VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT FOR
LOCAL TESTING
State Wants To Find
Out If Eating
Fish From
Waccamaw Linked
To Mercury Counts
BY SUSAN USHER
A state physician was to visit the Ash community
Wednesday morning to collect hair and blood samples
from people who live along the Waccamaw River in
Columbus and Brunswick counties to test for exposure
to mercury.
Samples were to be collected Wednesday from 8
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Waccamaw-Ash Community
Building, next to Waccamaw Elementary School, by Dr.
Greg Ward, an epidemiologist with the N.C. Department
of Environment, Health and Natural Resources.
Mercury levels were "slightly elevated" but not near
Ihe danger level in some of the samples taken Aug. 30
from a group of Columbus County residents who regu
larly eat quantities of largemouth bass from the
Waccamaw River, said Bill Furney, information officer
for the state health director. "There was enough there to
warrant finding out more. That first sample was not
large enough to indicate what is really going on in the
community. More testing was needed."
Smith's study is attempting to evaluate whether or
not eating fish from the Waccamaw River is associated
with elevated levels of mercury in body tissues.
The testing is being done at no cost to participants,
with each participant receiving the results only of his or
her own samples, said Smith. Any results deemed to be
abnormally high will be discussed with the participant.
In August the state issued an advisory warning that
largemouth bass taken from the river showed elevated
levels of mercury. Most adults are being encouraged not
to eat more than a pound of bass over a month's time
(about two servings), while women of childbearing age
and children are advised not to eat largemouth bass at
all.
Other species tested by the state last year and this
spring did not show the same levels of mercury and are
not covered by the advisory. The state is continuing to
analyze tissue samples of a variety of fish species.
Results arc not expected to be available before some
time in October.
During his three-day visit to Brunswick and Colum
bus counties. Smith's goal was to obtain samples of hair
(one finger pinch of about UK) strands) and blood (two
tubes) from a large number of people in the Waccamaw
River area, both those who have eaten fish from the
Waccamaw River in the past year and "controls," people
who live in the same area but have not eaten fish from
the river.
All volunteers were also asked to answer a short
questionnaire.
Smith collected samples in the Crusoe, Old Dock
and Nakina communities Monday and Tuesday.
For more information about the mercury advisory or
the testing contact either the Brunswick County Health
Department or the Columbus County Health Depart
ment.
FISHING REPORT
Anglers Catching Blues In Surf
STAFF PHOTO BY SUSAN USHER
A Sign Of The Season
A passing rain cloud soon broke up the surf fishing one morning last week at Sunset Beach. It was a
scene typical of the fall season across the South Brunswick Islands.
Offshore Fishing Produces
Memories For A Lifetime
BY JAMIE MILLIKEN
I've always contended that any
time you cross the bar, you are truly
in for either a great adventure or wit
nessing a few of God's creations that
will result in a memory to last the
rest of your life. Before I get into this
week's adventures, I would like to
share a story about one man's memo
ry of an exciting day of offshore
fishing.
? ? ?
The story begins in the eany
1970s. Rube McMullan and his un
cle Jeff Blackmon were fishing a
small 20-foot boat off the Florida
Keys. In those days the charter fleet
was made up of large fishing vessels
ranging from 38 to 50 feet. Small
boats had not yet earned their now
accepted respect as true fishing ma
chines.
Rube and Jeff were trolling dead
bait and had five lines in the water.
The radio talk among the charter
fleet was mostly negative toward
what they referred to as the skiff be
ing out there in their ocean!
It was without warning that the
fish sailfish slapped the bait and be
gan his beautiful walk on the water.
That in itself will cause a fire drill on
board, so you can just imagine what
was going on as, one by one, all five
reels screamed with five sailfish
hooked up and putting on a show.
The radio talk then turned to ex
citement as the starched-khaki-shirt
ed captain shouted encouragement
for the little skiff. Rube and Uncle
Jeff managed to land two of the five
sails and to keep all five on for a
good while.
