Page 10 The Shoreline June 2009
Sometimes Fishing Is Not About Fish!
By Richard Seale
A lot of work, planning and preparation
is needed to accomplish an off-shore
fishing trip, particularly the "first one"
for the year. A boat seems to always
have electrical gremlins
that work during the
winter to keep lights,
pumps and GPS systems
from operating properly
when spring arrives, and
all of these need tending
to prior to venturing off
shore. Fuel will need to be
added to the tank. Live bait
will need to be caught and
preserved in "keepers."
Rods, reels and rigs will
need maintenance and
care. For a bottom fishing
trip, an anchor system is
usually carried and that
means a big anchor, 20
feet of chain, and lots of
heavy line, usually 200 to 400 feet. John
Furman and Art Chleborowicz worked
to get Art's boat, aptly named "Work
of Art," ready for a bottom fishing trip
with a prime target being grouper. The
plan called for venturing some 52 miles
offshore, so weather, wind, and waves
were of real importance. John and Art
played weathermen and speculated that
Friday, April 24, was the "right" day.
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Ronnie Boyd, Ken Williams, and yours
truly completed the group. "Work Of Art"
was ready to go at 5 a.m. It was more
windy than we liked, and the 52 mile ride
out was not a piece
of cake, but we got
out there. As the
day wore on, the
weather got better
and better. John's
and Art's weaither
projection turned
into being "right
on," and we all
were thankful.
"Bottom
fishing" in the
ocean usually
means deep water
fishing onsomesort
of structure which
can be natural reef s,
artificial reefs, or just
natural rock formations. The bottom of
the sea off our area has a lot of flat areas,
and these are not good fishing spots. Any
chance for survival requires that smaller
fish, crustaceans, and invertebrates need
places to hide, or they_ will quickly be
"lunch" to some other predator. Today's
GPS and sonar technologies have vastly
improved how we can locate and relocate
bottom areas with good structure. John
and Art had done a lot
of GPS work to target
likely places to find fish.
Art and John navigated
to these preset locations
that were in water of about
110 feet of depth. As the
day went by, we boated
good catches of vermillion
snapper, red porgy's,
and trigger fish. We also
caught many sharks and
other species which we
released, but we caught no
grouper this day. We even
dropped our anchor in 110
feet of water to give us
more time to properly fish
some structures, in hopes
of luring grouper out of
their "holes." To retrieve
such a deep set aftchor a
special float is used. The
I
float is hooked onto the anchor line at
the boat end, and the boat is powered
up and driven past the anchor point. The
motion of the boat produces hydraulic
drag on the float, which causes the anchor
line to drag through a ring on the float.
Eventually, the anchor is pulled up to the
float, and then the now "floating" anchor
is manually hauled back to the boat. Deep
sea anchoring is not an easy task!
Fishing one location we landed two
octopi, one was hooked in a tentacle
and one just wrapped itself around the
rigging. One was about 18 inches across
the tentacles and the other more than
two feet. Nobody wanted them, so I said
I would take them home for either dinner
or a donation to the Aquarium if they were
needed there. These critters are hard to
handle and have a parrot like beak with
which to nip you. It is OK to pick them
up right where the manfle (head) joins the
tentacle base. They will wrap their slimy
tentacles around anything they can, in
this case my arm. The suction cups will
generate welts on your skin. But other
than a "beak bite," a normal sized octopus
is not dangerous. The octopi we landed
spent the day in the bgatlsjive^bait well
and the night in the PKS canal in a live
bait keeper. I was unable to contact the
Aquarium until Saturday since we did
not get home until 7:30 p.m. on Friday
evening, and the Aquarium was long
closed. Early Saturday I checked the
octopus to be sure they were OK, which
they were, so I called the Aquarium. It
turned out that they really needed some
octopus as they were down to only one
survivor. Art and I brought the remaining
healthy octopus to Clint at the Aquarium.
Clint gave us tour of the Aquarium
holding tanks and shared a lot of octopus
biology with us.
"Our" octopi will spend 30 days in
"isolation" to be sure they are healthy
and then will join the Aquarium display
routines. I guess the lesson here is that
fishing is not all about fish. The NC
Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores is a
remarkable asset for folks from all over
the US. So if your "fishing" happens to
yield something that may be of interest
to the Aquarium, keep the specimen alive
and then get in touch with the them.
Stepping Right
Along
By Kathy Werle
As reported in the May 2009 issue of The
Shoreline, Pine Knoll Shores has taken the
first step along the path to establishing
a walkway linking various parts of the
community while providing safe passage
for its residents and guests. The monthly
meeting of the Pedestrian Master Plan
Steering Committee was held on May
15 to take the next step in the plaiming
process.
Susan Suggs with Coastal Planning
and Design PLLC, consultant and
coordinator for the project, reviewed
with the committee the CAMA (Coastal
Area Management Act) Core Land Use
Plan as it relates to the Pedestrian Master
Plan, ensuring that our commitment to a
walkway is Consistent with regulations.
Other items on the agenda included
informative technical input from Steve
Hamilton, Division 2 Traffic Engineer
with the NCDOT; the drafting of a vision
statement; discussion of walkways in
neighboring communities and of an
upcoming field trip to Manteo (which
we have been told has a great walkways
system); developing a non-statistical
survey for resident input; and planning
for a June 23 public open house scheduled
to begin at 6 p.m. at town hall.
Information will be gathered through
a survey which will be invaluable In the
development of the town's Pedestrian
Master Plan and will enhance the town's
eligibility for grants and funding. After
June 1 the survey will be found on the Pine
Knoll Shores website www.townofpks.
com. It will also be available at town hall
and at the June 23 public open house.
In preparation for the public open
house Town Manager Brian Kramer
asked members of the committee to take
photographs along Hwy. 58 depicting
heavy vehicular traffic, bicyclists, joggers
and walkers all trying to share the same
island artery. Readers are invited to take
photos of traffic situations along Hwy. 58
or elsewhere in PKS and email them, prior
to the public open house, to Ms. Suggs at
cpdsuggs@embarqmail.com.