Way back when, in the dark ages of 1984, I was a wee young lad living in Richmond, VA.  Fishing was my life.  There's wasn't a pond, stream, or river around that I didn't wet my line in.

One of my favorite spots was on a low dam on the James River, Williams Dam.  Right in the middle of town.  I'd shimmy out on the dam, make up some oatmeal balls, and catch the hell out of giant carp.  Carp aren't good for eating, but if you tie on a 20 pound carp on ultralight tackle you'd have a good 45-60 minute fight on your hands.

One hot summer day I was sitting out on the dam, waiting on a bite, when apparently a Times-Dispatch photographer saw me and thought it'd make a good pic.  I had no idea; I ofund out when I got to a friends house and all of a sudden I'm a celebrity; picture in the paper!

A good friend of mine's father was an editor at the paper and he got them to print an 11x17 copy.  My dad framed it and it hung in their house until they moved to their current house in 1991, when I snatched it right up.  Now it hangs in my basement.

I had some time to kill today while the wife was getting her shoulder operated on and I decided to go visit some old haunts; one of those places was Williams Dam.  Of course I forgot the Nikon when we left to go to the hospital so it's a potato-cam pic, but I thought it'd be neat to take a shot of the dam today, and post it up from my famous newspaper debut.

One thing you'll notice in today's dam is that there's a big cutout in the middle.  Apparently they made that cutout to provide for striper migrations upriver (there sure weren't stripers in the James in Richmond when I was a kid).

FS on Williams Dam 1984 by FredMan, on Flickr

FS on Williams Dam  Reverse 1984 by FredMan, on Flickr

Williams Dam by FredMan, on Flickr

That is nifty! Thanks for sharing.

We need a LIKE button.

Looks like where you were sitting in 1984, was cut out, did you find the top of a cane, that looked like a fist?????

The wife says we're going to go and recreate that picture on some future June 19.

I'm not so sure my 50-something self will be quite as nimble shimmying out on the dam these days; I never fell off it back in the day but I came close.

It's not deep on the downstream side; maybe waist deep when the water's low enough to walk out there.

Great time. Great pic.

That's pretty cool. What would be cooler is to get your ass out there and get another pick sitting on that rock fishing.

Did you not see my last post?  Where I said we're planning on doing just that?

We intend to recreate it on the same day of the year, so June 19.

Cool!

that's a really cool pic.

You could wait til you're using a walker.
Really make the adventure exciting!

That dam IS wide enough for a walker.

The top of it is actually kind of interesting; there's two parallel "beams" with a 8-12" deep "trench" in between.  My sitting position was to place my ass on the rear "beam" and rest the arches of my feet on the edge of the "trench" on the front "beam".  Helps keep from being washed over.

I've been out on that dam in some pretty dicey conditions; them fish ain't gonna catch themselves.  Like water up over my knees dicey.  The current likes to try to sweep your foot away every time you take a step.  I never fell, though, and earned my James River Rock Rat badge early in life.

It's also pretty shallow on the downstream side, water's on;ly up to your waist in normal flow.  No hydraulics, unlike Bosher Dam a few miles upstream.  Bosher is like 20 feet tall and has some dangerous hydraulics in the tailrace.  I'd climb the abutment tying it to the shore, though and fish the pool below.  Caught some nice smallies in that pool.  The bitch lady that lived in the house by the dam pitched a fit if she caught you walking her shore; all the boaters would stop and piss on her bank and she hated it.

If I'm still around in 2054, I'll try to recreate this photo.



One thing I've got going for me is that it's not a difficult section.  

I didn't even know about this photo until I picked up a copy of Blue Ridge Outdoors at the counter of a local shop here in Alabama.  It's the furthest from the Blue Ridge that I've seen one of these.

That is awesome.

Doo  Eeeeeet

@RED_5

Not at all!  One of the reasons I put this here is to avoid ending up in a pic with Lootie, some redneck with a Mosin, a nuclear blast, and IT SPINS.

cool!

Marking it on my calendar!

There's something about getting back to places where old photos overlap.  It marks the passage of time in a tangible way.  Connects us to the past.  Puts the intervening time in appreciable relief.

As an aside ....

I think I came away with something like 1.2TB of photos, video and timelapse from my trip up north this past winter, and when I finished putting together a video of some of it, I realized I had some decent B roll that never made it in.

So, I'm like, "Hey, there are at least 2 other people that would appreciate this.  And that's my cousin, and Fred"

So, if I didn't @ you on this, well, I'm now sort of @'ing you on this...

[I've been going up there for years, first on a business trip, then vacations with my daughter, and now just vacations by myself]

ETA: I thought I could embed the code that simply jumps you to the spot, but I can't seem to get that to work.  So, just jump to 11:52 ....

Got nothing to do with the dam, but it has everything to do with "then and now".  I made a whole thread about it last year but it seems to fit here very well.

The Mrs. and I saw the Grateful Dead in Hampton VA on 10/8 & 9, 1989.  Magical shows; billed as "Formerly the Warlocks" due to the asshat Hampton city council hating the Dead.

Somebody snapped this pic of us in the parking lot:

CBFS1989-10-09_lzn by FredMan, on Flickr

Dead & Co. played Hampton on 11/8 & 9/2019, and of course we had to go.  30 years and 31 days.  Same venue, same parking lot, same us (well, maybe not SAME us, 30 years does have a toll).  Planned out the re-enactment shot, and got a kind lot neighbor to take the pic.  I'm even wearing the same jacket that (mostly) fits; the only thing Mrs. had that she could find was the hat.

CBFS Hampton 20191108 by FredMan, on Flickr

Great jacket!

I really miss the sound of Jerry's guitar carrying out through the air at concerts.

You and me both, brother.  I got on the bus in 1983 and turned into a taper in 1988.  I wouldn't be the person I am today were it not for the experiences I had on tour.  East Coast, West Coast, Canada, from Maine to Florida.

Sounds like great fun.
At least you respect what water can do.
I have seen boaters with vessels capable of 6 knots max try to go against an 8 knot tiderace then wonder why they were going backwards while full throttle ahead.

If you can kick in adequately in 2054 then oh boy!
Next you'll be going up Castle Gulley on Ben Nevis' north face (just kidding, don't try).