Early this year as the cold winds
of February blew through the
Appalachians, Jeff Blackmon was
losing his hard-fought battle with
cancer. He had requested earlier to
be moved from a hospital bed to his
home in the hills. It was there in his
home, surrounded by family, that his
mind began to fade. For three days
he did not recognize anyone, and his
words were not understandable.
On the third day, the final day of
Jeff's life, he looked straight in his
families' faces and said, "Let me tell
you the story of when Rube and I
hooked up five sailfish at one time."
He then proceeded to tell the entire
story as accurately as if it had hap
CAPTAIN
JAMIE'S
OFFSHORE
FISHING
REPORT
pened the day before.
1 told you that you can carry these
memories with you the rest of your
days. Enough said.
? ? ?
Our adventure started Friday
morning as Brant McMullan, Chip
Maree and I began our quest for a
king mackerel that would hopefully
win us the prestigious Wrightsville
Beach King Mackerel Tournament.
The wind was out of the northwest,
making the ocean surface slick as
glass along the South Brunswick
Islands.
All eyes were focused on the still
water as the Caribbean Soul headed
west in search of live bait. We were
off Holden Beach when Chip said,
"That may be mullets up there." I
strained to see what he already had
seen.
A dark spot on the surface lay
close to a mile ahead of the boat. I
tell you, this man his the eye of a
hawk when it comes to looking for
fish. Sure enough, he was right.
As we got closer, I could not be
lieve what I was seeing ? a school of
mullet tightly packed, but big
enough to rover a city block in
Shallotte (if Shallotte had a city
block). I bet you there were tens of
thousands of pounds of fish. Chip
called it a raft of mullet; if that was a
raft, I'd hate to see a ship!
With one throw of the cast net, it
took Brant and Chip to haul the net
back on board, we had bait and we
had supper for half the county.
The other memorable event of the
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weekend was when a huge fish took
the downrigger bait. Brant fought
what we all figured was a large shark
for more than an hour on a live bait
Diawa rod, 50H reel and 20-pound
Trilene line. At the one hour, 20 min
utes mark, the shark showed himself
for the first time.
He was at least 12 to 14 feet long,
weighing between 400 and 500
pounds. Wow! This was a
Hollywood shark! We started think
ing of a possible record for light
tackle, and I guess I may have been
completely crazy. ! unleashed the
bow line and hastily put a slip noose
in the end to tail rope this monster.
You know, God looks after His
children, and I guess that is why the
leader wire broke and the mother of
all sharks slowly slid beneath the
surface. It will be a while before I
forget about that one.
Our kingfish efforts were not so
good, as we only could muster an
18-pounder for our largest fish. I re
gret that I don't know the crew that
landed a 38-pounder to win this
year's event, but I have heard that it
was a Brunswick County team.
Congratulations to them and my
friends Wendall Vareen, A1 Fulford
and Kyle White, all of whom cap
tained their bo*.ts onto the leader
board.
? ? ?
Our season is winding down, and I
probably will only write when the
spirit moves me. I believe if you
don't have anything to say, keep
your mouth closed ? in my case,
keep your pen in the drawer.
Thanks to all of you who have let
me know your comments concerning
my articles. My thanks also to those
who called to let me know who was
catching what and where. That made
these columns possible.
Thanks to the many who made up
the different crews aboard the
Caribbean Soul. I can honestly say
I've had a ball.
Good luck, "Jolly Mon."
RQATS
for a dry ride
1-800-545-2293
919-457-9080
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ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW
MEADOW SQUARE. HIGHWAY 179
SHALLOTTE, N.C. 28459
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PREPARATION OF SIMPLE WARRANTY DEEDS $25.00
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Telephone: 754-7557
eiH?3 THE BBUNSWICK BtACOW
BY DOUG RUTTER
The fall spots haven't arrived yet,
but there's still plenty of fishing go
ing on in the South Brunswick
Islands.
Pete Singletary of Captain Pete's
Seafood at Holden Beach said fish
ermen have been catching a lot of
blucfish and drum inshore and nice
king mackerel outside.
"All in all, I think with the weath
er fishing hasn't been that bad with
blues and drum," he said Monday.
