Category Archives: Uncategorized

Club Meeting with Brewski

Steve Brewski will be the guest Speaker at the Sea Trail Fishing Club’s August Meeting to be held at the Pink Palace, Sea Trail Plantation on August 21.

Steve is an active advocate for recreational fishing in North Carolina and will present his viewpoints on the state of the sport.

Be sure to join us Thursday evening, 6:30 to 8:30 PM

Steve Brewster Biography:

I was raised in Rome, Georgia, I inherited a passion for fishing—and conservation—from my grandfather. After high school, I joined the Marine Corps and was first stationed in North Carolina in 2005, serving 10 years with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Japan.

I caught my first New River speckled trout in 2009—a 28.5-inch fish that made me realize this was home.

Today, I run the YouTube channel  “Fishing with Brewski“ (https://www.youtube.com/@FishingwithBrewski), which started as a passion project and grew into a platform for change. I began attending NC MFC

 (https://www.deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/marine-fisheries/marine-fisheries-commission) meetings in 2015 over the flounder crisis and became committed to reform after witnessing repeated illegal activity go unpunished in our broken system.

Thursday’s Speaker is Captain Tim Disano

Thursday at 6:30 is Member’s Night for the Sea Trail Fishing Club at the Pink Palace!

Located at 295 Rice Mill Circle, Sea Trail Plantation, Sunset Beach

Members, Guests and Visitors are encouraged to attend Tim’s talk:

“All Things Redfish”

If you fish for redfish, red drum, puppy drum or bull reds on the pier, the shore, or from a watercraft of some kind, Captain Tim’s talk should be interesting to you.

Captain Disano has talked to the Club before about other subjects and always has presented an interesting discussion. He has been a local fishing guide in the Sunset Beach-Ocean Isle area for several years and knows these waters well.

Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina

CAPE FEAR CHAPTER BANQUET INVITATION

Hi Folks, If you were inspired by Stuart ‘s talk at the last Sea Trail Fishing Club Meeting, or by Laurie Thomas’ write up of the event – or even if your heart and interest is in preserving your right to fish in our coastal waters, then you might want to join CCA-NC, and if you do, there is no better time than during the Cape Fear Banquet in August!

The tickets to the banquet include an Annual membership to CCA-NC, a ticket to a great banquet, free bar, and a subscription to the award-winng TIDE magazine. There is a guest speaker at the event, live and silent auctions, and incredible raffles. I attended the event in New Bern and this is a great value! I will also volunteer to be the designated driver for the first three club members that sign on.!

Here are the details:

When: Thursday, August 14th from 6:00 to 10:00 PM

Where: The Terraces, 1826 Sir Tyler Drive, Wilmington, NC

Price: $90.00

Please CONTACT ME ASAP if you decide to go! Table Sponsorship for the Club is available if we have enough takers of this opportunity!

Contact Mike at immikeru@gmail.com or text me at 919-741-0287

North Carolina Vice President of Conservation Council of N. C. Describes Political Conflict In N. C. Fisheries Management

2020 CCA Civil Suit Against State of North Carolina Alleging “Mismanagement of Marine Resources” Still in Limbo

By Laurie Thomas Vass, Director of Public Relations

Sea Trail Fishing Club, Sunset Beach, N. C.

The Sea Trail Fishing Club hosted an address by Stuart Creighton, Vice President of the Coastal Conservation Association, on June 19, 2025, at the Pink Palace, in the Sea Trails Development.

Creighton began his address by expressing his reluctance to harm the livelihoods of North Carolina commercial fishermen.

“I do not sleep well at night over my concern about the threat to the way of life of the people who make their living from harvesting the sea,” Creighton said.

“But, he continued, “there are much better ways to harvest the bounty of our oceans that do not cause damage to the marine environment, or cause great conflict with the recreational anglers.”

The CCA civil suit alleges that the government of North Carolina has been an “abject failure” in managing the state’s marine resources.

The suit is based on the State’s longstanding, public-trust responsibilities to manage coastal fish stocks in a way that protects the public-trust rights of the public, as codified in the North Carolina Constitution, Article I, Section 38. Right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife.

The State Constitution states, in part,

“The right of the people to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife is a valued part of the State’s heritage and shall be forever preserved for the public good. The people have a right, including the right to use traditional methods, to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife, subject only to laws enacted by the General Assembly and rules adopted pursuant to authority granted by the General Assembly to (i) promote wildlife conservation and management and (ii) preserve the future of hunting and fishing. Public hunting and fishing shall be a preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife.”

