THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606130211
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL AND LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: 178 lines
IT'S A CLASSIC Outer Banks night, with the moon casting a silver sheen over the frothy ocean water, the wind whipping the waves as they suck at the beach.
The only odd thing is the bone-numbing chill, the last word of a winter that has lingered into early June.
But the people on the Nags Head Fishing Pier, huddled on wooden benches and bundled in fleece and nylon against the cold, don't care. They're not there for the niceties of the night. Most don't talk to each other. They don't seem to take in the scenery or savor the salt air as it enters and exits their lungs.
They are there to hook fish, to feel the pull on the lines, to reel in the shimmering, wriggling catch and to decide whether there's enough meat to merit the effort of cleaning.
It's a solitary pastime that uncounted numbers of anglers seek every night from spring through fall on Outer Banks fishing piers - most of which are open 24 hours a day.
When darkness falls, when the families and sun seekers head home, a handful of die-hards linger on. A few stay to greet the next day. Some are almost maniacal in their determination not to leave until they get their fill of fishing - a plateau they never quite seem to reach.
``My motel's right across the street. But I sleep here on these benches, mostly,'' said Mike Black, 37, a welder from Cambridge, Ohio. ``My buddy's back there now, catching some Z's. He crashed out at 8 p.m.
``But I like to keep the lines in the water, just in case. Might miss something otherwise. You never know.''
Black could win a world championship title for dedicated pier fishing.
At 1 a.m., after casting lines continuously since 5:30 the morning before, Black's eyes are red and his face is ruddy from sun and wind. He's eaten all the food in his blue cooler. But he figures he'll last at least until the rest of his Coronas are gone.
For him, the secret is preparation. He makes the 12-hour trek to the Outer Banks four or five times a season. And when he comes, he's ready.
He's got a red wagon loaded with fishing and survival gear - six rods in their own PVC holders bolted to the sides of the wagon, coolers of beer, food, bait and ice, a gold, tri-level tackle box and extra clothes. He rolls the wagon onto a trailer he made, attaches the trailer to his sport utility vehicle and heads south whenever the mood for fishing strikes.
Black, a bachelor whose devotion to work and fishing don't leave him much time to meet women, likes the social interaction among the anglers on the piers during the day, when people are there as much to see each other as the fish.
``It's pretty lonely out here at night,'' he said. ``It's getting tough. No one to talk to. But it gives you a little shot of adrenaline when you catch a good one.''
This night, he's not having much luck. No one is. A few smaller fish are caught; a lot of skates.
``I'd like to take some nice fish home,'' Black said. ``But if you don't, you don't. Don't really matter much anyway.
``In Ohio, you don't get to see the ocean. So I try to make the best of these trips while I'm here.''
Jerry D. Webster, 31, a carpet and upholstery cleaner from Kill Devil Hills, has a theory.
``In the springtime, the fish are coming in a different frame of mind,'' Webster said. ``They're hungry. But they're not trying to fatten themselves up for the wintertime.''
Angling doesn't take as much skill as patience, he said.
``Gotta concentrate,'' he said, casting and watching his line hit the water. ``Let it sink down real low, jig it, bounce it, reel it in real slow.''
Nothing.
But that doesn't daunt Webster. It's the first time this season he's been out on the pier. And already he's having a hard time prying himself away.
``I was fishing this morning. Now I'm back here fishing again,'' he said. He had to convince his girlfriend to let him stay out for so long. ``Guess I have the fever.''
Webster waited all winter to catch a fish.
Pier owners also waited all winter for spring to come, so they could open up and start reeling in profits. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate this season. Chills undoubtedly scared away some anglers, up until early this month.
``It really hurts,'' said Nancy Defibaugh, whose husband Bob runs the Nags Head Pier's fishing shop. Pier owners ``count on every day they can possibly count on, because they close up in the fall. This is how they make it for the year.''
Bob Defibaugh has fielded more than a few calls this spring from people wanting him to predict the weather before they come out. He'll gladly dispense advice on how best to catch fish. But meteorology is not his department.
``You'll have to ask the guy upstairs,'' Defibaugh told one late-night caller who requested a forecast. ``If I could tell you that, I wouldn't be working here.''
Generally, the folks who hang around the pier until the wee hours of the morning aren't worried about a little rough weather.
``This isn't cold,'' said Timothy Stotesbury, 32, of Roper, N.C., scoffing at the night chill. Roper and his wife drove 75 miles so they could spend the day and night fishing.
