August 6 2007, Ocean Crest Pier, Oak Island, NC
It’s 10:30 Monday morning and a hot twenty-mile-an-hour breeze blows Atlantic waves beneath this pier. Terri Reed leans over her flounder rod pulling a small mullet minnow along the bottom on florescent line. She’s been here since 6:30 and has gotten one flounder bite. “I can stay out here fishing all day and not get one bite and still have lots of fun,” she says. “Look at that,” she says after she retrieves her line and discovers an empty hook.
Terri lives in Denver, NC and is an administrator for Duke Power at their McGuire Nuclear Station on Lake Norman. It’s been there 25 years and has more than 1,000 employees. “It’s merged with Synergy and is all over the world now.”
She and her husband own property here on Oak Island and come here often. “This time we’re here for 9 days and I’ll be out here on this pier probably 6 or 7 of them.”
She uses a spinning rod and reel and casts fairly close to the pier’s pilings on the shallow end. She leans over, points her rod at the ocean, moves the minnow along the bottom on a strong leader trailing behind a swivel and a barrel sinker. “Last week I caught a 5 ½-pounder on this pier,” she smiles. “They put my picture up.”
Flounder fishing is her favorite, but Terri grew up fishing for bluegill, crappie, bass, and catfish in Chester, SC. Her grandfather taught her. “I just lived for grandpaw’s visits, ‘cause I knew he was taking me fishing. I was just a little bitty thing.”
Her husband got her into saltwater fishing. Here at Oak Island she occasionally fishes from the surf. “I just prefer the pier because of the people,” she says as her eyes stretch across the other anglers down the length of the pier. “You make friends up here.”
“Who likes fishing better, you or your husband?” I ask.
“I do,” is her immediate response. “He’ll tell you that too – and also that I like to fish more than any man’s he’s ever met.”
I point to vacationers along the beach, relaxing in their chairs, reading their books, and ask her if she enjoys that.
Terri shakes her head before the words come: “You won’t find me out there. This is what I love doing.”
At home in Denver she and her husband enjoy fishing at Lake Norman, crappie mostly, usually on minnows. “If you can fillet him and put him on a biscuit, he’s a keeper.”
Terri uses her final mullet minnow – from among a bunch that her husband netted earlier in the shallows – and winds in her line.
I ask if she has any fishing tips for newcomers on this pier. “Patience.” She pauses, thinks, and points her head towards the other end of the pier. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell that little feller up yonder.”
Any words of wisdom for life itself? “Take a day at a time and live it to the fullest. I just love being out here – the ocean, how the tide comes in and out . . . just take it all in.”
It’s 10:30 Monday morning and a hot twenty-mile-an-hour breeze blows Atlantic waves beneath this pier. Terri Reed leans over her flounder rod pulling a small mullet minnow along the bottom on florescent line. She’s been here since 6:30 and has gotten one flounder bite. “I can stay out here fishing all day and not get one bite and still have lots of fun,” she says. “Look at that,” she says after she retrieves her line and discovers an empty hook.
Terri lives in Denver, NC and is an administrator for Duke Power at their McGuire Nuclear Station on Lake Norman. It’s been there 25 years and has more than 1,000 employees. “It’s merged with Synergy and is all over the world now.”
She and her husband own property here on Oak Island and come here often. “This time we’re here for 9 days and I’ll be out here on this pier probably 6 or 7 of them.”
She uses a spinning rod and reel and casts fairly close to the pier’s pilings on the shallow end. She leans over, points her rod at the ocean, moves the minnow along the bottom on a strong leader trailing behind a swivel and a barrel sinker. “Last week I caught a 5 ½-pounder on this pier,” she smiles. “They put my picture up.”
Flounder fishing is her favorite, but Terri grew up fishing for bluegill, crappie, bass, and catfish in Chester, SC. Her grandfather taught her. “I just lived for grandpaw’s visits, ‘cause I knew he was taking me fishing. I was just a little bitty thing.”Her husband got her into saltwater fishing. Here at Oak Island she occasionally fishes from the surf. “I just prefer the pier because of the people,” she says as her eyes stretch across the other anglers down the length of the pier. “You make friends up here.”
“Who likes fishing better, you or your husband?” I ask.
“I do,” is her immediate response. “He’ll tell you that too – and also that I like to fish more than any man’s he’s ever met.”
I point to vacationers along the beach, relaxing in their chairs, reading their books, and ask her if she enjoys that.
Terri shakes her head before the words come: “You won’t find me out there. This is what I love doing.”
At home in Denver she and her husband enjoy fishing at Lake Norman, crappie mostly, usually on minnows. “If you can fillet him and put him on a biscuit, he’s a keeper.”
Terri uses her final mullet minnow – from among a bunch that her husband netted earlier in the shallows – and winds in her line.
I ask if she has any fishing tips for newcomers on this pier. “Patience.” She pauses, thinks, and points her head towards the other end of the pier. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell that little feller up yonder.”
Any words of wisdom for life itself? “Take a day at a time and live it to the fullest. I just love being out here – the ocean, how the tide comes in and out . . . just take it all in.”
Photo: Terri Reed on Ocean Crest Pier
