Spirit of Moonpie and I spent the 14th through the 16th on the Blackwater below Franklin.

The water was stained, 76 degrees and 3.80 on the USGS gauge in Burdette. Air temps ranged from 62 to 89 degrees.

Well it looks like the baby eagles are ready to fly. In fact by the time this is printed they most likely will be airborne. At both nest sites the juveniles were out of the nest and hopping from limb to limb in the trees. I have now discovered that the Cherry Grove nest has two this year. It would be really cool to be able to see one take off for the first time, but I doubt I’d ever be so lucky.

Trash was bad on this trip again. Instead of that issue getting better, it seems to be getting worse. I just don’t understand it. Also I removed a bunch more trash in the trees with hooks and sinkers. There was a white tag attached to the lines but no information. I guess whoever put these out did not think that it might rain and wash their info off, or maybe they planned it that way. Regardless, no tag means I get more hooks and sinkers.

The fishing on this trip was fantastic to say the least. The first day I went downriver and caught like 15 largemouth. The second day I traveled wayyy upriver all the way to the 20 mile mark. It was very tough to get there because of all the logs, but I caught at least another 35 bass up there. All were small with the biggest weighing about 2.5 pounds. I also caught a couple of nice blackfish and missed some really big jacks. I had one large bass on, but it got tangled up in a top, and I lost it. That’s the risk I run using that ultra light tackle.

I caught some of the fish on a No. 3.5 Snagless Sally and some on an AC Shiner. However most were caught on a secret topwater lure I made called “The Spooky.” And no it’s not made out of a Zorra Spook. This was the first trip out with the new lure and it was outstanding. In fact on this one trip I caught so many fish on it the lure was beat to death. I had to replace hooks on it once while out there, and I lost it 3 times. I lost two to jacks cutting the line and once to that big bass. Luckily I got it back each time by waiting for it to float up.

I saw a lot of wildlife up on that part of the river. I got audio on some baby beavers, which was pretty wild. At two different beaver huts we heard all kinds of whining going on inside. I got some recording done but every time I would hit the record button they would stop. Finally Moonpie said, “look, I got this one, just get me close to the hut.”

So I put her out on the biggest hut. She said, “Okay, get the video camera going and turn the audio sensitivity up so you can hear this.” So I got everything going and then Moonpie proclaimed, “Behold, I am the beaver whisperer,” and with that she commenced to jumping up and down on this beaver condominium. It did not have the desired effect. Suddenly instead of cute little baby beaver noises, there came a loud moan/guttural growl sound I have never experienced before on the river. And then Beaverzilla appeared. I was stunned at the size of this critter. It was the size of a shoat with a tail that was as big as a landing net. Moonpie saw me pointing at the monster, as I was speechless. She screamed and her next jump was in the boat where I fired that mutha’ up and hauled tails.

After we got down the river a piece and stopped the boat to collect ourselves, Moonpie said, “I guess that was a bad idea, huh?”

“Ya think,” I replied. “We just almost got ate by a giant mutant ninja beaver.”

I guess that’s why its just best not to mess with the wildlife on the two rivers we call the Blackwater and Nottoway.