THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 07, 2008
Unexpected Night Of Fishing
NCW member, "wavepounder" spends night on J-Bird Shoals
By wavepounder
Talked one of the painters working on a project to go fishing Mon. He asked another friend of his to go and we headed out to Southport at 9:30 am. Got to the FPT around 2:00 pm. Water temp. was 64 and no kings around so we dropped to the bottom. Caught BSB, beeliners, grunts, spottail pinfish and 2 sharks. Had to throw many undersized back. Headed back in around 6:30 pm. Water had slicked off and made great time until we got 11 miles from capefear inlet and we hit a fog bank. I've never had trouble with my gps but after a short time in the fog it went crazy and then showed lost position. Has anyone ever had any kind of trouble with fog affecting gps like that?
Long story short, we spent the night on j bird shoals. After running aground we and the coast guard felt we were better off to stay the night right there. Just to let you know how thick the fog was, Oak Island lighthouse was operating but we never saw it or any other lights along the shore. We backed off J bird around 5:00 am tues morning after the tide came back in. But ya know, we really had a great time, plenty to drink and eat on board, the water was calm, and the coast guard was great. Just knowing they were there and ready to assist if we got into trouble gave the 3 of us peace of mind. They stayed in contact by radio all night. Special thanks to the guys and gals of the US Coast Guard for being on stand by!! Someone let me know about fog and GPS. I need to know so I can have mine checked or not. I think I will anyway.
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