Six-legged deer
Andy Thompson
July 23, 2008 2:44 PM
Um, wow, is all I can say. Click here for the story that goes with the above picture.
Fishing and driving on Hatteras Island
Andy Thompson
July 23, 2008 8:32 AM
If you like to drive to the Outer Banks, and on some of the beaches of the Outer Banks, to fish—many Virginians do—this is good news.
Click here...
Star light, star bright
Andy Thompson
July 23, 2008 8:19 AM
The Richmond parks department just sent out this press release. This seems like a neat event.
Bryan Park Astronomy Night
Come out and see the stars! Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities is joining with the Richmond Astronomical Society (RAS) to hold a family stargazing night on Aug. 7 at 8:30 p.m. in Bryan Park.
Members of RAS will set up their telescopes on the park’s soccer fields for a spectacular view of the night sky. You’ll be able to see close-ups of the vast craters and mountains of the moon and discover the mysteries of Jupiter and Mars, as well as see Jupiter’s cloud belts and four of the planet’s moons first seen by Galileo in 1610.
You’ll also visit the Lagoon and Ring nebulae and the Whirlpool Galaxy. The distinct oval Lagoon Nebula, also known as M8, is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius that looks like a pale and beautiful celestial flower. The star-forming nebula superimposed with its fragile star cluster is one of the leading celestial sights of the summer night sky. The colorful Ring Nebula, located in the constellation Lyra and known as M57, is illuminated by a central white dwarf, and the fantasticaly spiraled Whirlpool Galaxy is nearly 23 million light years from Earth!
An introductory program will kick off the event to introduce guests to the objects in the sky, and RAS will provide sky maps. In addition, an LCD monitor will show real-time pictures of the telescopic views.
The public is encouraged to bring binoculars as RAS members will point out the many objects in the sky to explore on your own. The program is free to attend. For more information, e-mail .
Spadefish world record?
Andy Thompson
July 22, 2008 8:26 AM
The one and only Dr. Julie Ball recently hooked a now-pending world-record spadefish (above).
Here’s her description of the catch:
Saturday, my buddy Capt Steve Wray gave me some gouge that he caught his limit of nice 7 to 8lb spades at a near shore wreck the day before. I smelled a record, and with the sporadic spade action this year, I wasted no time. Robin and I pulled out of Rudee by 6:30 am, and headed east onto glassy seas. When we arrived, spadefish were everywhere on the surface. As I took a closer look, they were the class I was looking for. We anchored up, and I broke out two light tackle rods, and began rotating them. Now, catching a 16-pound tautog on 8lb line seemed like a cake-walk compared to overcoming a runaway freight train of a spade on 4lb test! That’s some tough stuff, and requires a ton of patience. Several boats ventured over to see what we were up to. I’m sure they thought I was nuts. It took all day, and I threw back over a dozen small fish, broke off at least two dozen, but managed to get six fish to the boat that pushed over 7 pounds. Most fish took about 10 to 15-minutes to net. Before coming in, I couldn’t resist dropping a live bait on the wreck to see if anyone was home. I pulled up a big flounder, and into the box he went. Back at the local IGFA weigh station, Long Bay Pointe, only one of the six fish made the mark, whew! I am submitting the paper work to the IGFA as a pending 4lb Line Class World Record. The fish tipped the scales at 7-pounds, 6 ounces.
Reel: Shimano Stradic 2500
Bait: Clams, shrimp
Line: Ande, IGFA Rated, 4lb test
Line: (flounder) 30lb Power Pro
Leader: 15lb Yozuri Fluorocarbon
A different kind of mountain climbing
Andy Thompson
July 21, 2008 9:13 PM
Just thinking about riding a bike to the top of Wintergreen makes me a little nauseous. Now imagine doing it after riding almost 100 miles first.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Blue Ridge Extreme: http://www.blueridgeextreme.com. Now saddle up.
Waterfalls and Swimming Holes
Andy Thompson
July 17, 2008 9:37 AM
On Sunday we ran an article about waterfall/swimming hole combinations in the state. It’s part of the “10 Things to Do This Summer” series that Paul Woody and I have been collaborating on. Click here and scroll down the right side of the page to find the other articles in the series.
Here are links to maps and directions to each and every place mentioned in the article. Many of the links are courtesy of the invaluable Website, http://www.swimmingholes.org and Kevin Adams’ book, Waterfalls of Virginia and West Virginia.
Panther Falls: Link to Google map: Directions: Click here...
Staton’s Creek Falls: Link to Google map. Directions: Click here...
Overall Run Falls: Link to Google map. Directions: Click here....
White Oak Canyon: Link to Google map. Directions: Click here...
Cedar Run Falls: Link to Google map. Directions: Click here...
Great Falls: Click here for map. Directions: Click here...
Reedy Creek in Richmond’s Forest Hill Park: Video of the creek at flood stage.
The Falls of the Nottoway River: Directions: Go west on US-460 from Petersburg about 40 miles to the town of Crewe. Take SR-49 south. Drive nine miles to a bridge over the Nottoway. Look downstream to see the top of the falls, then continue .2 miles and turn right on the gravel road leading to the river and the large parking area. From the parking area, work your way downstream to the path leading to the falls.
Sugar Hollow Falls: Link to Google map. Directions: Click here...
Saint Mary’s Falls: Link to Google map. Directions: Click here...
Arnold Valley Pool: Link to Google map. Directions: Click here...
Cascade Falls: Link to Google map. Directions: Click here...
Roaring Run Falls: Link to Google map. Directions: Click here...
Walking catfish
Andy Thompson
July 16, 2008 7:29 AM
How have I never heard of this before?
Click here for a video of a catfish that walks...kind of.
