Well, after being out of service for a couple of weeks due to back problems, I got to feeling better and decided to try a 3-day trip on the Blackwater the 3rd through the 5th.

I got Moonpie to do some of the heavy lifting for me, so that helped a lot. Yea, right! The weather was nice with air temps ranging from 45 to 70 degrees and the water was 57 degrees.

Trash was amazingly light, and I only picked up a very few pieces.

I did not get to fish any the first day because we were developing a new base camp and that took all day. The second day I fished all day trying to catch bait, and that was tough. I only caught a few bream. Catfishing was not too great, either. I only caught three the whole trip on limb-lines. One was a pretty nice blue that was about 15 pounds.

It was a pretty uneventful trip actually. I watched VDOT doing work on the old drawbridge at Rt 189 and boy does it ever need it. The river was really pretty, with the leaves turning colors and that will peak, I’m guessing, in another week. It’s a great time to take some pictures on the river for sure.

Now, I want to tell ya’ll about the deal of the century. I have inherited a bunch of bass fishing tackle that I do not need. I think there is like 20 rods and reels with Garcia and Bass Pro bait casting reels on graphite rods; dozens of unopened bags of plastic worms and jigs of every description; hundreds of unused crank baits that every single one has had upgraded hooks added; terminal tackle; and a duffle bag full of Berkley fishing line. All this stuff is neatly packed in soft side tackle boxes. There is just a mountain of really good fishing stuff, and I have got to get rid of it. I want to sell it all together, the whole lot, so give me a call (562-5173) and come look at it. The money goes to the Riverkeeper Program. I guarantee if you take all this tackle you will be a much better fisher person on the two rivers we call the Blackwater and Nottoway.

Or at least much better outfitted!

JEFF TURNER is the Blackwater/Nottoway Riverkeeper. He can be reached at blknotkpr@earthlink.net.