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Spirit of Moonpie and I spent December the 1st through the 2nd on the Blackwater below Franklin. The water was clear, normal and 45 degrees. Air temps ranged from 26 degrees to 55. There are still a lot of leaves etc. on the surface making navigation tough. I even saw a couple deadly pulpwood semi floaters. However, with the rain we have been getting and the rain we are forecasted to get, I think the rivers are going to be in pretty good shape finally in about a week.

The trash on this trip was pretty bad. I picked up one bag worth. Most of it was older trash that has been making its way through the Franklin ditch system for some time. I expect that will get worse with the forecasted amount of rain in the next week. Luckily the retention pond on Bogart Street is catching a lot of it coming from that side of town. It has quite a bit of trash in it right now thanks to that trash boom we had installed several years ago. I sure wish there was something like that on the south side ditch system to catch all that trash. 

The fishing on this trip was… non-existent. It was so cold the first day and there was so much trash that I did not fish but for like 30 minutes just before dark. I tried for speckle for that 30 minutes but didn’t even have a hit in Georges Bend. I didn’t even see very many critters this patrol, I guess because it was so cold. We did spot a bald eagle, though, at the Pretlow farm as I was coming in on the second day.

So, I guess y’all noticed I spent only two days this trip. I decided to come in after only one night because of the threat of rain on Saturday. I’m glad I did, because it did rain, and packing down in the rain really sucks bad. But I did get to try out my new -30-degree Browning rectangular sleeping bag in the 26-degree weather. That is one monster sleeping bag, definitely not a backpacker! It was nice and toasty, and even though I was rained out, I look forward to trying it again when the weather breaks 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. Just type in “Blackwater Nottoway RiverGuard” in the search field on Facebook.