The Virginian-Pilot
© May 29, 2008

WILLIAMSBURG, Yorktown, Monticello, Mount Vernon. Those historic sites and others are immediately recognizable to millions of Americans. But mention Virginia's historic Northern Neck region, and you're likely to draw a blank stare.

The region's charms may soon become better known. Sens. John Warner and Jim Webb recently joined a long-running legislative effort, taken up several years ago by the late Rep. Jo Ann Davis and others, to declare the peninsula between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers a National Heritage Area.

The congressional designation is intended to draw travelers' attention to regions that played substantial roles in U.S. history. Just as importantly, the designation creates a framework for local residents and government leaders to collaborate with state and federal officials to preserve historic resources and promote tourism.

There are currently 38 National Heritage Areas. The most recent addition, part of legislation signed earlier this month by President Bush, is The Journey through Hallowed Ground NHA, a string of historic sites stretching from Gettysburg to Charlottesville.

The lesser-known Northern Neck region is deserving of the extra attention and preservation work, too. The rural, five-county area, explored by Capt. John Smith in the early 1600s, was the birthplace of three presidents, George Washington, James Madison and James Monroe.

It's also home to Stratford Hall, where the only brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence - Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee - lived and where Gen. Robert E. Lee was born.

The federal designation, by itself, cannot ensure that the region's many historic homes and rich Chesapeake Bay traditions will survive. But the special focus improves those chances, as well as the likelihood that more Americans will become familiar with the region's contributions to the nation's heritage.

Excerpt from Free Lance Star 

On the Northern Neck, the lower Rappahannock was full of personal watercraft yesterday morning, according to Richmond County crabber Russ Messick. "There were so many Jet Skis and Sea-Doos out there that it looked like a race. The odd thing was that nobody was on any of them," he said. The extreme high tide that launched many unmanned boats and set them adrift in the lower Rappahannock and Potomac rivers also threatened the low-lying community of Lewisetta, said Northumberland County Administrator Kenneth D. Eades. The tide there was about 2 feet above normal, he said. "The only way in was by truck. The fire department went door-to-door offering to evacuate residents to a shelter, but no one took us up on it," Eades said. High winds downed power lines to hundreds of homes in the Northern Neck, but the only serious damage reported yesterday was a pickup crushed by a falling tree in Colonial Beach.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Contact Information

Mark Huffman

President

MediaMax

804-456-0052

mark@northernnecktoday.com

Virginia’s Northern Neck, bordered by the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers and Chesapeake Bay, has increasingly drawn retirees who enjoy the peaceful setting and hassle-free lifestyle. Now, the Northern Neck Tourism Council is making it easier for people contemplating retirement to take a first hand look.

The council is sponsoring its first “Northern Neck Pre-Retirement Tour” May 17, 2008, in conjunction with the Fourth Annual Kilmarnock Crab Festival.

“Folks who are thinking about where they want to live when they retire will have the opportunity to see what we have to offer that weekend,” said NNTC President George Beckett.

Beckett said the “tour” is self-guided, but Council volunteers will provide information, literature about the area, and answer questions. Visitors will then set out to visit the region’s museums, farmers’ markets, wineries and other attractions.

“We chose to hold our first tour during the Crab Festival because it’s a great introduction to the culture of the Northern Neck,” Beckett said.

The Crab Festival, initiated by Kilmarnock businessman Shawn Donahue, celebrates the local watermen’s culture. It features crafts, art exhibits, food and entertainment.

“This year we have added lots of live entertainment, so it should be bigger and better than ever,” Donahue said.

The festival begins Friday evening, May 16 and resumes Saturday May 17 for a full day of activities.

“On Saturday, our volunteers will be set up in the festival’s Welcome Center,” Beckett said. “We invite people to drop by and pick up a map, our Tourism Guide, and a suggested itinerary of things to do.”

“Both the Crab Festival and the Pre-Retirement Tour are great ways to meet the other people who live here, and decide whether you might one day also want to make the Northern Neck your home,” Donahue added.

The Northern Neck is made up of four rural counties, but is as close as an hour away from Richmond, Virginia and as close as 90 minutes from Washington, DC.

As most of you know I use to be a commercial fisherman. Sometimes I take a break from Northern Neck real estate and work a few days on the water.

Some people find that crazy as working on the water is hard phsyical work but I find it to be relaxing.

In October the the associated press was watching use work. The VMRC patronmen carried then to certain boats where the crew asked questions.

In November their article started showing up papers across the country.

I was quoted in the article.

Here is that article taken from the Free Lance Star.

