Cruising the Chester

Almost due East across the Bay from the Magothy River is the mouth of the Chester River. The Chester is deep and navigable for more than 30 miles through historic Kent County. Settled in the mid 1600s, Kent County was one of the first two counties in Maryland. Our gig last weekend was at Conquest Beach on the banks of the Chester. I thought then that it might be fun to explore the area by boat because it looked so pristine and historic. We left our dock about 3:00 PM today. Within 30 minutes we had crossed the Chesapeake Bay and passed Kent Narrows to starboard, making our way northeast up the river. At its lower reaches the Chester is very broad, but it's still important to stay near the channel because it gets shallow fast. After about 5 miles the river becomes more narrow and winding with rolling farmland on both sides. A careful glance through the trees reveals colonial mansions, many built by retiring English ship captains who made their fortunes transporting goods across the Atlantic and up the river before America was a country. There's surprisingly little modern development along the Chester. Much of the area is protected as a wildlife and nature preserve. We spotted two bald eagles but were unable to get close enough for pictures. By 4:30 we had wound our way up to the dock at Chestertown, one of the oldest and best preserved towns in the nation. We tied up beside the schooner Sultana. A tour of the rebuilt revolutionary war era ship was just finishing, so we had plenty of eager hands to help tie up the boat. I wasn't sure we were docked legally, but no one seemed to mind. We secured the boat and walked the same cobblestone streets that George Washington tred up to the historic distric. According to a marker, Chestertown was once the busiest port in Maryland, which is surprising considering its distance from the Bay. Apparently it was the primary entrance point for trade in and out of Maryland. There was even a "tea-party" tax revolt here mirroring the one in Boston. After exploring around the nicely restored colonial houses and visiting a couple of gift shops, we decided to have dinner at a restaurant by the water. On the menu was a kind of oyster pot pie that was delicious. Dianne took the helm for the return cruise, navigating perfectly along our previous GPS track, back down the river toward the sunset. -S

Chasing Birds

"To everything there is a season" sings the Byrds, and Fall must be the season for the birds of the Chesapeake Bay. For the past three evenings I've been chasing them around the western shore as they identify the location of breaking schools of rockfish and blues. The gamefish chase pods of bait into shallow water, then corral them on the surface and attack. With amazing eyesight, hundreds of seagulls and faster flying Turns dive into the feeding frenzy. It's almost impossible not to catch fish if you cast into the carnage. My fishing method is the tried-and-true technique my dad taught me for catching breaking fish in the lakes - a top-water "chugger" with a fly tied on behind (they call hair-flies "bucktails" here). The only difference now is that I'm using bigger lures and stronger line. Sometimes, the seagulls will hover six inches over the chugger watching closely as the fish attack and hoping to dive in and catch the smaller ones. There are so many birds that you almost can't cast for fear of fouling one in your line. A couple have become tangled as I cast, but escaped before the hooks pulled into them. I'm not looking forward to catching one, but I'm sure it's bound to happen soon! -S

First Dance by the Bay

One of the best things about being a musician is getting to share some the most important moments in the lives of the people for whom we play. Today, the Old Bay String Band played a wedding gig at Conquest Beach beside the Chester River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. We set up our sound-stage facing the party and looking out over the water. Jason and Carrie's first dance was a Joe Cocker song that we translated to bluegrass. Then, we played "Rocky Top," and "Fox On The Run" while the wedding party cracked crabs and ate barbeque. After the party, I asked the groom where they were going for their honeymoon. He laughed as he replied that their destination was the NASCAR race at Dover Downs. Yup, these are my kind of people! -S

Crabs, crabs, crabs

I remember wondering last winter if I would ever figure out how to catch crabs. In fact, there was a time when I almost gave up because it just seemed too difficult. I know now that the problem was not really lack of knowledge or experience, but lack of crabs. They just don't come in good here until late summer. One night just before tropical storm Ernesto, I caught a dozen crabs in a couple of hours off the dock. After the storm the water temperature dropped about 10 degrees, and the crabs slowed down, but they're back now. I steamed up a dozen tonight and we had them for supper. Although not huge, these crabs are just loaded with sweet, white, delicious meat. We came away from the table stuffed. There is something very satisfying about eating with your hands, especially when it's your own catch. Considering the crabs and fish in the summer and the ducks, geese and shellfish in the winter, I can see how Native Americans must have thrived along the Chesapeake. Here's my method and recipe for steaming crabs, admittedly still in the process of perfecting.

