America’s favorite and treasured pasttimes are continually challenged by technology and a 21st-century lifestyle. But a father-and-son team from Carolina Beach practice traditional living off the land and some of the country’s favored diversions.
Capt. Jeff Wolfe of Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters and his 18-year-old son, Christian, have carved a niche in the Cape Fear River community, trapping crabs and putting anxious clients on trophy inshore fish. For more than 30 years, the Cape Fear’s endemic treasures have kept the food on the Wolfe family stable and a roof over their heads.
Wolfe’s love for the river and its rich treasures runs deep in his family, and they couldn’t be imprinted any more than in his son, Christian. From toddler to a college baseball player, Christian’s love for the water and sea sense have boosted his abilities as a fishing guide and charterboat captain.
“It took me over 20 years to learn the limits and possibilities of this area, but Christian already knows every channel, oyster bar, and flat out there,” Jeff Wolfe said. “I know he is my son, but Christian is bright and extremely talented, with a promising future as a winning fishing captain, business owner, or a Miami Marlin’s center fielder.”
When not helping his father on fishing trips, 18-year-old Christian attends the UNC-Wilmington after being recruited as the Seahawks’ new centerfielder. With a promising future on the baseball diamond, his favorite free-time activity remains in the skinny water estuaries of the Cape Fear River, chasing a different type of grand slam, the inshore slam: redfish, trout, flounder, sheepshead and even the mysterious tripletail.
Despite playing baseball, attending church functions and running minnow traps to supply local tackle shops with mud minnows, he always finds time to outsmart a school of redfish or feisty flounder in Buzzard Bay on a routine basis.
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