Tidelines – June 27, 2013
I’ve just spent the weekend with an old friend—the Southport fishing community—and we had a great time together.
This past weekend saw Fisherman’s Post hosting the Southport Inshore Challenge for the second year in a row, and once again I’m tempted (despite the politician in me that warns not to pick sides) to declare Southport Marina as my favorite Inshore Challenge venue.
With all due respect to OIFC, Wrightsville Beach Marina, Inlet Watch Marina, and Sears Landing (the new Surf City location), our time at Southport Marina offers the staff at Fisherman’s Post a mini-getaway in the midst of a busy summer schedule.
Southport Marina itself has a picturesque location, looking out on the ICW and the mouth of the Cape Fear River, with Old Baldy and Fort Caswell lighthouses in the backdrop, and the marina’s wide open and landscaped deck space serves everyone well as both the site of Friday’s Registration and Saturday’s Weigh-In and Awards.
And while I thoroughly enjoy catching up with old Southport friends and new ones over food and drink on Friday, what I’ve really come to appreciate is closing Registration at 8:00 pm and then walking across the parking lot to the two furnished, water front condominiums that Tommy Rickman (owner of The Tackle Box) provides Fisherman’s Post as part of his sponsorship of the event.
The front decks of the condos share the same view as Southport Marina. And perhaps even better than the view, on Saturday evening once the entry forms have been checked and rechecked and the tournament database updated, it’s just a short walk to Southport’s Yacht Basin for more food and drink.
For me, being able to walk from Tournament HQ to our accommodations, and then being able to walk to dinner, is the essence of making the weekend feel like a mini-vacation (who doesn’t love leaving the car parked for the weekend?).
Continuing my Southport theme in Tidelines, for this week’s Flashback Photo I selected the cover photo from the June 26, 2003, issue of Fisherman’s Post Newspaper. Brandon Matthews and his 50+ lb. king mackerel were the feature, and I still recall the strong reaction people had when delivering that issue in the Southport/Oak Island area.
Back in the first year of the newspaper, I was the only delivery person. On Day One I would do Wilmington and Topsail. On Day Two I would do Southport and Oak Island in the morning, and then ferry over to Pleasure Island to finish up my route there in the afternoon.
The issue with Brandon on the cover was only the seventh issue we had published. I had already heard his name mentioned in that short time of doing the paper, but when delivering that June 26 issue I was struck by how popular, well liked, and respected he was. Almost everyone in Southport and Oak Island picked up the paper as soon as it was delivered and then commented to me how happy they were to see smiling Brandon with yet another big fish.
Some fishermen are well respected and some are well liked, but few seem to enjoy both. Brandon, then and now, is clearly one who enjoys both.
I’ll finish with one last Southport reference. Last week we received a photo from a Wilmington reader showing that our tournament booklet for the Southport Inshore Challenge had made it all the way to France. Barbara Allen-Zalewski had been reading about the upcoming tournament at a local seafood market while vacationing on the English Channel in Trouville-sur-Mer, France. Apparently a local French sea captain asked her about the magazine right after the photo was taken, and she ended up trading the booklet for one of the lobsters seen in the background of the photo.
I’m going to try and negotiate the same deal—does any local seafood house want to trade out fresh seafood for a box of old Southport Inshore Challenge booklets?
