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Whispering Bear and I spent July 27-29 on the Blackwater below Franklin. The water was a little high, a little murky, fast and 80 degrees. By the time we left, the water temps had dropped to 76 degrees. Air temps ranged from 68 to 88 degrees; it was very pleasant weather. Also, the deer flies were gone, and I was surprised the skeeters were not that bad with all the rain we have had. Trash was also not too bad; I guess it all washed down to Carolina by the time we got on scene. Boat traffic was right heavy, I guess because it was so nice. A few of those people obviously do not know how to drive a boat. Several in huge boats slowed down, but by only slowing down instead of going to just “in gear,” they threw a bigger wake. Either go fast or go flat is the best way to not throw a giant wake. We even saw a boat that had to be 35 feet long with two 300-horsepower motors on it from North Carolina headed towards Franklin. Thank goodness they knew how to drive a boat in a courteous manner.

The fishing on this trip was… OK. We caught one catfish the first night and three the second night. The second night was right fun having three cats meowin’ in the boat. Largest was only 8 pounds. Regular fishing was not too great. Catching bream for bait was once again challenging. I ended up putting on a little bobber with a foot of leader and tied a fly rod bug to it to catch the bream for bait. I caught four bass, all were small except for one decent 2.5-pounder. All the bass were caught on a Mepps spinner. 

The marshmallows are blooming, and we saw right many full grapevines, so it was right pretty out there this trip. We didn’t see all that many critters this time. We saw a couple young otters but could never get close to them. We also saw a couple of great white herons but could not get the camera ready in time, of course. I also got a fleeting picture of an osprey with a fish. What was really cool, though, was both nights we got to see right many shooting stars. I saw one really nice one that had a bit of a tail trail… I’m pretty sure, hhaaaa. That kind of entertainment is always fun 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.