Outdoors Notes: An Unusual Catch
By Ed Wall, Special to the Sun Journal
Posted Jan. 6, 2016 at 2:20 PM
Updated Jan 6, 2016 at 2:21 PM
| Bob Bruggeworth, president of the Fairfield Harbour Fishing Club, sent an email to club members recently reporting a very unusual angling event. According to the report, Bob’s nephew, Jeff Wertz was fishing off a private dock on Northwest Creek [actually an inner harbour dock across from the closed Shoreline course] near New Bern on New Year’s Day and hooked an 18-inch tarpon on a live minnow fished on a bobber rig. Tarpon are common in tropical waters and are known to venture into the lower Neuse River and Pamlico Sound during hot summer months. They are rarely found as far upstream as Fairfield Harbour, however, and never during the winter months – at least until now. Some fishermen have surmised that unusually warm weather during recent weeks has kept water temperatures higher than normal and may have confused the tarpon’s sense of direction. According to Bruggeworth, the fish was photographed to verify its existence and then released to make its trip south for the winter. The consensus among local anglers is they hope he (she?) makes it. |