- In large pot, bring a solution of 4 parts water to 1 part beer to full boil
- Add one half cup Old Bay seasoning and liberal dashes of sea salt
- Put a wire basket or something in the bottom of the pot so that crabs don't touch the water
- Remove crabs from traps & immerse in ice water for 5 minutes (this stuns and imobilizes them for the next step)
- Layer in circles around pot sprinkling liberally with Old Bay before starting the next layer
- Steam until crabs are bright red, usually about 15 minutes
- Serve with drawn butter, broiled new potatoes, hushpuppies, & cold beer

Eating Blue Crabs also requires practice and patience. Dianne is always happy to demonstrate her refined crab cracking method. I think it might be pretty complicated to type out. Suffice it to say there is very little resemblance to cracking the snow crab legs which are much more common in the Southeast. -S

Happy Hour on the Hill - Arrrrrrg!

Dianne was co-sponsoring a reception for New York Agriculture this evening up on Capitol Hill. I tagged along. That's Maurice Hinchey, Democratic congressman from New York and her old boss on the left. The lady in the middle needs no intro! In case you're curious about what a Tennessee baybilly talks about with a congressman and a senator, I'll just say note the empty wine glass and remember, it was "National Talk Like A Pirate" day. Aye, me heartys, so shiver me timbers and pass the grog!! -S

The Honga River

I met Dave Wolf yesterday for a Sunday fishing trip to the Eastern Shore. We drove down through Cambridge and put his Twin-Vee in on the Honga River. I like this area. The geography reminds me of South Georgia or Florida with lots of pine trees and swampy marshland. After navigating through a maze of canals, we did a some exploring and running around to known fishing spots. We caught a few while bottom-fishing including some small flouder, then finally found breaking fish in the main part of the Bay upstream of the the Hooper's Island Lighthouse. I caught this nice bluefish casting a big Rattletrap into small breakers and letting it sink down to the bigger fish. It was about 24 inches. Definitely the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught of this size. -S

Feels like home!

Went fishing with Dave Wolf yesterday. As we were driving to the ramp we spotted this sign at a little country restaurant over on the Eastern Shore. I hope it's an apology and not a description! -S

One fish, two fish, red fish, .....

Bluefish... That was the name I wanted for the new band, but it was already taken by about 50 other bands in all kinds of music styles. So I'll settle for catching my blues with rod-n-reel. Went out with my fishing buddy and fellow band member Dave last night, and found some nice blues and rockfish breaking at the mouth of the Chester River. Tonight I cruised up to an area called Seven Foot Knoll near the mouth of the Patapsco and caught a few. Got a few more coming back home at Mountain Point. I'm thowing a top-wather plug (chugger) with a fly tied on behind. The only modification from my tried-and-true freshwater setup is that I'm using a thin wire leader. Those Bluefish have very sharp teeth! -S

Introducing - the Old Bay String Band

Speaking of Old Bay, check this out. Our first gig is this weekend, a convention at the Mariott Ranch in Virginia. The Old Bay String Band is a class act and I'm proud to be a member - excellent musicians with many many years of stage experience between us. We're booking some fine gigs that are not only financially rewarding, but promise to have a very high fun factor. Hopefully, we'll have some real sound samples up on the site soon. Let me know what you think of the Oldbaystringband.com web site. I'm also playing with some guys I like down near Fell's Point, and that band is coming right along. -S

Cruising Again

I drove across the Bay Bridge last night to pick up the boat. It turned out to be a much more expensive repair that I thought, but it will be nice to have it back in the water. Check out this painting I found of a ship in the Old Bay Line cruising the Baltimore Inner Harbor. -S

