against the pier pilings, he 

 launches a spider kite — which 

 is attached to a lollipop and 

 line baited with a five-pound 

 tuna head — 300 feet away 

 from the pier. As soon as the 

 lollipop melts, the kite flies 

 away, and the line stays in the 

 water. 



After waiting several hours 

 on the end of the pier, Wolfe 

 doesn't catch anything. However, 

 the week before he had pulled 

 in a 190-pound sand tiger. 



When Wolfe does pull in 

 a shark, he says the tug on the 

 reel creates a "screaming noise 

 so loud that is can be heard 

 down to the pier house." 



Usually a crowd congre- 

 gates while Wolfe gathers 

 special equipment to reel in the 

 big catch. First, he straps on a 

 harness around his waist and 

 then uses a clip rope to pull the 

 shark onto the beach. 



Top: At Avon Pier, two young men cut the 

 hook off a skate. 



Above: Sara Wetzell (left) and cousin Katie 

 Torsiello from Hagerstown, Md., delight 

 in fishing from the pier. 



Even for an experienced angler like 

 Wolfe who averages three sharks a 

 season — eight during a good year — 

 shark fishing can be dangerous. One 

 time, he broke his ribs while pulling in a 

 shark. 



"Once I was on another pier and my 

 reel went off," says Wolfe. "I put on my 

 harness and thought it was a small shark. I 

 got thrown up against the railings." 



In July, the DMF began restricting 

 commercial and recreational shark harvest 

 in state waters. 



Commercial fishers have a bycatch 

 limit of one shark per vessel per day and 

 limited seasons for certain species. 



Recreational fishers are allowed only 

 one shark per person per day on a fishing 

 pier or one per vessel per day. All sharks 

 except Atlantic sharpnose or 

 Rhizoprionodon terraenovae must be a 

 minimum of 54 inches from the nose to the 

 tail's fork. All other species over 84 inches 

 from the nose to the tail's fork are 

 prohibited except the tiger species or 

 Galeocerdo curvier, thresher or Alopia 

 vulpinus, bigeye thresher or Alopias 

 supercilliosus, shortfin mako or hums 

 oxyrinchus and hammerhead or Sphyrna 

 species. 



In addition, any shark not retained 

 must be returned to the water in a manner 

 that ensures survival. Any shark retained 

 must have head, tail and fins intact. 



North Carolina law states that any 

 species that has a minimum size or bag 

 limit cannot be mutilated. 



"These measures are intended to 

 protect juvenile and immature sandbar 

 sharks and juvenile, immature and mature 

 dusky sharks by reducing the direct and 

 incidental harvest of sharks," says Jim 

 Francesconi, a DMF fisheries biologist. 

 "We also are trying to stop the practice of 

 finning sharks — removing the fins and 

 discarding the carcass — within state and 

 federal waters." 



5 Fall Fish ini 



Summer isn't the only time that 

 anglers gather on piers. The biggest time 

 of year for pier fishing is fall — September 

 through mid-October. 



"This is when adult fish move down 

 the beach to spawn in and around inlets," 

 says Jim Bahen, a North Carolina Sea 

 Grant fisheries specialist. "The big spots 



C o n t i n it e d 



COASTWATCH 9 



