clean it up

since fishing doesnt start for a couple more weeks, do your part to help the bay by joining in one of many clean up efforts in and along one of its tributaries this saturday. the alliance for the chesapeake bay needs volunteers at 150 sites...there are over 300 sites in the potomac river watershed that need cleaning...and blackwater national wildlife refuge would be a great place to do a little debris gathering outside.

boats in the hood

my boat was at jett's for the majority of the "winter", so i needed to go pick it up. imagine my surprise when i arrived at the boat yard to find 'guilty as charged' backed in next to the marine police: oh, irony!

boats in my hood

at jett's marina

big game

i love fishing: preferably rock; never tiger!

stripers

the weekend fishing for stripers was excellent! i met up with john at point lookout and we cruised southward to below the great wicomico. we caught our limit, made it home by sunset and ate rock fish for dinner!

waiting for the moon...

a little too windy for fishing by myself on the bay today, and i couldn't rouse the dog so i busied myself with the honey-do list. now it's sunset. tonight we have a full moon, and i really hope it improves the fishing situation...couldn't get worse!

modern houseboat

at night the metro-ship looks cool, but in the day time, it just looks like a trailer adrift to me. i don't really understand a houseboat: it can get rough in even the calmest of waters, and those things don't look that water-tight up top.

ghost crab

the chesapeake bay's ghost crab pot retrieval program has netted over 28,000 abandoned or 'ghost' crab pots from virginia waters over the past three seasons and the crabs are the beneficiaries...and me.

the river is frozen

double digits below normal temperatures for seemingly weeks on end has caused the potomac river to freeze...the boats in it are stuck for now...that is a shame because fishing season ends friday night at new years.

let's celebrate pirates

i have seen pirates here on the potomac river...learn about their activities in the upper bay at the lock house museum's pirate weekend by the bay. the festivities are both saturday and sunday and hopefully involve some form of booty.

albacore

a friend's son is the commanding officer on the coast guard's albacore: it docked in dc. he gave us a first class tour: nice boat!

marine warnings

marine warnings abound on the potomac river and chesapeake bay in the wake of a month's worth of rain fall...i think its all clear tomorrow.

you are invited to join the club: not

wow...looks like the 'right' kind of boat is a requirement for entry into this yacht club...but maybe with the economy, my little boat might suffice...nice design...a bit too far to cruise to this weekend, though...

it's red tide time!

i had been attributing my lack of catching keepers this season to the sun...and the rain...those two factors have combined with pollution to produce huge algal blooms (again)-some 200 feet long-which block light and oxygen to everything below, and can sicken fish, people and dogs. i really hadnt noticed any this year-last year red tide was in the creek- but had been reading on various fishing forums that these nasty growths were responsible for the lack of flounder, blue, mackeral, etc. in the chesapeake bay. then yesterday, i saw them in my water. helping the bay is easy and depends on individual citizens, not big government.

fishing with my bff

the dog and i headed up to the nice bridge to see if we could catch something.

we didnt and the ride home was hellacious. 

time for fishing

it is supposed to be stormy a little later, so i am headed out looking for rock...

or spanish mackerel.

chesapeake bay weekend events

it is so hot here in the mid-atlantic, but it is finally breaking and cooler weather will prevail for the next few days...

so go check out a festival on the water this weekend...

Nanticoke Riverfest
it started thursday and continues through saturday, the nanticoke river festival in seaford features canoe and kayak races, a treasure hunt, live entertainment, a carnival and more. tonight, 4:30 - 11 p.m.; Sat. 7:30 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Blackbeard Festival
tall-ships head for hampton where re-enactments of blackbeard's sea battles, pirate folklore, pirate songs and music lively up the waters saturday 10am-11pm and sunday noon-6pm. argh: check it out!

Junior Olympics Sailing Festival
the rock hall yacht club hosts junior olympic sailing hopefuls from around the country for this competition in the upper bay.

Swim for Life
swim one, two, three, four or a five mile course on the chester river to raise money for HIV/AIDS research. registration begins at 7 a.m. and the swim starts at 9 a.m.


Taste of Cambridge
who will be top chef of Dorchester County? all will be revealed during the crab cook-off which is the highlight of the taste of cambridge annual street festival. there will also be a professional crab-picking contest, live entertainment and more.

Runoff Rundown
so far more than $13,000 has been raised to benefit the james river runoff rundown. the paddle starts tomorrow when volunteers traverse the entire 340-miles of the james river in one day as a benefit for the James River Association. join them!


Birthday Bash
celebrate alexandria's birthday in conjunction with america's! fireworks start at dusk and will be accompanied by the alexandria symphony orchestra. starts at 4 - 10pm


Leukemia Cup Regatta
head to deltaville for the leukemia cup regatta, a silent and live auction, a gala and two days of yacht racing. the fishing bay yacht club races start at 11am on saturday, and follow up with the auction and dinner beginning at 5:30 pm. races start on sunday @ 11 a.m.


Log Canoe Races
the chester river yacht club and the rock hall yacht club sponsor annual log canoe races in the chester river off langford creek: paddle up! saturday races begin at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.; the sunday race starts at 10:30 a.m.


Watermen's Heritage Celebration
enjoy the workboat parade...pray as the fleet is blessed...secretly bet on your favorite workboat in the races...watch entertainment...buy arts and crafts...and eat lots of seafood at this annual celebration at the watermen's museum in yorktown, 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. July 11


Thomas Point LighthouseTours
check out the chesapeake bay's most infamous lighthouse at thomas point. reserve a seat through the annapolis maritime museum beginning at 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. 

paddle quickly

managed to get a good paddle in before the storms hit. wish i had my rod cuz the fish were jumpin!

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memorable memorial day

i did a lot of boating this memorial day weekend...a little fishing...and too much socializing. here we are at smith point marina picking up friends: winding your way into this marina is a trick! we headed out of the narrow and splashy smith point jetty-which was filled with boaters hooking rock, crappy, skate and croaker- and headed toward smith point light, where we took a sharp right toward the great wicomico river. i drove up the river, past cockrell's creek and tifanny yachts, under the 200 bridge and past all the boathouses and big houses around the bend. we turned around and headed toward horn harbor for a late lunch. after dropping everybody back at sunnybank, the wife and i raced back to heathsville, quickly got cleaned up and headed to crazy crab for dinner with andi and mike. oh, i didnt catch anything this weekend: i think it was too hot for the fish.

playing hook-y

a lot of people called in sick, or took off or didnt show up today because i counted about 60 boats out there on the horizon...you cant really make them out from my photo from the crappy iphone camera, but trust me: they are there, between point lookout and smith point...wish i were too.