Scenes Along the Shore

Feeling indignant I had to work six of seven days a few weeks ago, including Father's Day - I took an extra day the following week and headed to Virginia's beautiful Eastern Shore. Fortune smiled and I was able to spend time on the water each day fishing or beaching. Between my father and I, we caught about 30 flounder on Thursday and 20 on Friday, however only 1 out of the 50 was bigger than the 18.5" minimum size limit. Regardless it was still better than working, and the one we kept tasted good that evening crusted with pecans and oregano.

Due to the tides, we put in early each morning in Parker's Creek.

The creek leads out to Metompkin Bay, the barrier island beaches and Metompkin Inlet where the fish are. To get there you must navigate a series of channels and tidal flats bordered by thin green lines of Spartina grass, lush now that it is summer. The importance of this grass to the coastal ecology can not be underestimated.

Although at first glance the barrier islands oceanfront's seem barren compared to the lush marsh, there is plenty of life here, including lots of birds. In fact there were so many birds that you could even hear them over the outboard engine, and when the engine was off it was downright cacophonous.

Dogs are not allowed on the sensitive barrier islands, and since not all of them make good fishing partners - Penny, Loretta and cousin Sage had to enjoy each other's company closer to home.

I am thankful for the opportunity to enjoy a needed, spur-of-the-moment mini-vacation, and I especially enjoyed my time on the water and time spent with my parents.

If you would like to see the rest of my photos, they are on my Flickr page, and if you really have time on your hands, you can see my earlier Metompkin posts here.