding on this trip since I had not been on this part of the river in some time. It had also been several months since Freezing Deer was out on the river with us and it was good to have the three of us back together again and all the trash talking that always abounds during these trips. I thought it was funny that Freezing Deer had commented on the way to the river that it would be nice not having to compete with Moonpie now for the best seats on the boat anymore because Moonpie now could sit anywhere and have a great view. I think Moonpie heard that because I saw her look at the seats when we boarded and then she cut a devilish grin at me and I thought then that she had something in her bad of doggie tricks she was going to spring on us. My suspicions were proven true later that evening when two friends of ours joined us on the boat for an early evening jaunt down the river. Everyone had taken a seat and got situated when I thought I heard a snicker. I looked and sure enough, there was Moonpie right where she always liked to be, right up under somebody or anybody that would rub her head. I snapped a quick picture but you’ll have to go to the web site at www.blackwaternottoway.com and go to the gallery to see the picture. This is part of Moonpie’s new game, “Whares Moonpie” where she shows up in one picture each trip out and wants the public to try and find her. I think it will be right fun, because as I’ve said before, “ you just never know where Moonpie will show up on the two river’s we call the Nottoway & Blackwater”.
