Urbanna creek

Sunday afternoon. Fishing on the bay with friends afternoon.

Mike and his dad and our friend Ryan were the posse. Here at Urbanna Creek, where the Rappahanock River meets the Chesapeake Bay is a familiar place to me. On the bluffs over the river is is an old plantation called Rosegill. Long ago it was a colonial estate, and before that the site of a large Indian camp. This long history makes it one of the most continually inhabited places in North America. My grandparents were the caretakers of the place after their retirement. Being able to visit this place, thousands of acres of nooks and crannies was like a playground for a kid. Long fields, spooky old houses, shady forests and creeks, a pond full of fish, and thin strips of bay sand running into salt marsh. I spent many happy summers here as a kid.

Today, the little town of Urbanna nearby seems so much smaller than it did when I was a little kid, but that is how it always seems to be. The most I saw of Rosegill was a view of the big house from away out in the bay fishing. The day was gorgeous and sunny, cool air with low early winter slanting light. The company was good, the fishing bad. It is rock fish season, otherwise known as striped bass, and they begin migrating up the rivers this time of the year. We only caught one, a big one too, but he got away. We even saw it surface back beyond the boat spitting out our lure in contempt! Sigh, that same old fishermen's tale. The one that got away...