Playing
HOOKY By Shenandoah Riverkeeper Jeff Kelble Photos by Shenandoah Riverkeeper
»IT WAS 1999, and from the middle of the Potomac River below Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, I had spotty reception on my cell phone. This is where several hundred million years ago a giant flood broke through the Blue Ridge Mountains and cut a path that emptied a sea whose bottom we now call the Potomac Highlands. Here, the historic Shenandoah River joins the Potomac; at times its flow pushing up the Potomac, at other times being pushed, all depending on where the rain fell. Giant tombstone ledges of granite cross the river, holding pools of water back only to flow through cuts hammered out by floods. These are some of Potomac’s mightiest rapids. With names like Mad Dog and White Horse, they rumbled in the background as I tried to continue doing sales business. I was playing hooky from my job, because the smallmouth bass fishing through here was incredible and I couldn’t stay away. An awesome population of smallmouth bass was growing up that year, just the strongest fish in the system, those that survived the two floods in 1996. I became a regular fixture of the river during the work week, as my interest in selling things was dying and I was being reminded that I had grown up on rivers, and that’s where I felt best. It wasn’t long before I began meeting guides from Mark Kovach Fishing Services. Men rowing whitewater rafts through these waters with fishermen attached to swivel seats, fishing as they floated, came by every day like clockwork. I was fascinated and I didn’t hide it well, because before long I was
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being taught to row one of these things by a retired tobacconist, John Hayes — also fishing guide, story teller and big laugher. Overnight I was hooked and began taking clients out on the nation’s river the next spring. Among the guides was Butch, a full time car salesman; Mark, a defense contractor; Dave, a middle school teacher and gifted writer; Rick, who worked in IT; and Mark Kovach, the original handlebarmustached fishing guide. They were all doing the same thing that I was, feeding their souls by taking people fishing. By spring of the next year, now with my own boat, I needed to see more of the Mid-Atlantic’s rivers, so I started Playing Hooky Guide Service. Over the next seven years I twisted and turned my boat along dozens of rivers laid out in more than 100 different floats. I don’t know how many fisher-
Bull Falls on the Shenandoah River
That’s the question that residents of the DC metropolitan area are asking themselves about the fish in the Potomac River. Around the nation’s capital male fish are developing ovaries in their reproductive organs. The condition — known as intersex fish — is linked to hormone disrupting chemicals from animal
and urged Congress to act before the problem became even worse. Merrifield described the chemicals causing the mutations, the dangers to human health and EPA’s slow response to the matter. “In the long run,” he warned, “keeping these chemicals out of our rivers and streams is what matters.”
waste, insecticides, cosmetics and medicines in our waterways. These chemicals are taking a toll on the fish — and until we know for sure — who is to say that they are not taking a toll on us? In October, Potomac Riverkeeper Ed Merrifield testified before the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform
Spring 2007 Waterkeeper Magazine
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