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Whispering Bear and I spent Aug. 22-24 on the Nottoway below Delaware. The water was up at 12.17 on the USGS gauge at Sebrell, a little muddy, very fast and 70 degrees. Air temps ranged from 53 to 82 degrees. Got a little chilly both nights on the ol’ pontoon boat, and it was very, very wet at night. Trash was nearly nonexistent, and I only had to remove one illegal limb line.

The fishing on this trip was at first pretty tough until I figured out what I had to do… which was get out of the main river and fish the guts. I finally caught enough bream for catfish bait by using a fly rod bug with a bobber. Then I started casting for bass and did pretty darn good. I reckon I caught 15, with six of them being this year’s fingerlings. Really aggressive little buggers. I also caught a 4.1 and 4.10 on a Rogue stick bait. Those two fish were really odd looking — very short, very fat fish. We did pretty well on the catfish at night also. We caught four blues, with one going 20 pounds. However, that 20-pounder was very poor. The fish was all head and should have weighed 25 easily. Very sickly looking, though I saw no lesions. We saw no dead catfish floating on this trip.

The highlight of this trip, however, was the eagles. We had been seeing two juveniles and one adult off and on as we were proceeding down river. Finally, at the deep curve upriver from the Bronco Club, we saw one take off from a big cypress, and Whispering Bear saw the new nest. This is the first new nesting site I have seen in a while. That is significant because we lost the one on the Nottoway upriver from Courtland near the pump station and the old nesting site on the Blackwater near Cherry Grove, as well as the one near the Pretlow farm on the Blackwater. So that was a great find indeed by ol’ Eagle Eye Whispering Bear. Upon scrutinizing the pictures of the eagles when we got home, I discovered the adult female that was hanging around the two of this year’s baby eagles was missing an eye on its right side. Obviously that eagle has overcome its handicap, thank goodness.

So, this was a very important patrol — no dead blue catfish and the discovery of a new eagle nesting site. I hope this nesting site will continue to yield these national treasures and provide boaters many a glorious sighting on the two rivers we call the Nottoway and Blackwater. 

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.