Elizabeth Davis Watkins brought us this picture of the Class of ’45
and since it is involved in reunion activities this week, we thought it
would be appropriate to run. Front row, left to right: mascots Dougie
Bogie Dietz and Buddy McNeil; second row: Olive Dean Smith Chap
man, Lucy Mayo Northrop Landrum, Ann Muncy Price, Elizabeth
Davis Watkins, Sally Ann McNeil, Betty Lee Oliver Beadle, Eleanor
Lee Rees Jones; third row: Joe Walton, Wyatt Gay, Wallace Moore,
Nickey Coleman and Douglas Jones.
The fishing report
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
King mackerel that had favored
Oak Island pier fishermen since ear
ly May moved offshore to the
Yaupon Reef area this past weekend
and provided excellent action for
live-baiters trolling there.
While some kings were taken on
piers, the preponderance of action
was on the artificial reef. Enjoying
the outstanding fishing Saturday
were participants in the season’s
first Oak Island Fishing Club
tournament.
Winner of that tournament, was
Harold Matthews, with a 21
pounder; but next day Matthews
returned to the scene and boated a
46-pound king.
Besides good kingfishing, the reef
also provided excellent cobia action
for live-baiters. On Saturday, Ray
Harrelson had a 55.3-pounder, and
Andre Minor caught a cobia weigh
ing 47.5 pounds.
Steve Smith at Sure Catch Tackle
in Southport reported that trailers
pulling live pogies were also bring
ing in some citation-size Spanish
mackerel.
Robert Prince had an 8.7-pound
Spanish on Sunday, Dickie Aldridge
had a 7.8-pounder and Rick Warrick
recorded one at 7.6 pounds.
Smith noted that while some of
these anglers were finding fish right
over the artificial reef, others were
doing well trolling along nearby tide
lines.
Meanwhile on the piers there were
cobia, kings and a few large blues.
Jim Ratcliff at Long Beach Pier
reported a 55-pound cobia caught by
Melvin Jennings on Sunday, a 33
pound cobia and a 12-pound king.
Carl Collins at Ocean Crest Pier
reported a 53-pound cobia, some
kings and a couple of bluefish
weighing 14 and nine pounds - all
on live bait
Billy West at Yaupon Pier said
Rocky Teal had a 20-pound cobia
there Sunday.
All piers reported good whiting
action and Ratcliff said pompano
weighing up to one pound were
being caught on shrimp and blood
worms.
Tony Bivalacqua at Wildlife Bait
and Tackle No. 2 said a surf caster
in Yaupon Beach had 15 nice speck
led trout on live minnows Saturday,
and said that at the Lockwood Folly
Point bait fishermen were landing
Michael Clewis hefts a 30-pound cobia, one of two he and his father
boated during Oak Island Fishing Club competition Saturday. Big
cobia, kings and Spanish mackerel were abundant on the Yaupon Reef
all weekend.
spots, croakers and nice blues.
Smith reported that river
fishermen were catching whiting
near buoys 9 and 13, and said drift
fishermen were doing well with
flounder in the Jaybird Rip.
Both boat and pier fishermen
caught nice red drum near Caswell
Dock at midweek, Smith said, ad
ding that there had been good black
drum fishing at Pfizer Dock and
good sheepsheading with fiddler
crabs near river pier pilings in
several locations.
Jimmy Price at Wildlife Bait and
Tackle No. 1 said he had seven
flounder and 11 speckled trout for a
party on Sunday ~ the trout hitting
grubs and the flounder taking buck
tails tipped with squid.
And Price also reported good
flounder and puppy drum fishing in
the Sunny Point area.
Smith said that Southport charter
boats did well both on reef fish and
on larger game during the week.
Capt. Mervin Darnell on the Fugi
tive had 24 kings and a big bull dol
phin for a party on Sunday, and
Capt Chris Pardue on the Marhuna
reported 16 kings, a large barracuda
and two nice dolphin the same day.
For the weekend, inside fishermen
can look for flounder in the Jaybird
Rip, as well as around structures in
the Cape Fear River. While mullet
minnows are generally too small to
net right now, flounder can be readi
ly taken on mud minnows.
Lure casters and boilers can look
for speckled trout and puppy drum
around shell points and along marsh
banks, and red drum can be ex
pected at dropoffs near Caswell
Dock and also at the Bald Head
marina mouth.
Inshore trolling for king mackerel,
cobia and big Spanish will likely be
good for the weekend. The bait of
choice now is menhaden, with the
larger baits considered better, but
small bluefish and any small pan fish
can be effective when presented
over artificial reefs or near tide lines
off the Cape Fear and Lockwood
Folly bars.
Offshore anglers will do well with
reef fish over offshore ledges, and
light lines should take kings, bar
racuda, dolphin and amberjack in
the same locations.
County boxers
reach regional
Three members of the Brunswick
County Boxing Team have ad
vanced to the regional U. S. Junior
Olympic Championship.
The boxers competed with others
from North Carolina and South
Carolina in a preliminary tourna
ment last Friday in Albemarle.
Travis Murrell, 15, of Bolivia,
Thomas Lowe, 14, of Southport and
Darnell Hill, 14, of Southport, all
received first-place trophies.
