Tidelines – October 9, 2014
William Levier took first place in the bluefish category of the Fisherman’s Post Topsail Island Fall Surf Fishing Challenge with this 10.8 lb. fish. The big blue struck a chunk of mullet in a slough just off the beach at Surf City.
My love affair with surf fishing took hold once again this past Sunday, in spite of not reeling in a single fish.
Over the weekend of October 3-5, we hosted our inaugural Topsail Island Fall Surf Fishing Challenge. Fisherman’s Post had staged a surf fishing event on Topsail Island this past spring, but this was our first time trying the event during the fall fishing season.
Everything was running smoothly as of late Saturday night, so I allowed myself some time on the beach early Sunday morning before the responsibility of heading to tournament HQ to set up for the noon awards dinner and 2:00 awards ceremony.
My Sunday morning host was Adam Meyer, providing the truck, the Topsail Beach drive-on permit, the sand spikes, the bait, and all of the other fishing necessities (other than asking me to bring my own surf rods).
Those that surf fish regularly know well the benefits of preparation and systems, and I was the beneficiary that Sunday morning of all of Adam’s preparations and systematic approaches.
The surf rack extending from the back of his truck was a custom job that held all of our rods and sand spikes (in between the rod holders were much smaller diameter holders that were the perfect size for skinny sand spikes), a couple of five gallon buckets—one holding mostly lead and the other holding mostly pre-tied rigs in individual baggies, a knife sharpener/holder, and a bait cutting board.
The only feature missing from this custom surf rack that would have come in handy was a couple of drink holders.
In the early morning light Adam found a spot on the south end of Topsail that he liked—a little slough between a couple of sand bars with some deeper water before the outer sand bar. After the few minutes it took us to rig, bait, cast, and then set down our two rods each in rod holders, Adam immediately switched over to another level of hosting.
Surf fishing, like just about any other kind of fishing, can be about so much more than just the fishing, and that’s exactly where our morning went when Adam pulled out the propane grill to first prepare the coffee and second to grill up the country ham and eggs.
The creamer was present, but apparently no plates made the trip. No problem. We fashioned make-shift plates out of a Styrofoam Bojangles’ Bo-Berry biscuit container—a couple of biscuits being my one contribution to the morning breakfast.
After coffee, ham and eggs, and then another cup of coffee, it was time to check our baits. All of my hooks came in empty (no surprise—my cut shrimp and menhaden had been sitting unattended for quite a while), but Adam had a 10” flounder on the bottom hook of a custom drop rig. Well, probably more like an 8” flounder, but since we didn’t measure before releasing then it’s all theory.
Our surf fishing morning took on an easy rhythm: cast, sit in beach chairs, check rods, re-bait, and re-cast. Birds were working all around the sea buoy, and the reef off Jolly Roger Pier probably held about 20 boats searching for a big king mackerel to weigh in the U.S. Open. The picturesque, sunny morning included the unmistakable chill of fall air, with temps in the low 50s following the front that had moved in overnight.
I could have easily spent the day checking and changing out bait, caring little about fish tallies.
Luckily, though, I took a quick glance at the phone and noticed that my morning break away was over—it was time to get back to the work of the tournament.
Adam and I packed up quickly, took the short run to Darden where my truck (loaded with tshirts, raffle tickets, prize envelopes, and other assorted tournament essentials) was waiting.
And while I don’t think I even had a single bite that morning, the allure of surf fishing had taken hold. Hopefully that hold is strong enough to get to me to break away once again during the upcoming Pleasure Island Surf Fishing Challenge.
