Newspapers / The Shore Line (Pine … / July 1, 2012, edition 1 / Page 11
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nizing the magnitude of the undertak ing, Ms.Woodbury reminded them that color adds excitement and interest to a centerpiece or garden and presented them with a coral impatiens as a token of their office. Ms. Woodbury remind ed Karen Zaenker that purple has been the color of nobility and high office since ancient times and recognized the importance that the office'of president holds for the success of the club— presiding over all meetings, appointing committee chairs and acting as official representative of the club. Ms. Zaenker received a purple verbena as a token of her office. Ms. Zaenker, as current president, thanked all her officers for their dili gent work, which resulted in the club having a most interesting and suc cessful year. She thanked Jan Corsello and Sheryl Woodbury for the club programs, Linda Langheld for the beautification of all our town gardens, Barbara Williams for keeping track of everything we did all year, Donna Belanger for extending congratula tions and sympathy to many, Helvi Larson for keeping us honest, Betsy McGibbon and Jeanne Umbarger for a years worth of e-mail notifications, Lois Strube and Olga Welsh for our hospitality tables, Cherie Range for our floats in the Christmas Parade, Clare Winslow for her articles letting the public know what we’re about, Martha Edwards for creating our year book and historical record, and Sheryl Woodbury and Kay Howe for arrang ing the Christmas wreath sale. Membership Chair Jean McDanal presented a “happy to have you” gift to the club’s three newest members: Ei leen Carlson, Susan King and Barbara Yankauskas. Members of the board presented Karen Zaenker with a hum mingbird feeder in appreciation of all her help and support during the year. The entire club presented a book about Eudora Welty’s gardening secrets to Ms. Zaenker for guiding the club so successfully during 2011-2012. The Garden Club will be on hiatus during the summer, but members will still be tending the town’s nine gardens. Please join us in September for our program on raised-bed win ter gardening. Guests and visitors are always welcome to join our meetings, held every second Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at town hall. By Richard C. Seale Menhaden Mystery After a mild winter and the closure of the local menhaden processing plant a few years ago, it would seem logical to expect at least normal runs of menhaden. For reasons so far not understood, the local menhaden populations are fractions of what would be normal. Menhaden are important because they are fatty, energy rich food for other predatory fish. Menhaden are toothless phytoplankton filter feeders. Their species survival plan is to reproduce very prolifically and to travel and feed in large concentrations. Their body composition and these biological characteristics made them the target species for the menhaden processing industry of the East Coast of the United States. Aircraft spotted large schools and guided large factory ships to the schools. Smaller boats were launched, and the schools were encircled by seine nets that were pulled to the factory ships. Dip nets hauled the fish into holds, and when the holds were full, the factory shops brought the catch back to the menhaden factories. The fish were then cooked, ground up and squeezed to extrude the oils and other chemicals. The dried meal became animal feed. The extruded oils were used in many things we use, even lipstick. The processing plants were notoriously smelly, and folks who worked on the factory ships felt like it took days and many showers to get the smell off of them. Well, to us hook and line fishermen, menhaden schools are bait balls. We know the predatory fish are going to attack bait balls of menhaden. The bait bails are large enough that they are visible as dark blotches in the ocean. Finding and fishing the edges of these bait balls is a good way to catch cobia, bonito, false albacore, king mackerel and other predatory fish. As the water temperature gets into the 60s, we expect menhaden bait balls to show up. In 2012, in our local ocean waters, this has not yet happened. As a result, few of the predatory fish have shown up either. No food chain, no fish. And no one yet seems to know why. How this change in food supply will impact the king mack erel fishing this summer will be interesting to see. King mackerel fishermen like to use live “pogy” for slow trolling, and “pogy” is just a nickname for menhaden. Our fall false albacore fly-fishing season also relies on bait balls. Thus, the menhaden mystery can have a real economic impact on our local economy as well as our fish ing. The severity of the problem can be seen in the sound too. By now, normally I see schools of young menhaden dipping along the surface. I have seen very few this year so far, and the water temperature is weU into the 70s. Some of the smaller predatory fish have arrived in good numbers. Spanish mack-' erel and bluefish are along the beaches in numbers enough to fill your daily limits and make a good meal. The sizes are in the 14 to 16 ranges, so you will need to use “00” (double ought) spoons. Close to shore, I find torpedo weights in the one-to- three ounce range very useful since even the small planers wiU hit bottom. There is bait around structures such as AR 315 and AR 320 or Big 10, so fishing there can be okay. I had a fantastic day on bluefish at 315.1 think my count was 50 in about an hour and a half, although I could keep only 15 since I was alone. My good ole “spec rig” in 1/2-ounce white and chartreuse did the job. As the summer heat comes upon us, the sheepshead show up on the pilings around the port and other such places. Fiddler crabs and urchins are good bait. I find wrapping the fiddler on to a stout 1/0 or 2/0 hook makes the fish nibble harder to take the bait. They are very subtle nibbling fish, so making them work harder to steal your bait is not a bad idea. You have to fish right down the pflings, and when you hook these fish, they will try to wrap your line around the barnacle-filled pil ing. A stout rod and a strong, abrasion resistant leader and line wiU help you land more fish. Hiese guys can weigh up to 20 pounds and are exceUent eating. I «#* Sewice expertise you can take comfort in. Turn toy.gutj expert A e§ffier^Mfei^day for all te^ir,, maintenance & installation needs^ Amsf KiJ'.« Turn to the Experts A DIMSION OF CARTERET HEATING & COOUNS INC. 252-247-5900 MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION Serving Eastern NC & All Major Medical Facilities in NC Providers of a full range of Non-Emergenq^ medical transportation. 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The Shore Line (Pine Knoll Shores, N.C.)
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July 1, 2012, edition 1
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