The five year delay in hearing the lawsuit is a testament to the deep political divisions in the state between the commercial fishing interests and the recreational and sports fishing interests.

For example, at the April 2025 Sea Trail Fishing Club meeting, Josh Reynolds, a charter captain at Maverick Charters, in Shallotte, N. C., said he doubts the accuracy and legitimacy of the North Carolina data used to prohibit fishing in North Carolina.

“I fish just about 365 days a year,” he said. “I see an abundance of sea trout, flounder and Blue Fish every day. The over-regulation is killing me financially,” he added. “I have had to target Sheepshead in order to stay alive financially, and the over-regulation in the other species is causing a decline of the Sheepshead population because that is the only fish anglers can keep.”

The political conflict over marine resources has generated legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly to provide greater oversight of how the Marine Resources Commission manages their responsibilities.

Creighton reviewed the House Bill 442, An Act to Restore Recreational Fishing For Flounder and Red Snapper,” with his observation that there are better methods for the commercial fishing industry to harvest marine resources, without causing a complete ban against recreational flounder fishing.

Creighton closed his comments to the members of the Sea Trail Fishing Club by noting that the long-standing abdication of the State’s responsibilities to manage the marine resources must be addressed soon, or else the future of recreational fishing will be in great jeopardy.

About the Conservation Council of North Carolina: CCA is truly grass roots, and our banquets are where our volunteer leaders, the local community, and generous sponsors come together to support our work to conserve, promote and enhance North Carolina’s marine resources. https://ccanc.org/

About the Sea Trail Fishing Club: The Sea Trail Fishing Club (STFC) is a non-profit organization focused on promoting fishing and fellowship amongst its members.  The Club accomplishes its mission through member social interactions, seminars, guest speakers, and Club outings. The club meets monthly on the 3rd Thursday of the month at the Pink Palace, in the Sea Trails Development, in Sunset Beach, N. C.  https://seatrailfishing.com/home/about-us-2/

Its About Fishing and Other Adventures

FACTS: Almost 60 million people went fishing last year, most of them in public waters. This is huge. It represents one-sixth of the U.S. population. In each case, there is a story to tell. Kids who went fishing for the first time with a father or grandfather (maybe even mothers these days)! Students from high school or colleges going out with their buds. People on vacation or those in fishing clubs like ours. Its easy to take those days for granted – the moments taken to stop by a lake after work, to visit a local lake, river or stream, to try to trick a fish with a lure or worm.

But public waters and access to them is not a given. Efforts are underway in House Bill HR-1 to sell off or transfer a vast areas of public lands. This item is hidden away among other parts of the bill that have recently gained exposure in the news media.

The Senate no doubt will revise the bill but at this time the other controversial items may well overshadow the potential loss of our parks, trails and wwaterways.

OPINION: Make your concerns known! If you value the future of our natural resouce recreational areas, contact your state Senators. Let them know.

STFC Features Stuart Creighton of the Coastal Conservation Association

The Monthly Members Meeting of the Sea Trail Fishing Club will be held at the Pink Palace in the Sea Trail Plantation at 6:30 PM next Thursday, June 19th.

Featured Speaker will be Stuart Creighton of the Coastal Conservation Association. The CCA of NC is a community of conservationists and recreational anglers working to promote sound management of public trust marine and estuarine resources to protect those resources for the enjoyment of current and future generations.

Stuart Creighton graduated from NCSU with a degree in meteorology before spending 25 years as a high school science teacher. Following that, he was the manager of River Neuse Suites in Oriental.  As his advocacy for restoring NC’s endangered estuaries grew, he became a member of the Coastal Conservation Association in 2015, and a life member in 2022.  He joined the CCA Board of Directors in 2021, serving as Fisheries Committee chairman and became the Vice President in 2024.  

Currently Stuart serves on the Northern Advisory Committee, one of the permanent advisory committees for the Department of Marine Fisheries.  He also has been a member of the most recent Speckled Trout and Striped Bass Advisory Committees and is a regular public commentator at the quarterly Marine Fisheries Committee meetings.

Stuart has been an avid angler all his life and has fished throughout the state.  Chasing trout and redfish on top is his favorite way to catch them.  

Also, Steve Heins will continue his discussion on “Local Fishing Spots”.

Don’t miss this meeting!