aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

[dgopetactical]

Hello again,
Have a few post going with questions regarding my vacation on the upper Chesapeake.

We are staying up on the bush river and plan on doing some fishing and crabbing on the river and also do some boating in the bay.

I have been doing some research on the prooving grounds regulations since it is a restricted zone. I know boating is permitted ( I think) but all the information I get from apg site constantly couterdicts its-self. The chart on my plotter says "restricted stay out" the whole way up to the amtrack bridge and half way out in the bay up to the susquahanna flats
I cant see how that can be since there is boating clubs and marinas up at that end of the bush.
The apg site says no touching of the ground in or out of the water this includes anchoring etc. So I guess I cant set crab traps either????

I have found other info on the net where people do fish and crab on apg grounds.

This is starting to really confuse me. If there is somebody out there that can give me the basics in plain english for activities in this area that would be wounderful


thanks
Denny

 

[dgopetactical]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

Sorry,
gotta bump this we are leaving Friday afternoon 8/1

 

[arks]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

Denny-
The Bush and Gunpowder rivers are definitely open to boaters on weekends, but during the week they can be closed to navigation due to live fire activity in the vicinity. I'm not positive, but I think crabbing and fishing are prohibited.

This is important: if you're not sure, call APG by phone or hail a patrol boat on VHF 16/68 . The APG boats there ONLY to protect the public and are NOT law enforcement. Don't be hesitant to talk to them- they'll gladly let you know what's happening. My slipmate is an APG Captain and he wishes more people would contact him before blasting down the river.

Here's a handy pdf you should copy and have onboard.
www.apgmwr.com/images/recreation/boatersguide.pdf

By the way- there's a fairly large party/raftup all day Saturday at Sand Island, which is a few miles north of the Bush River along the Havre de Grace channel (west of Turkey Point). On the chart it's the "spoil area" just west of Fishing Battery. A live band will be performing from an anchored houseboat and it's always a good time. Join us if you can!

Rob

 

[bayman]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

Be VERY careful in this area!

I may be pointing out the obvious, but I'll try to answer your question the best I can. Note that I haven't lived there for quite awhile but I don't think things have changed much.

For a long time now part of the bay has been used as an ordinance testing area. They fire shells from tanks and artillery pieces from miles away and it lands in part of the bay. If you do venture too closely, hopefully the patrol boats will stop you before you get too far.

Even if this area were not a military base any longer it still could be dangerous for many years to come due to the unexploded ordinance.

Yes, the area is very nice for sure. If you know where to go there is good crabbing, wild blackberry bushes and more. Much of the bay (see the map) is totally restricted and nobody can go there, military or not. The base, of course, is restricted to military personnel and their guests.

As far as I have seen, military families who live on the base can, in some places, place traps within the safe restricted areas.

Oh, do beware of the ticks if you go in the trees. There is often plenty of stinging nettle close to shore in the wet areas too...not fun.

 

[arks]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

The question about crabbing got me curious, so I did an internet search and came up with this tidbit. Looks like it's OK to crab- sometimes! Look at page 3- "APG Outdoor Journal".
http://www.apgnews.apg.army.mil/

 

[vandy21]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

i used to go to a camp directly across the Bay from Aberdeen, and we once sailed too close and guards with AK-47's showed up. Not sure too much about the questions you have, but I can help in some ways. If you think you hear thunder, listening carefully, because they are constantly setting off bombs. Also fighter jets fly really low and fast around that area so it can get very loud, but it is fun to watch them.

 

[dgopetactical]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

The question about crabbing got me curious, so I did an internet search and came up with this tidbit. Looks like it's OK to crab- sometimes! Look at page 3- "APG Outdoor Journal".
http://www.apgnews.apg.army.mil/

thanks for that info. Now that seems to me crabbing is alowed?? Like I stated eariler everything coutridictcs itself with the apg rules.

 

[dgopetactical]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

Denny-
The Bush and Gunpowder rivers are definitely open to boaters on weekends, but during the week they can be closed to navigation due to live fire activity in the vicinity. I'm not positive, but I think crabbing and fishing are prohibited.

