In case you missed it, last Saturday was the Annual Club Pier Fishing Event organized by Alan Trojan and the STFC Board of Directors. I arrived early for my very first try at pier fishing and landed a pompano in about two minutes. Bob Weiss, fishing near me caught a whiting soon after – he landed at least three before 9 AM..

Steve Pendergrass was greeting members at the Club Sign-up table near the dock entrance and Michael Griffin, John Crespin and Brian Brumbaugh handed out live shrimp and/or provided photo ops. President, Steve Heins, Harold Golding and big Bill ‘Buck’ Trull worked the crowd and helped out where-ever needed as 38 of our STFC members took advantage of the great weather.

I didn’t realize it but North Carolina’s ocean piers are renowned for their excellent fishing. Key species caught in spring, summer and fall include spot, whiting, croaker, pompano, flounder, bluefish, black and red drum, speckled and grey trout, cobia, tarpon, sheepshead, Spanish and King mackerel and various species of shark. On Thursday, before the pier event, Michael Griffin caught a 19.5 inch king and on Saturday, at about 2:15 PM another angler caught a king that was just shy of 30 lbs.

So if you haven’t tried pier fishing and happened to have missed Saturday’s event, you just might want to consider trying a bit of pier fishing. Piers provide excellent ocean fishing access for anglers that have physical limitations, who don’t own a boat, or who are very young or old.  Or even for folks like me who get a tad sea-sick when the waves get rough. Local piers include Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach and our own Sunset Beach. A special “Thank You” goes out to the Sunset Beach Pier owners, and STFC members, Gary and Teresa Massey, and to their staff for hosting this event!