Sunrise After the Storm

Dianne's sister Judy is visiting from Southern California this weekend. It was nice to have her help filling sandbags last Friday night. I'm wondering what her first impressions of the Chesapeake might be. Hopefully, they're more like this scene. She took this picture of our dock with Gibson Island in the background at first light this Labor Day morning. (click it, you'll want to see it full size) We spent the holiday relaxing. In the afternoon, I took a cooler out on the dock and bottom-fished while reading a few more chapters of James A. Michener's Chesapeake. Tonight, we steamed the crabs I caught before the storm. Hopefully we'll get the boat back this week. A couple of friends have relayed stories of Bluefish catches, so obviously the fish are still biting. -S

Ernesto Prologue

Things are back to normal for us now. Here are some pictures of the storm. The ones of our dock from the beach were taken about 4:00PM and the water is already high. The others are in the morning after the water had started to recede. The most amazing thing to me is how far off the weather forecast was . Even during the height of the storm the NWS site was predicting 20 knot winds. This while the wind was blowing 50 knots! There was never any talk of a storm surge until the water had already started rising. Despite this being such a populated region, there is very poor electric service here, and it took over 24 hours to get power back. Nevertheless, our damage was very light compared to some of our neighbors who left boats in the water and other property unsecured because of the light forecast. Next time, you can bet we'll be much better prepared when a tropical storm starts up the Bay. -S

Cleaning Up

I'm blogging today from a cyber cafe in Severna Park. We stayed up pretty much all night watching the water. It came up to the deck, but didn't get in the house. I spent the morning removing sandbags and cleaning up. Our neighbor had some siding blown off and a tree uprooted. To show the power of the waves, some of the big rocks, over 100 pounders were blown from our seawall up into the yard. I'm a little concerned about our well since water was over it. There's no word on when we might get power. I listened to CNN on the satellite radio in the truck, and they were reporting on flooding in Annapolis and Baltimore. They also said about 48,000 of us don't have power. The water has receeded a couple of inches now but it's going down slow because we have another high tide coming up in a couple of hours. I'll post pictures when we can. Thanks to everyone for the calls and emails. Wow, and they say this wasn't even a big storm! -S

sandbagging

we have water over the dock and in the yard coming up to the deck. another foot and its in the house. just sandbagged the sliding glass door.

power out

Now blogging from my cell phone because our power is out, I also have cell acess to the National Weather Service site where there are reports of flooding downstream to our south. We're just waiting to see how much water we get, and when. -S

Coastal Flood Warning

The weather service has finally come around to what the watermen have been warning about. They've issued a coastal flood warning for the western shore of the Chesapeake now saying that a 4 foot surge is possible. High tide is expected well after midnight so we're hoping the surge will be out ahead of it. -S

High Winds & Waves

At 6:00 PM we have wind gusts to 50 mph. Waves are easily cresting the dock and spraying up onto the front windows, but the water level is holding steady so far. There are reports of power lines and trees down in the area but we have power. -S

Sandbags in Annapolis

The forcasted high tide last night for us was just after my blog entry, about 1:00 AM. The water rose a little more after that, but then receded about 6 inches. At low tide this morning, it hasn't gone down much more. There's little on the news about expected surges, but I'm watching the buoys and marine forecasts. TV weather forecasters don't seem to pay much attention to how the wind drives water onto the Western Shore. But the watermen do, and that's where I've turned for information. I don't think anyone expects anything like the 8 ft surge of Hurricane Isabel, but 2 to 3 feet is certainly possible. A 3 foot sure might put water in our house. I just heard some news reports that they are sandbagging now at the City Dock in Annapolis and at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. I saw a truck containing sandbags as I was driving to work this morning. Dianne is off today because her sister Judy is in town. She's preparing to move electronics and furniture to higher levels in the house if necessary. My action trigger will be when water breaches the rip-rap in the front yard. Current winds are from the east at 20-25 mph and it is raining lightly. -S