Part of Rappahannock open for oyster season

Date published: 11/22/2007 BY SONJA BARISICASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERON THE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER–After five hours of seeking oysters in a section of a Chesapeake Bay tributary that has been off-limits until recently, Gerald Condrey was ready to call it a day.The commercial fisherman hadn't caught much, and his take was about to be reduced further.When a Virginia Marine Police boat happened by, he agreed to sell a couple bushels of the largest shellfish to the state–not for eating, not for cooking in traditional Thanksgiving stuffing, but for dumping back into the Rappahannock River."We're going to watch y'all drop them over on the reef," Marine Police Capt. Steve Pope called out as Condrey steered his workboat toward a marked sanctuary area in the river. There, Cordrey raised a tub and poured its gritty contents overboard.BAY'S OYSTER BOUNTY HAS DECLINED STEADILYThat simple action is part of a plan attempting to breed future generations of oysters that can stand up to the diseases that since the 1950s have devastated the bay's once-bountiful oyster population.It is being tried in tandem with a new scheme to rotate harvesting to different parts of the river each year so no one area is overworked. That has opened part of the lower Rappahannock to oystering this fall for the first time in more than 15 years.Condrey and other watermen, as commercial fishermen are known locally, are skeptical.They say the area should have been opened long ago and they blame years of management plans and regulations for the small amount of oysters they're encountering in the newly opened area–so meager they predict the oysters will run out before the season ends Nov. 30.They want to be allowed to harvest the entire river. "They need to open up where the oysters are," said Condrey.WATERMEN SAY THEY KNOW RIVER BESTWatermen argue that, like farm crops that grow better when fields are tilled and weeded, oysters will grow bigger and faster if they are harvested regularly from the river bottom."You should see the oysters that have died" because the state hasn't permitted them to be harvested, said oysterman Ken Smith of Heathsville, disgust in his voice. "You've heard of supply and demand? Let the watermen decide. They're not going to come out here and work if they're not going to make money."Jim Wesson, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission oyster scientist who designed the rotational harvest and buyback program, said the state is trying to make the most efficient use of what oysters are out there and that time is needed to see if this will work.Wesson also said he never expected watermen to find a windfall in the newly opened area, estimating a total yield of 3,000 bushels of oysters that are market-sized–at least 3 inches."That's the way oysters are right now," Wesson said. "There are no oysters in Virginia to speak of."OYSTERS A BIG PART OF VIRGINIA HISTORYAs food and as filters of pollutants in the water, oysters have been important to the ecology, economy and culture of the Chesapeake Bay for centuries.When Jamestown founder John Smith explored the bay in the early 1600s, he described in his journal oysters so abundant that they "lay thick as stones."Following the Civil War, thousands of unemployed men sought to make a living harvesting oysters on the bay. Both Virginia and Maryland established oyster navies to enforce boundaries and prevent poaching; there were border disputes between Maryland and Virginia watermen and even "oyster wars" between the state of Virginia and oyster dredgers.WATERMEN SAY OYSTERS REGULATED TOO MUCHAs recently as 1957, Virginia was producing 30 percent of the nation's oyster supply.Timmy Belvin of Gloucester has been a waterman since he was 12. He's now 49."Twenty years ago, you could come out here, you wouldn't come under 75 bushels a day," Belvin said. Now, he's barely catching his limit of eight bushels per day of market-sized oysters."There's too much regulations," Belvin said.With disease, as well as overharvesting and pollution, the native oyster population in the bay today is about 1 percent of its historic level, according to a recent report by a blue-ribbon panel of watermen, scientists, seafood merchants and VMRC members who spent about a year studying what Virginia had been doing to restore oysters. (Other states bordering the bay have made their own efforts to save the Chesapeake's oysters.)OYSTER HARVEST RULES ARE STRICT, SPECIFICFollowing a recommendation by the Virginia panel, VMRC approved reopening parts of the Rappahannock to harvest from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30. Under a three-year rotation, two areas of the river will be open every year.Watermen may use hand scrapes–old-fashioned rakes for scooping up the bivalves from the river bottom–from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays.They must cull oysters larger than 4 inches, either throwing them back into the water or selling up to three bushels of the larger oysters back to the state per day.The state pays $25 per bushel, or about $5 less per bushel than some watermen recently said they were getting paid for oysters they're selling to seafood houses. Wesson said the state likely will buy back no more than 1,000 bushels.Oysters the state buys are immediately placed on a reef in a sanctuary within the harvest area. Monitoring has shown that oysters in the closed areas were very large, meaning they are reaching 7 or 8 years of age, about twice the age when oysters in the bay typically die of disease. Scientists want to know if the large oysters may have developed resistance to disease that could be passed on to create sturdier subsequent generations.Improving enforcement is another goal of the blue-ribbon panel. In the past, it found, fines weren't enough to deter those intent on violating harvest rules.So, VMRC has established a zero-tolerance policy for oyster violations in state waters. A waterman must have a state license to work commercially, plus a special permit to harvest in the Rappahannock. A significant oyster violation now results in immediate confiscation of the permit; a waterman also faces a one-year suspension of his license for a first oyster offense and additional years for subsequent offenses.MARINE POLICE OFFICERS WILL PATROL THE RIVER Virginia has 77 Marine Police officers who patrol more than 5,100 miles of shoreline on the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. They conduct inspections, investigate accidents and conduct search and rescue missions. They bust illegal oyster-shucking and crab-picking operations, and even moonshiners.Pope, who leads the Marine Police station in Gloucester, said, "This is a great opportunity for the watermen to come out here and ply their trade and keep the tradition going."Watermen say they understand that the police are just doing their jobs but that does not mean they accept the regulations."I'd like to see the whole thing opened up so everyone can go to work and make a living and provide for their families," said Mike Croxton Jr., a 47-year-old oysterman from Kilmarnock who works the river with his son, Mike III, in his Chesapeake deadrise, the Tammy C."If you got a farm, you don't fence off one little section and put all your cows on it. They eat that grass all up."

The rock fish season opened on October 4.

The weather has been warm and there don't seem to be many fish schooled up yet.

I have had some luck trolling small bucktails around the towers in the Rappahannock River.

Hopefully this cool weather with have the action picking up.

There have been a lot of fish in the jetties at Smith Point but if you can only fish on the weekends expect it to be like a parking lot.