Overnight on the Severn...Mitten Crab, Bald Eagle, and a Rockfish

[rsd612]

Kim and I prepared the boat Saturday for an overnight on the river. Headed out around 5:30pm. Stopped by one of our neighborhood beaches to see my granddaughter, daughter and son-in-law for his birthday party. My granddaughter had more fun playing in a 5-gallon bucket of water on my boat.



Saw what we think might have been a Mitten Crab after dark at our boat ramp (too fast to catch)(not sure if I should call DNR & report it) before we headed out to Round Bay to anchor up for the night. Watched a beautiful moonrise while we cooked hamburgers and brauts.



It was a beautiful night on the River....not too warm....cool breeze....good sleepin weather. Got up, fired up the grill, and cooked us some breakfast. My Kimberly loves my breakfast sandwiches in the morning!



While eating breakfast, we watched two Bald Eagles circling around and staring at us from afar. I think he was eying up our sandwiches. Look close....you'll see one of them in the photo in the top of the dead tree. The other was watching him from a different tree and I couldn't get a pic of him.. Great to watch through the binoculars.



After breakfast, we fished for about an hour. Kim reeled in a 19" Rock and I reeled in an undersized. All in all....nice 24 hours on the water.

[goose70]

Kim and I prepared the boat Saturday for an overnight on the river. Headed out around 5:30pm. Stopped by one of our neighborhood beaches to see my granddaughter, daughter and son-in-law for his birthday party. My granddaughter had more fun playing in a 5-gallon bucket of water on my boat.



Saw what we think might have been a Mitten Crab after dark at our boat ramp (too fast to catch)(not sure if I should call DNR & report it) before we headed out to Round Bay to anchor up for the night. Watched a beautiful moonrise while we cooked hamburgers and brauts.



It was a beautiful night on the River....not too warm....cool breeze....good sleepin weather. Got up, fired up the grill, and cooked us some breakfast. My Kimberly loves my breakfast sandwiches in the morning!



While eating breakfast, we watched two Bald Eagles circling around and staring at us from afar. I think he was eying up our sandwiches. Look close....you'll see one of them in the photo in the top of the dead tree. The other was watching him from a different tree and I couldn't get a pic of him.. Great to watch through the binoculars.



After breakfast, we fished for about an hour. Kim reeled in a 19" Rock and I reeled in an undersized. All in all....nice 24 hours on the water.

Sounds like a great night on the Severn. As for the crab, I'm not certain, but the crab in your pick looks a lot like the marsh crabs that are fairly common along the Severn shorelines. http://www.chesapeakebay.net/fieldgu...ter/marsh_crab

[axxell33]

Sounds like a great night on the Severn. As for the crab, I'm not certain, but the crab in your pick looks a lot like the marsh crabs that are fairly common along the Severn shorelines. http://www.chesapeakebay.net/fieldgu...ter/marsh_crab

Just based on the picture, I think you're right, Jeff. After the hurricane last fall, my daughter came and asked me for a bucket.. she had a "surprise". So I let her have it, and 20 minutes later she came back with a dozen or more of baby fish, a couple of catfish and a baby crab. She found them in a mud puddle atleast 1/4 mile or more away from the shoreline where the high waters had washed them up.

I now have a 55 gallon aquarium with nice size sunfish, a big fat catfish, and a marsh crab. That picture of the crab looks a lot like the one that burrows in my aquarium sand.

[rsd612]

Jeff,

That's what it does look like. I couldn't get to close to him, he would dart down between the pier boards and pop back up when I walked away. That is a zoomed in pic from the original photo. If it was light out, I would have tried to catch him and figure him out. I've never seen one before, a Mitten crab was the only thing I could come up with.