Summer brings beach vacations as North Carolina residents and out-of-state visitors descend upon the state’s coastal regions in search of cooling breezes and good fishing.
Fishing at many beaches means going to piers, of which 19 remain in operation today (in 1992 North Carolina had 32 coastal fishing piers).
Oak Island at the southeastern corner of the state — the communities of Long Beach, Caswell and Ocean Crest beaches combined several years ago into one municipality — has two remaining fishing piers, Oak Island (former Yaupon Pier) and Ocean Crest.
Located between the Cape Fear River mouth and Lockwood Folly Inlet, both piers offer an excellent chance to land summertime species, particularly flounder, king mackerel, Virginia mullet (whiting), pompano, puppy drum, bluefish, spots and sheepshead.
The town purchased Yaupon Pier in 2008 after the demolition of Long Beach Pier in 2006. Fearing Yaupon would fall prey to the same real-estate boom that claimed Long Beach Pier in 2005, the town bought Yaupon Pier (and renamed it Oak Island Pier) because wise city fathers recognized what a tourist draw it was, especially for anglers.
Today, no condominiums sit at the former Long Beach Pier site, only 10 empty beach-front and second-row lots.
“We’re having a decent run of flounder,” said Carl Bedsole, a former Long Beach Pier regular who now fishes at Oak Island Pier. “A couple days ago, one guy caught six keepers.”
Flounder must measure at least 15 inches to be retained.
Best flounder bites occur from the bait-cleaning sink (just outside the surf breakers line) extending 100 feet toward the end of the pier. The pier’s end, as at most Tar Heel saltwater fishing platforms, is reserved for king mackerel anglers.
Flounder anglers are having the best success using Carolina-rigs with 2-ounce barrel sinkers baited with finger mullet or mud minnows.
“There are plenty of sheepshead around the pilings,” said pier regular Barry Singletary, who fed minnows to a pet snowy egret named Henry, who shows up at the pier each March. “But nobody fishes for them very much.”
Singletary caught a 4-pound, 6-ounce flounder at Oak Island Pier, the largest of the first week of June.
Best times to fish are early in the morning (crack of dawn) until about 10:30 a.m.
Chuck Brown, with a 2-pound, 4-ounce pompano, took Category One of the just-completed Oak Island Pier Fishing Tournament. The event pits anglers from Oak Island and Ocean Crest piers. Barry Crews landed a 4-pound, 14-ounce sheepshead to win Division Two.
Be the first to comment