Like they do on all their trips to the Outer Banks, they booked a hotel room near the pier. Stotesbury's strategy is to come out every two or three hours, cast a line and see what's biting.
``The fish usually bite better in the early morning than they do during the day,'' he said. ``It's peaceful out here at night. And it gives you something to do to get away from the house.''
At the tip of the pier, Ace E. Sawyer, 42, a hospital supervisor from Lynchburg, Va., stood casting his line alone under the pallor of the pier lights.
``I'm always fishing,'' he said. ``Wherever there's water, I'm fishing.
``It's a good pastime. It relieves stress. If I didn't catch anything, I'd enjoy it just as much.''
Sawyer does catch something. His rod bows. The line strains. But it's only a skate. He can tell by the way it struggles against the hook. Its flat, diamond-shaped body doesn't allow it to roll and pitch like a fish.
``At least something's biting,'' he said, holding the skate against the pier's worn planks with his foot, and pulling the hook out of its underbelly. ``It's better than getting no bites.''
For anglers like Sawyer who fish the piers at night, the food value of their fish is an afterthought. It's the thrill of the catch and the quiet relaxation of solitude on that drive them to return.
Bill Gatesman and his wife, Karen, both 47 and from Raleigh, spent most of the day on the pier, catching primarily perch and crabs.
But they came back around 11 p.m., to spend about three hours trying their luck in the dark.
``We're just out here relaxing,'' Bill Gatesman said. ``The fish seem to bite better during the day. But it's less crowded out here at night. So we always stay a while after dark.
``The weekends are always real busy. And, since that's when we can get away mostly, we fish at night, too, to have the pier mostly to ourselves.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
UP ALL NIGHT
Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Everybody's attention is riveted on their fishing lines, ignoring
the well-supplied angler walking along the Nags Head Fishing Pier.
Off on a dark stretch of the Nage Head Pier, Susan Shilling and
Steve McCord, both 17 and from Falling Waters, W. Va., share a
romantic kiss.
Gene Lee, 48, right, helps his son Jonathan Lee, 16, with rigging
his pole as night lights along the Nags Head waterfront shine int he
background.
Staff photos by
DREW C. WILSON
FISHING PIERS
All fishing piers are located on N.C. Route 12
Kitty Hawk Pier - Open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Entrance fee: $5 daily,
$25 weekly. Tackle rental: $5. Milepost 2, Kitty Hawk. 261-2772.
Avalon Pier - 5 a.m. to 2 a.m., summer and fall. Entrance fee: $5
daily, $13 three-day weekend pass, $28 weekly. Rod rental: $5.
Milepost 6, Kitty Hawk. 441-7494.
Nags Head Pier - Open 24 hours, weather and fish permitting.
Complete tackle shop. Entrance fee: $5 daily, $12 three-day pass,
$30 eight-day pass. Tackle rental: $5. Milepost 11 , Nags Head.
441-5141.
Jennette's Pier - Open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. through May; 24 hours
through Labor Day. Entrance fee: $5; sightseeing fee $1. $12
three-day pass; $25 weekly. Tackle rental: $5. Milepost 16 1/2, Nags
Head. 441-6116.
Sound Pier - Open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. for fishing and crabbing.
Admission $2. Tackle and crab net rentals. Nags Head-Manteo
Causeway, Nags Head. 441-5028.
Outer Banks Pier - Open 24 hours through October. Entrance fee:
$5 daily, $12.50 three-day pass, $25 weekly. Tackle rental:
$4.95-$5. Senior citizen discount. Milepost 18 , South Nags Head.
441-5740.
Hatteras Island Fishing Pier - Open 6 a.m. to 8 or 10 p.m.
depending on fish; 24 hours, summer. Entrance fee: $5 daily/$3 for
ages 12 and under/$1 for sightseeing, $25 weekly. Tackle rental:
$7.50. Rodanthe. 987-2323.
Avon Fishing Pier - Open 24 hours daily through November.
Entrance fee: $6 daily/$1 for sightseeing, $35 weekly. Tackle
rental: $8. Avon. 995-5480.
Frisco Pier - 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.; 'till midnight Saturday and
Sunday, through December. Entrance fee: $5 daily/$1 for
sightseeing; $25 weekly. Tackle rental: $5. Frisco. 986-2533. by CNB