Category Archives: Fishing

Stumpy Point Oyster Feast

The town of Stumpy Point is the southernmost village on the Dare County mainland. It borders Pamlico Sound and it’s earliest inhabitants may have been Native Americans involved in fishing. Even today, well off the beaten path, Stumpy Point has deep roots in commercial fishing. For 35 years, the town has become known for hosting what has become one of the most popular oyster celebrations in the area.

Last Saturday, the Stumpy Point Oyster Feast began at noon, while visitors from near and far lined up outside the community building.

The line was long, but moved quickly.

Inside volunteers dished out a traditional dinner of fried fish and oysters.

An adjacent building was set up with long tables, paper towels and condiments to cater to the most enthusiastic connoisseurs.

The star of the show was bushels of oysters going into a highly efficient steamer.

Each steamer box held two bushel baskets.

After a mere seven minutes they were perfectly cooked.

The hot oysters were dumped onto trays ready to serve the masses.

It was an “all you can eat” affair.

People could’t get enough and the steamers kept coming.

In the end, all the spent shells are recycled back to the sea where new ones will hopefully attach and grow. Providing substrate for new oysters is crucial to their survival and to our enjoyment.

 

 

Shad Boats

Since my early days on Hatteras Island, I’ve been drawn to remnants of the times past. Old wooden boats have been particularly fascinating. Some are still operating and some lay derelict or forgotten. One of my favorite designs is the shad boat.

They were first built in the 1870’s on Roanoke Island by George Washington Creef. Designed for local sound waters and commercial fishing hauls, demand for shad boats increased. So other regional boat builders began constructing their own versions.

On June 15, 1987 the North Carolina General Assembly adopted the Shad Boat as the official State historical boat of North Carolina.

On a 1992 visit to Wilmington, I saw a newly built replica sailing down the Cape Fear River.

When I took this shot in 1980 at the Beasley fish house in Colington, surviving shad boats had long since had their sails replaced with motors.

One day the same year, I photographed the Beasley crew long-hauling Pamlico Sound at Rodanthe. They caught 10,000 pounds of fish, and bailed them by hand into a boat called Old Shad.

The Rodanthe harbor was Beasley’s base of operations. That’s OLD SHAD on the left with REDFIN rafted up next to it.

Hatterasman Michael Peele uses his shad boat for pound net fishing. I took this photo in 1982. To this day, he still uses it.

About the same time, I had a job at Mike Scott’s Buxton Woods Boat Works where we restored Lee Peele’s old workboat. More recently built, it had a hull with hard chines rather than the more traditional rounded bottom. It was beefed up with a durable West System epoxy treatment.

On the Outer Banks it’s not unusual to see a boat in someone’s yard. In 1999 while riding my bicycle around Ocracoke, I admired this beautiful boat blocked up for maintenance.

Spring of 2000, I shot an assignment for CoastWatch Magazine, concerning the Museum of the Albermarle’s restoration of a 1904 Shad Boat. It was built by Alvirah Wright, a logger, decoy maker and boat builder from Camden County.

The restoration was extensive. All good wood was left intact, but most of the boat was replaced. Today the finished product sits in the lobby of the museum as a permanent exhibit. Before that, it had been in a Wright family relative’s yard, rotting away.

In 2002 the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Manteo had an 1883 George Washington Creef Shad Boat on display. It was used as a model to build a new boat with the same lines.

The new boat was built next to the 1883 boat.

Fully planked, it was made with scarce, aromatic Atlantic White Cedar, commonly referred to as juniper.

Just before it’s christening, I saw the new boat all finished except for the bottom paint.

When I first met John Herbert, he was one of the Rodanthe old-timers. I knew him as a friend, a former duck hunter and the Keeper of Ole Buck. He was also a cook at Chicamacomico Coast Guard Station during the 1918 Mirlo Rescue. He told me how they used to have sail boat races on the Pamlico Sound and most of the time he won with his shad boat. It was a bit smaller and faster than most, and must have been a grand sight under sail. In 1985, I marveled at it, high and dry in the marsh at Rodanthe.

 

 

 

No Shark Fishing

Back in the seventies shark fishing was relatively popular, but as time went on there was less and less of it. One thing for certain was that you could walk out on the Rodanthe pier and count on seeing some friends. They were usually fishing for king mackerel, cobia or red drum. Throw in an occasional Budweiser and everyone was happy.

The  steamy Summer day I snapped this picture in 1987 was no exception. Russell Warren on the left  was in good company with a shirtless CE Midgett. The other three guys I recognize, but don’t recall their names.

Even to this day, Russell can still be found at the end of the pier.

Larry and Jimmy

One of my first jobs on Hatteras Island was with John Luke’s construction crew. It consisted of a few local guys and a reputation for well-built beach cottages. Two people on that crew were Larry Midgett and Jimmy Hooper. Both grew up in Salvo when it was a much more rural town than it is today.

Much like their fathers and forefathers before them, they spent time fishing and hunting. One Fall day in 1975 they invited me to a Salvo creek to photograph a shark they had just caught on the Rodanthe pier.

It was the start of a friendship that I would keep even to this day.

Forty One on the Outer Banks

Recently I read how George Bush, as a young Navy pilot, would see the Hatteras lighthouse from the air during flight school training out of Norfolk.

It made me recall our forty-first president returning years later as a visitor in 1997, then in 1998 for the rededication of the Wright Brothers Monument.

In the Fall of 97 I had a chance to meet him fishing at Harkers Island. The Core Sound is a fisherman’s paradise and President Bush arranged to go with Sam Sellars, a guide who would take him fly fishing for false albacore.

Before getting underway, Sam demonstrated some new tackle for the former president.

After an hour of tedious casting, the president finally hooked up near the Cape Lookout Lighthouse.

Of course, Sam and the president were elated when he boated a nice one, and released it.

The weather deteriorated with some passing rain squalls, but the president still managed to pull in a few more. At one point he noticed a styrofoam cup floating by and directed Sam toward it. President Bush then leaned over and plucked it from the water. That little gesture really impressed me.

The following May, President Bush flew in to Manteo Airport and was greeted by local resident Andy Griffith and his wife Cindy. I was given the responsibility to take pictures for the First Flight Commision, and rode with them to the Wright Brothers Monument for the rededication ceremony.

There were other dignitaries present, including our State Senator Marc Basnight.

Senator Basnight and astronaut Buzz Aldrin were seated together on stage as speakers addressed a large audience.

The highlight was hearing President George H. W. Bush deliver the keynote speech.

The event culminated with relighting the beacon atop the monument and a spectacular fireworks display. It was the first time the beacon was shown bright since being cut off during the Second World War.