This is important: if you're not sure, call APG by phone or hail a patrol boat on VHF 16/68 . The APG boats there ONLY to protect the public and are NOT law enforcement. Don't be hesitant to talk to them- they'll gladly let you know what's happening. My slipmate is an APG Captain and he wishes more people would contact him before blasting down the river.

Here's a handy pdf you should copy and have onboard.
www.apgmwr.com/images/recreation/boatersguide.pdf

By the way- there's a fairly large party/raftup all day Saturday at Sand Island, which is a few miles north of the Bush River along the Havre de Grace channel (west of Turkey Point). On the chart it's the "spoil area" just west of Fishing Battery. A live band will be performing from an anchored houseboat and it's always a good time. Join us if you can!

Rob

we will come up on sat afternoon and try to find you guys thanks for all the info

 

[dgopetactical]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

Hello,
We just got back. I just wanted to thank everybody for all the info it helped alot.

As far as boating, fishing and crabbing on the bush river (APG restricted zone) it is all allowed. There were times that it was hard to navigate because of all the recreational crab trap bouys. We set our crab traps and caught some but apparently they are not running that hard yet in the upper bay.

As far as fishing we caught some nice catfish, perch etc. I wanted to catch striped bass (rock fish) but had no luck in the river or bay.

On the first day we seen a APG patrol boat in the river we deceided to aproach him to ask questions. He was very nice and happy to help. He said that the APG puts out info making it seem your not allowed on the prooving ground property but in reality they dont enforce it unless the base is doing a training exercise with is far and few. He said you can basicly do what you want (not allowed to touch dry land) and if do something or go somewhere you are not suppose to they will track you down and escort you away. He stated they position there patrol boats all over and monitor all boat activity on the military base.

As far as the bay it was beautiful every body enjoyed it. The only thing that I had a problem with in the bay was the comercial crabbers set traps all over the place there to be thousands of them at the mouth or the bush and gunpowder and beyond, they even clogged up the shipping channels I never seen anything like that. Then again this was my first time on the Bay.

In all we had a great time and plan on going down again in mid september for a long weekend.

Denny

 

[dgopetactical]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

Denny-
The Bush and Gunpowder rivers are definitely open to boaters on weekends, but during the week they can be closed to navigation due to live fire activity in the vicinity. I'm not positive, but I think crabbing and fishing are prohibited.

This is important: if you're not sure, call APG by phone or hail a patrol boat on VHF 16/68 . The APG boats there ONLY to protect the public and are NOT law enforcement. Don't be hesitant to talk to them- they'll gladly let you know what's happening. My slipmate is an APG Captain and he wishes more people would contact him before blasting down the river.

Here's a handy pdf you should copy and have onboard.
www.apgmwr.com/images/recreation/boatersguide.pdf

By the way- there's a fairly large party/raftup all day Saturday at Sand Island, which is a few miles north of the Bush River along the Havre de Grace channel (west of Turkey Point). On the chart it's the "spoil area" just west of Fishing Battery. A live band will be performing from an anchored houseboat and it's always a good time. Join us if you can!

Rob

Arks,
We were headed up your way to sand island last saturday but turned back because of those bad inbound storms and tornado watch. I would not have wanted to be on the bay for that. Anyway thanks for the invite.

 

[arks]

Re: aberdeen prooving grounds md bush river.

Arks,
We were headed up your way to sand island last saturday but turned back because of those bad inbound storms and tornado watch. I would not have wanted to be on the bay for that. Anyway thanks for the invite.

Hey, no problem. I don't blame you! Maybe you can make it next year.

Yeah, the weather could've been better, but there was a decent turnout- about 65-70 boats in all. By mid-afternoon the main raft-up had about 30, with smaller groups or singles anchored around us. The band ("Driftwood") was excellent and played for almost 4 hours.
The storm that hammered Bel Air passed just to our south. The lightning was huge but fortunately we only got a 20 minute rain shower.
Here's some pictures. The guy in the second picture is JOE, and he's quite the character.....