Tidelines – October 13, 2016
My first plan for this issue’s Tidelines column was to talk about an annual wahoo trip with Capt. Thomas Wood and the charter boat Dancin’ Outlaw that operates out of the Morehead City waterfront. While this was our third year in a row fishing with Thomas, it somehow was only the first year we had been fishing with his regular mate Michael Tickle.
The trip provided us with plenty of wahoo, including a couple of fish that went 50+ lbs., as well as a sailfish late in the day. Michael simultaneously kept the cockpit running smooth and efficient, all while sharing stories of the boat’s recent swordfish catch, tales of snowy grouper from the deep water, and plenty of good advice on where I may want to travel for a fishing vacation to celebrate my 50th birthday next summer.
JJ Khoury, Scott Wallen, and Tom Favor back at the Morehead City docks with wahoo and a sailfish flag. They were fishing with Capt. Thomas Wood and Mate Michael Tickle on the charter boat Dancin Outlaw.
If I had more room in this Tidelines, I would have worked in some text about Brian Fowler, the buddy that put us up in his Morehead apartment the night before so we didn’t have to leave my Wilmington house at 3:15 to make it to the docks in time, and I would have also worked in some text about “Fowler for Mayor of Morehead City,” as to go out drinking with Brian means you know everyone.
Then I would have ended my Dancin’ Outlaw write-up with a cryptic message about Rick Croson being proud of me.
Or maybe I would have finished up Tidelines with a quick recap of the Crystal Coast Surf Fishing Challenge, which would have been over by this print date as it was originally scheduled for the weekend of October 7-9.
That’s all before Hurricane Matthew came through our area.
Instead, I am talking about the new dates for the Crystal Coast Surf Fishing Challenge (October 28-30) and other after-storm effects of Matthew.
The postponement of our Crystal Coast surf fishing event to the end of October is of very little consequence to the much larger problems that many in our area are still working through following the storm. While it’s impossible to be comprehensive and cover everyone that has been displaced or problematized by the storm, I think the most unsettling fishing-related sight for me was the video of the end of Oak Island Pier falling to the heavy seas on Saturday afternoon.
Everyone in our industry knows that fishing piers have been struggling for years against a multitude of forces, with perhaps the most dangerous being real estate developers. So I’m especially sad to see Oak Island Pier’s collapse. And then it’s even more sad to hear that the city has no concrete plans to rebuild the pier at this time, nor are they giving a timetable on when a decision will be made.
I could also talk about parts of NC Highway 12 in the Outer Banks getting washed away in the storm, or the storm surge down in Hatteras Village being the highest many locals have ever seen, or even the rest of Oak Island and Southport getting pummeled by the heavy onshore winds and surf, but I have a long-standing appreciation for Oak Island Pier, formerly Yaupon Pier, and I feel like the fishing community loses a huge part of its culture and charm whenever a pier goes down.
If you read our fishing reports in this issue, you’ll get a mixed feel for the effects of the storm. Some sources are already reporting good fishing in the area, while others are advising anglers to be patient and wait about a week for the water (and the fishing) to improve.
I’ve got another day or two of yard cleanup around the office and the house, but then I’ll be ready to view firsthand the fishing conditions. Maybe those red drum will still be off the Oak Island and other Brunswick County beaches, or maybe the big reds are a little more active now in the Wrightsville and Carolina Beach surf or off of one of the Topsail piers.
I still want to get my kids off of Swansboro or Atlantic Beach hooking some nearshore kings and chasing around schools of false albacore. And our friends in the Pamlico may not be landing the big reds any more this year, but they’re finding plenty of success with flounder, trout, slot reds, and stripers, and who doesn’t like catching (and eating) those four species?
So I’m a man with mixed emotions: I very much mourn for Oak Island Pier and feel for others still reeling from the storm, but I love where we live in spite of the hurricanes.