I did a little research on the beasts (Read: I Googled them). Check out the world distribution. How did they get to Florida?
Here’s the Wikipedia entry.
Kayak bass fishing
Andy Thompson
July 15, 2008 6:44 AM
Loyal reader Kevin Harver sent me this great story (and pics) of a recent bass fishing trip, and I thought it was worth passing on. Look at the size of that beast!
I had just recently purchased my dream kayak and was looking for a great place to catch some fish. On Sunday, after church, I decided to take it
out on it’s maiden voyage to break it in and my wife tagged along to keep me company. We made plans to fish in a private pond in Hadensville
but couldn’t get in touch with our friends who lived there to get permission. At the last minute, we diverted and went to a family member’s pond in Amelia county. I have fished there only once before and caught some crappie. I had thought that it looked like a perfect place for some bass fishing.
Sunday was hot, in the nineties. We began fishing and I was working the silver-dollar lillypads around the edge. I had several hits and caught
six. My wife was bored and sitting in her kayak in the shaded area of the pond reading a book. Just as she decided she was tired of reading
(and concerned about a big spider she just saw crawling on her kayak) she paddled over to me. Right about this time, I got another hit on my
top-water bait. Nothing remarkable, I thought, just some fish hit it and took it under. I began reeling it in. After a few moments of reeling, it leaped out of the water. All I remember was a huge head and eyeball followed by a long green body. “Whoa! I think I got a big one!” I hollered to my wife. I thought for sure the line was going to break and this fish was going to get away. That’s what always seems to happen to big ones, right?! I loosened the drag so the line would give when the fish tried to turn and swim away. Around and around it went, wrapping the line first around a log in the water and then around a clump of lilly-pad roots. The wind was blowing steadily and hard - blowing my kayak and me away from the stuck fish. I had the paddle in one hand, the fishing pole in another, and I grabbed the net with…—oh, how I could have used another hand or two. My wife asked me if I wanted some help. Truthfully, I did need and want some help but I knew that if anything went wrong and this monster got away, I didn’t want to blame anyone but myself. Finally, after fighting my way close enough to the fish, I was able to net the fish and bring it on board. My wife says that I just sat there in a daze and said “what do I do now?” However, I don’t remember any of that. All that I remember was that I had this giant fish with a head and giant eyeballs looking at me while I had my leg holding it down to the floor of the kayak so it wouldn’t escape. I think this kayak just went up in price—it’s gonna cost me another $300.00 to mount this one on the wall! I quickly got the fish
up on shore. In fact I think I took it about 50 yards up on shore so it wouldn’t be able to flop its way back into the water. We hurriedly took some measurements and photos. This is where I did accept my wife’s help ‘cause I was shaking too much to hold the ruler and camera still. Taking my wife, Michele, with me today was one of my best decisions. She said all along “you’re not planning to mount a fish are you?!” Now, with her right there with me to see the catch and excitement, she was calling taxidermists for me. She’s my biggest fan and although this fish was the biggest I’ve caught so far, next to her, it was my second best catch.
Largemouth Bass
25 inches
7 lbs. 11 oz.
Private Pond
Amelia County
July 13, 2008
Blogging about Bogging
Andy Thompson
July 09, 2008 10:07 AM
It’s official. No country hosts more random “World Championships” than Great Britain. For evidence I present to you the World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championships, which was just held in Wales. And apparently it was just part of a larger bog snorkelling triathlon of sorts. An awesome spectacle of human endurance, to be sure.
Tunes for Trails
Andy Thompson
July 08, 2008 8:30 AM
The below is a press release put out by the band Green Giant. They’re playing a concert on July 25th at Capital Ale House and all the proceeds will benefit Richmond-MORE, the local mountain biking and trail building organization. Good music, good food and beer, and a good cause. Sounds like a good reason to part with five dollars.
What: TUNES FOR TRAILS BENEFIT CONCERT
Why: To raise $2,500 for Richmond-MORE ( http://www.richmond-more.org ) to purchase
equipment and materials for maintenance and upgrades of the James River Trails.
When: Friday, July 25 – 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
Where: Capital Alehouse Music Hall, Downtown at 7th & Main
Who: Green Giant – Fun, Hard-Driving, Soulful Rock / Originals & Covers
How Much: $ 5 – All proceeds go directly to the purchase of equipment and materials for the
James River Trails.
The James River is the crown jewel of Downtown Richmond. An estimated 500,000 people enjoy the
wonders of nature on the James River each year. More civic attention has been focused on the
James River in recent months than ever before!
The James River Adventure Games a few weekends ago highlighted the various activities the James
River Trails have to offer. The XTERRA Urban Assault had 8 mile and 15 mile loops of the XTERRA
Mountain Bike Course, which is considered the most technically challenging urban trail on the entire
National XTERRA Tour! The James River Scramble was a 10 K race, half of which traversed over
Belle Isle and the Buttermilk Trail.
Richmond-MORE is a group of ardent mountain bikers throughout Washington DC, Maryland and
Virginia whose mission is to create and preserve trails. Members of Richmond-More have
volunteered more man hours and have sweated more bullets and have provided more money than
anybody else for the 20+ miles of trails along the James. They have invested their own time and
money to attend eco-training to learn the most eco-responsible methods, not to mention paying for
truckloads of stone and sand as well as lumber for bridges. If you have walked on the Buttermilk Trail
or the North Trail, you have enjoyed Richmond-MORE’s work If you have crossed a wooden bridge
on any trail, you have enjoyed Richmond-MORE’s work.
Equipment and Materials are expensive. Richmond-MORE just completed a new arched bridge and a
new truss bridge, which cost over $10,000. Richmond-MORE needs your help to raise the funds to
continue this worthy and necessary effort to keep the trails safe and accessible to all.
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