Ezikile Weddeibum, 13, of South
port lost his bout against Brandon
Godfrey of Rutherfordton in the
100-pound class and was awarded a
second-place medal.
Hill defeated Carlos Lloyd of Wil
mington in the 132-pound class by a
3-0 decision. Murrell and Lowe
were unopposed in their weight
classes, 178 and 139 pounds, respec
tively.
The three boxers will compete in
the regional championships schedul
ed for June. 12 in Palm Beach, Fla.
Wins there would take them to the
National U. S. Junior Olympic
Championship tournament June 21
27 in Gulfport, Miss.
Harold Matthews
wins Ashing event
Harold Matthews on the Sundance
won the first Oak Island Fishing
Club king mackerel tournament of
the season Saturday with a 21-pound
fish.
Randy Way was second with an
18-pounder, and Dick Warrick was
third with a fish weighing 15
pounds.
The next of the monthly club
tournaments will be June 19, with
sign-up and captains’ meeting at 7
p.m. June 18 at Sure Catch Tackle.
Yacht Basin Provision Co.
IIUII \ \ Casual Waterfront Dining
Old Tyme Burgers & Fries
; Fresh Steamed Seafood
i Ice Cold Beer & Wine
i
Steamed
Seafood Specials
Friday & Saturday Nights
I
wiiiiiiiaiiuaisip^
Located at Old YacM tain, next to MRwood SMI Shop, Southport • Sown Days a Week 7 am.*11 pm
Boat Access Ch. 16 VHF • 457-0654
-7- '
A plume of black smoke drifting northward across the Bald Head Island
marsh Sunday afternoon marked the end of an obscure but thoroughly dis
tinctive waterfront landmark.
Flames destroyed the abandoned Bluff Island homestead of Junior
Stephens, burning both structures there to the ground and becoming a slow
brushfire which fire officials decided to leave to nature.
The blaze in fact was the second at the site, where a structure was
reportedly consumed by flames in 1983. Then as now the location was not
visited by either firefighters or insurance adjusters, so that incident was not
thoroughly reported.
The Stephens homestead site on Deep Creek, a tributary to Bay Creek
and Cape Creek, is on the way to nowhere so very few people ever saw it.
One of those who did on occasion was Marine Fisheries enforcement of
ficer Donald Goins, who said Stephens had abandoned the place at least
three years ago and moved to Tennessee. Goins said he believed Stephens
lived on the island for about six years.
"I was there about a month ago," Goins said Monday. ”1 walked all
through the house and it was abandoned."
In fact the land there is part of the general Bluff Island complex ceded by
Bald Head developers to the state in the early 1980s.
The Southeast Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which sets fishing
rules for federal waters off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and
Florida’s east coast, will hold public hearings soon to obtain comment on
proposed changes in reef-fishing regulations.
After various hearings and public input by mail the council will decide in
August what changes to make in fishing regulations in waters that extend
from three to 200 miles off our shores.
Three proposals of particular interest to local commercial fishermen con
cern quotas for snowy grouper and golden hindfish, prohibited possession
of speckled hind and warsaw grouper and required tending of all sea bass
pots.
A June 8 hearing will be at 7 p.m. in the Wrightsville Beach Holiday Inn.
Written comments may be addressed to director Robert K. Mahood,
SAFMC, One Southpark. Circle, Suite 306, Charleston, SC 29407-4699.
Further information on proposed regulations is available from that address,
or by calling Carrie Knight at (803) 571-4366.
Acting county manager John Harvey is being consulted by Jerry Gaskill,
director of the NCDOT ferry division, on setting up an advisory committee
to help the ferry system -- of which the Southport-Fort Fisher link is a
major part -- become more "customer oriented."
Gaskill has written to Harvey about his hopes to promote the ferries as
tourist attractions, and is seeking Harvey’s advice on who might be a good
local representative for such a planning and promotional group.
"In 1992 the ferry division transported over 700,000 vehicles ... with 50
percent of those being from outside the state," Gaskill wrote. "This sug
gests that the traveling public is looking more to our ferries as a tourist at
traction."
A MEMBER Of THE SEARS FWANCtAL NETWORK
COLDUUGLL
BANKER □
Southport-Oak Island
Realty
Another new Cisting
By...
(Dic/^ & Christine
Cushman
98 WILLETTS DRIVE. Quality brick ranch with family room.
Three landscaped lots with county water. Carport, greenhouse and
workshop too! $65,000.
John and Sheila would like to thank
Mark Tallon for all his hardwork in making
Port Charlie's Sailboat Race a success!
^ Thanks for Everything!
Guide Fishing for
Flounder& Trout
Fishing Year 'Round
WILDLIFE BAIT & TACKLE
JIMMY PRICE
"Rated #1 in the area."
(919) 457-9903
10425 Fish Factory Road
Southport, N.C. 28461
DEEP SEA FISHING
Yacht Basin Provision Co.
All Day $60.00
Snapper • Grouper • Black Bass
Half-Day • All Day • Overnight Trips
Old Yacht Basin, Southport, 457-0654
Rod, reel, bait, tackle and ice for your fish.
Mate provided for your convenience.