March 28, 2024

Purple Martins Leaving Their Nests

Purple Martins

Purple Martins usually arrive between April 10-13, rest a bit, scout the area, and then begin nestbuilding. Now they’re leaving. Take heart, and look toward their return next year.

Snapping Turtles Abound in the Chesapeake

Snapping Turtles

Message From the Captain: More snapping turtles are coming to the Chesapeake Bay — Stay away from them!

Worth Repeating: Soft Crab Season Opens Ever So Quietly

soft crab

It’s that time of year again, Message from the Cap’n has to address the great harbinger of the season, the soft crab. And, back in 2019, get your Smith Island Cruise information and reservations here.

Catfish Becoming Dominant Species in Lower Potomac

Message From the Cap’n is a compilation of history, fishing advice, waterman, and weather insights, Chesapeake lore, and ordinary malarkey. This season’s highlight: More catfish in the Potomac than we’ve ever seen!

An Old Cycle, Osprey Return, Spring Message From the Cap’n

osprey

Osprey observations from the nesting capital of the Chesapeake: St George Island with 60+ nesting pairs.

From the Cap’n: Frozen Creeks; Foiled Hunters

frozen creeks

It’s cold outdoors with frozen creeks, but the Cap’n offers a tale of hot tempered hunters foiled by an errant discharge to warm up the day with a little bit of lore …

Who’s Who on St. George Island/William Gary Robrecht (1944-2018)

Gary Robrecht

“Some of my fondest memories of the island are of going to Letcher Lampkins’ store in the evening or at night , when the watermen were all there sitting around talking. I would listen with amazement to the stories of the boatloads of oysters and crabs caught in the years gone by.” Gary Robrecht

Message From the Cap’n: Cold Snaps a Comin’

Government has closed down the readings on the Interpretive Buoy System in the Chesapeake Bay, but nothing is going to stop winter from making its annual mark on the region. Check out Cap’n Jack’s take on it all starting with the fishing report through predictions for another cold snap over the full moon in January 2019.

Message From the Captain/Changes Around the Marshes on St. George Island in the Fall

message from the captain

The temperature drops, the birds head south, and the butterflies migrate across St. George Island: autumn creeps into this issue of Message From the Captain.

Who’s Who on St. George Island/Camp Merreylande

St. George Island

Camp Merryelande, long a vacation haven for summer visitors and fishermen is still a resort for the whole family on the every-changing sands of St. George Island. Who’s Who of St. George Island captures a piece of its ongoing history.