Sandwiches and a Fishing Trip

A random May Saturday in Richmond with no definite plans...  Fresh air was needed and the fish were bound to be jumping.  We set out on an adventure to a favorite spot for many Richmonders during the warmer months  - a stretch of heaven known as Pony Pasture.  I had many memories here growing up bringing my aunt's dogs on the rocks, adventuring to the other side of the river or just floundering in the sun. Times have changed but the banks of this stretch of the James still remain a charming oasis for denizens in need of reprieve.  The souls that live alongside Riverside Drive are lucky indeed.

Our destination was a patch of parkland right below the Z Dam known as "Riverside Meadow Greenspace" - a well-known spot among anglers where hungry and determined fish gear up for the leap over the dam. This stretch is teeming with smallmouth bass, sunfish and in the springtime schools of anadromous fish such as shad and an occasional striped bass. These fish have traveled far, all the way up from the ocean on a breeding pilgrimage.

En route to Riverside Drive we stopped at one of our go-to shops for guaranteed-delicious sandwiches and other baked delights: Montana Gold Bread Company in Carytown. It must be the challah bread, or the fact that their sandwiches (turkey, ham, chicken salad, hummus, pimento cheese, you name it) are laced with thinly sliced cucumbers, thinly sliced red onions, thinly sliced red peppers, thinly sliced tomatoes,  slathered in honey mustard and mayonnaise, and probably sprinkled with crack cocaine.  But it's really the fluffy pillowy challah bread that brings us every time.  Need a picnic solution?  Get the sandwiches from Montana Gold. That and their snicker doodle cinnamon sugar cookies.  These giant cookies are not fully baked which creates an exhilarating experience when you press your finger on them in the store and recognize that they were half-baked with perfection and care.  Even the edges are gooey.  We ordered two sandwiches, ham and roast beef, a bag of fritos, and of course one of the cookies.  We then fled, before temptation led us into buying other goods in this place that literally smells like heaven.

Montana Gold's ham sandwich on challah bread. 

Montana Gold in Carytown

The Cary Street Road corridor from Carytown to the Huguenot Bridge is probably one of the most gratifying drives in Richmond - particularly on an afternoon in May with the rhododendrons in full glory and the manicured lawns deeply green.  The architectural variations of the grand homes and charming cottages that line this stretch have always delighted me in their understated well-established charm. When driving down Cary Street Road one's spirits cannot help but be lifted with the comfort of driving in this desirable part of town. One can breathe a sigh of relief as one's faith in humanity is restored.

Over the Huguenot Bridge and over to Riverside Drive we go and down along we drive slowly, windows down, taking in the smells of spring: river, honey suckle, lapis lazuli, creeping vines & fresh cut grass. Occasional bikers and walkers and boys with fishing rods greet us as we traverse towards the parking.  The views of the River are breathtaking.  She was moving fast today, but somewhat settled since her previous anger a week ago.  After passing through a few suspicious types congregating along the river next to the parking lot, we walked down to the Meadow Greenspace, perched on a rather lichenous granite rock and consumed our picnic lunch of sandwiches and the gooey cookie. Then began a few hours of fishing.

There's a reason they call it fishing not catching. My Carolina rigged blood tube and salted berkeley gulp leech apparently weren't appetizing to the smallmouth bass I was aiming to land.  Oh well! Perhaps it was the time of day. Perhaps it was the storm on the horizon.  Who knows.  I should have brought my fly rod with dry may flies, but they went missing and my casting form is more than rusty. Perhaps next time.  Up river we walked till we reached the Z-Dam.  What a roaring entity! - a bit terrifying as you get close to it. This spot was teeming with shad.  A young guy and his little brothers netted one and we admired its size.  It was a hickory, plump with roe! You could see the fish from the bank next to the dam  just swirling and thrashing in an out of the eddies, angrily trying to figure out how to get over the dam.  I tried hooking one with a couple shad darts, but they would have none of it.  I even saved one of the aforementioned brothers - a boy of 12 -  that got too close to the edge and slipped in!  He grasped my hand and I pulled him out, halfway falling in myself.  The best catchers were the osprey flying above us with their piercing eyes keen on bringing home food to their chicks.  Watching them dive-bomb the swirling water below the dam was exciting - it was as if they were showing off their talent to us silly humans from the bank with our fishing rods.

Fishing on the Z Dam - the 30 foot Notch which
allows migratory fish to go upstream is visible. 

 



After our fishing excursion we took a long drive along Cherokee Road up to Balona Arsenal and all along Old Gun Road.  Again, bits of Virginia heaven along the River James.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.