Fishing

The 2012 Jolly Mon King Classic is going to be rescheduled for June 22-24.
The original dates of June 15-17 are being postponed because of a combination of a poor weather forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the current status of the king mackerel fishery.
This is the first time in the event’s 18-year history that dates will be postponed. However, Mother Nature reigns supreme and we all must answer to her wishes.

As the water temperature gets hotter, Brunswick County fishermen are seeing some of their best pier and inshore action come from two reliable and hardy structure-oriented fish: the sheepshead and black drum. Both of these tough fighters are available now around piers, bridges, docks and over oyster beds and will hit both day and night.

It is hard not to feel as if something is not out there conspiring against the world of offshore sport fishing. Fuel prices, government regulations and weather have put a hex on the sport that is driving its participants into extinction.
The most recent blows have come from not one but two named storms that have literally formed within a few miles of our beaches. And, of course, both storms have affected our area over the weekend: the most recent over an important holiday weekend.

Several years ago I changed the format of the Far Out Shoot Out: Tuna, Dolphin and Wahoo Tournament to a format whereby boats participating could choose to fish one out of eight days.
The idea was to offer a larger weather window and, hopefully, participants could compete under better conditions. You would think eight days would do it, but this year the weather gods won, and the fish were safe from the tournament fishermen.