A day wit 



Captain Tony Tillett guided his 53-foot Carolinian 

 through the rough surf at Oregon Inlet at 6:30 on 

 a mid-November morning. The sun was just 

 peeking from behind the horizon. "We're late," 

 he said. "Everybody else has already gone." 



About half a mile offshore, fishermen on eight other boats 

 had already set out their nets for bait fish. Along with the 

 others, Tillett and mate Charlie Dunn were commercial 

 fishing for king mackerel. They had finished their charter 

 season a couple of weeks earlier. Now, whatever they 

 caught was theirs, and it had to be enough to pay for their 

 expenses in fuel, equipment, bait and ice. 



Tillett descended from his perch on the bridge where he 

 was guiding the boat. The two men set out a gill net, let the 

 boat drift away, then returned to the net several minutes 

 later. No, the mackerel weren't this close to shore, Dunn 

 said. They were fishing for "fatbacks. You know, men- 

 haden," he said. 



As soon as the fishermen emptied their nets, moved the 

 boat and set them out again, Dunn began preparing the bait. 

 Eviscerated fish would stay fresher longer, he said. "And 



I the kings 



the fresher the bait, the better the chance to catch fish." 



As the other boats pulled in one last netful of bait fish, a 

 neighboring fisherman pulled his boat alongside the Caro- 

 linian and donated an extra bucketful. "We all work 

 together out here," explained Tillett. In all, Tillett and Dunn 

 began fishing with about 30 pounds of bait. 



Dunn hauled in the nets, and they set off for what Tillett 

 had determined to be the day's fishing grounds, an area of 

 water about 10 to 15 miles offshore. 



Around the docks, some folks say Tillett is one of the best 

 fishermen in northeastern North Carolina. Dunn agrees, but 

 Tillett is more modest. No matter how much you know 

 about fishing, he said, there will still be days when you pull 

 your boat into the docks with an empty hold. "A fish is so 

 unpredictable. You'll get fooled from time to time." 



But during his 10-hour workday, Tillett's experience 

 helped reel in 51 king mackerel, ranging from 10 to 15 

 pounds each — as much as anybody else caught that day, 

 even if he did get a late start. To the untrained passenger, 

 Tillett appeared to wander aimlessly across the ocean. But 



Continued on next page 