"The blues have been doing right
well for the last two weeks."
Anglers have been pulling a lot of
blues from the surf. Singletary said
fishermen also caught drum last
week averaging 6 to 9 pounds.
"Spots aren't that great yet,"
Singletary added. "We're going to
have to have some cool weather to
get them down from Virginia. If we
get a couple good cool shifts they'll
be trucking on down the coast."
Sea Mist Camping Resort
Anglers caught some nice floun
der last week in the Atlantic
Intracoastal Waterway near Brick
Landing, said Nellie Harrell of Sea
Mist Campin;; Resort.
"It's not great but they're at least
catching so;ne," she said. "It's better
than it was, but the water's still too
warm."
Pier Fishing
Slowly but surely, pier fishing is
starting to improve across the South
Brunswick Islands.
"We haven't had any runs yet, but
it's gradually picking up," Gil Bass
of Holden Beach Fishing Pier said
Monday.
Anglers caught drum, bluefish,
spots and whiting last week. Alene
Plattenberger of Holden Beach
caught a 19-pound king mackerel
over the weekend.
"It hasn't been real good but it
hasn't been real bad either," Bass
said. "We're thankful for what we
got."
At Ocean Isle Beach Pier,
spokesman Curtis Williamson said
he's still waiting for the water tem
perature to drop and the fishing to
This Week's
Tide Table
SEPTEMBER
HIGH LOW
Day Date A.M. P.M. A.M. P.M.
Thursday 30 8:20 8:42 2:07 2:28
OCTOBER
Friday 1 8:55 9:14 2:43 3:07
Saturday 2 9:30 9:46 3:19 3:45
Sunday 3 10:02 10:17 3:54 4:22
Monday 4 10:36 10:49 4:28 4:59
Tuesday 5 11:13 11:23 5:05 5:40
Wednesday 6 11:59 5:47 6:26
ADJUSTMENTS
SHALLOTTE INLET? add 17 min.
high tide, add 32 min. low tide.
LOCKWOOD FOLLY? subtract 22
min. high tide, subtract 8 min. low tide.
BALD HEAD ISLAND? subtract 10
min. high tide, subtract 7 min. low tide.
SOUTHPORT? add 7 min. high tide,
add 15 min. low tide.
LITTLE RIVER ? subtract II min.
high tide, add 18 min. low tide.
v
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
JOHN WATSON of Rock Hill, S.C., shows off a 30-pound sailftsh
caught during a recent trip on the Alice E.
I
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
STEVE FOGLEMAN of Snow Camp landed this 22-pound king
mackerel recently aboard the Alice E out of H olden Beach.
improve.
"It was awfully slow the whole
week. It was about as sorry as I've
seen. It was terrible," Williamson
said.
"We're going to get a cool front
on Thursday and maybe that will
start things off," he added. "We're
hoping this week will change the
picture."
Local Angler Wins Tourney
John R. Hawes III of Long Beach
landed a 38.75-pound king mackerel
Sunday to win the Wrightsville
Beach King Mackerel Tournament.
Hawes. captain of the Sluimii, was
fishing with Troy Speights and
Curtis Willis as a first-time entry in
the tournament.
The winning fish was worth
$34,220 in prize money to the local
fishermen, said tournament public
relations director Teresa McLamb.
Paul Greene of Wilmington
placed second with a 37.95-pound
fish, followed by Karl Mrozek of
Durham with a 36-pounder.
Other local fishermen among the
winners included Al Trunnell of
Southport, who placed 13th, and Joe
Manning of Yaupon Beach, who fin
ished 18th. Al Fulford of Shallotte
was 31s! overall.
Ray Harrelson of Long Beach
was among the daily winners Satur
day. Winning $5(K) sponsor awards
were Kyle White of Shallotte,
Randy Way of Yaupon Beach and
Frank Irving of Winnabow.
McLamb said the 11th annual
tournament had 351 entries. The
fishermen weighed in 375 king mac
kerel with a total weight of 6,310.45
pounds.
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