The Official Word About Channel Markers in West Neck Creek

"Since West Neck Creek is not considered a state or federally maintained channel, the markers will have to be personally maintained by someone"--if at all.

That's the word from Chad Boyce, a fish biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Chad went on to tell me, "There are no creeks (along the North Landing River) that have officially marked channels."

What does this mean to the people who launch boats out of West Neck Marina and/or fish West Neck Creek? In short, the day probably is coming when those channel markers that are left will go the way of at least three others--that I'm aware of--and completely disappear.

Some folks may remember, but for the benefit of those who don't, the former West Neck Marina manager Dewey Mullins orchestrated installation of the markers that are still in the creek today. He and a crew of volunteers did the whole job. A lot of years, a lot of storms, and a few misguided watercraft in the interim have taken their toll on the markers that remain.

The scary part of this situation is that some people already drive their boats through areas of the creek with submerged hazards big enough to do some serious damage, and as more and more markers disappear, those dangers will only increase. I've been fishing this creek since 1977, and even yet today, I happen upon hazards that I didn't know existed. I found another new one just last Wednesday, as a matter of fact--a huge submerged stump that sits well off the main shoreline. I saw it thanks to the low, clear water I was fishing that day.

There also are some major "stump fields" along the creek that extend a long ways off the shoreline and which I'm willing to bet not everyone knows about. It's these kinds of things that cause me to stop and stare in disbelief when I see people sometimes cutting between markers and the shoreline or operating boats recklessly while towing kids on tubes and such up or down the creek.

West Neck and Pocaty are two places that you should show a lot of respect for when it comes to operating a boat at high speed, especially on low-water days. Both, in my opinion, represent "accidents just waiting to happen." The smart boater is the one who saves his/her hot-dogging for the main river.