Friday, October 12, 2012

October 2012


Chesapeake Bay beach is a dramatic place to be anytime, but the Sept/Oct weather is heavenly. The humidity is low and the Bay is windy, wavy and beautiful.

My Rat Terrier, Abu and I had a new experience this morning. From what I hear from an "old salt" who has lived here for years, bulk commercial fishing was outlawed here on the Bay some years ago. There is, however, one fisherman who has a permit that was issued to a g/g/g grandfather of yesteryear in the 1700's. When Virginia became a Commonwealth, and the fishing bans were implemented, he was "grandfathered" in under the old guidelines. His lineage of fishermen has been the only one permitted to fish for the last several hundred years. The current fisherman/heir is the last person subject to the original treaty. Once he passes, the tradition ends. Sounds like an urban legend, doesn't it?

Today on our beach stroll, Abu and I met the fish harvesters. This is a prolific time of the year for fishing, and we watched the fisherman emptying the nets by hand and sorting the fish into barrels. The drum fish cannot be harvested, so they were placed in a barrel that was emptied back into the Bay. One of the fishermen told me that several days ago, they harvested 90,000 lbs. of fish.

Tonight the seagulls were serenading each other while the waves provided a kaleidoscopic backdrop for the sunset.