# Topsail Pomps & My New Beach Buggy



## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

Of course, it was the Pompano that got me to Topsail in the first place, and Friday they did not disappoint.
Ended up with three pretty nice ones and three smaller ones that I could not resist keeping, along with a good pile of Mullet.
All of them were out past the last bar, and all were caught on shrimp (tipped with a piece of FB Shrimp for insurance) on the now famous River Rigs, with fluorescent green beads.

As an aside, because I had forgotten that you could not drive on the south end til after Oct. 1st, I bought one of those small beach carts, and got a real kick out of that. Give me the opportunity to fiddle with something that involves zip ties and bungee cords and I'm a happy guy.
I had one of those small plastic grocery store baskets in the truck (I admit to being a serial thief of those things, they are just too damn handy for everything from Kayak fishing to tool carrying! The big red Target ones are the best if you can snag one of them!) 
Of course the is never a shortage of bungees and zip ties in the truck, and in short order I had fashioned a tidy carrier for my bag with leaders and rigs, cutters and pliers, a couple of small plano boxes with sinkers, lures, fishbites and jigs, spots for 4 sand spikes to slide into and off I went.
I actually really enjoyed the simplicity of it, and not dragging all of my gear and the myriad of choices of rods and rigs that comes with taking the truck down the beach. And just the act of walking down the beach, watching the water and looking for spots was a nice change of pace and pretty darn relaxing.

The Pomps will go on the grill later this afternoon for our last Pompano Dinner of the season!


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

Oh, and I almost forgot, I landed my first Cobia ever on Friday. 
Actually caught four of them.
Two of them came on a double!
I just whish they had been bigger than a small mullet!
They sure were pretty, but they needed to put on about 50 lbs or so!
;-)


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## thro2know (Sep 30, 2012)

Where do you park your car if you are going to the south end and where is the access point? I am new to TopSail.


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

Nice report.


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## gshivar (Aug 29, 2006)

Nice report. Glad you got em. I always enjoy your post and replys. Enjoy the rest of your vacation. Best - glenn


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

thro2know said:


> Where do you park your car if you are going to the south end and where is the access point? I am new to TopSail.


There is parking right on the street just to the south of the Sea Vista Hotel, and there is a public wheelchair accessable ramp right there as well.
There may be other ramps further down, but I do not know, as I always stay at The Sea Vista and either walk on or drive on right below them.


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## thro2know (Sep 30, 2012)

Is it a long walk from the parking lot? I heard it was quite a ways. I don't have a buggy but use a backpack to carry all my rods and tackle. I'm coming down next Thursday so I hope the bite is still on.


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## AMG08 (Sep 2, 2012)

Thanks for the report. Im heading there in the morning. I didnt know you could drive there. Do you need a vehicle permit?


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## Eattheflounder (Apr 24, 2011)

Great report, thank you TJB. I have a question. Is the little cart good, or do you see advantages to one of the larger ones? I am thinking of buying one this week for the big fall trip. I used to love going in at ramp 38 and turning left. Good water, no crowds. They will not let me take my truck there anymore. Maybe if I get a cart and walk alot I can spend some time there again.
I guess I am hoping that you cam share your thoughts

EatTheFlounder


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## CarolinaGuy1986 (Jun 17, 2010)

Nice job on those fish !


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

Nice work there on the pomps...I only ever get the big ones on S. Topsail way out past the bar if I can reach it. Was looking on the JR Pier website and saw a 3lb pomp caught off the T on a gotcha and I have seen that not that infrequently down there...big ones are out far. Were you able to keep bait on the hook? The bait stealers can be terrible this time of year down there. 

For the other guys, you can drive a short stretch of beach at the north inlet year round without a permit. South end opens up October 1st and you need a permit. It is a decent hike, 20' or so from the last beach access to the south inlet if you don't drive but I like it better than the north end, usually going after reds if I'm hiking down there. Beaches are usually pretty flat down there so if you have a bike rigged up you could ride down there at low tide easy...


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

What's a good rod and reel for reaching the pompano and type fishing line?


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

I bought the smallest of the carts and I think it is going to suit me fine. Fits the cooler that I had for it, room for 4 rods, and some gear. 
I spent more time yesterday strapping bungees to it for sand spikes and some other stuff. I'll take a pic later on and post it here so you can see what I did.
It worked great down there where the beaches are flat and hard. I don't know how well it would work in the softer deeper sand at Hatteras, or where the beaches are steeper.
The one thing that I am probably going to do is keep an eye out for a set of Wheeleze wheels, because the ones that are on it don't roll across the softer sand very well and I hear good things about the Wheeleze wheels. Bigger and softer and they run on very low pressures.

To the other question, the walk to the actual beach is only as far as the beach is wide, but the walk all the way to the point is, by Google Earth measurement, 1.21 miles from the ramp at the Sea Vista. There is another access ramp a little further down, and that measures .91 miles, and there is another access ramp on the sound side, where you can walk around from the back side, and that is a .81 mile walk to the point. If you check it out on Google Earth you will get a pretty good view of where the ramps are and how to access them.
Hope it helps.
Tom



Eattheflounder said:


> Great report, thank you TJB. I have a question. Is the little cart good, or do you see advantages to one of the larger ones? I am thinking of buying one this week for the big fall trip. I used to love going in at ramp 38 and turning left. Good water, no crowds. They will not let me take my truck there anymore. Maybe if I get a cart and walk alot I can spend some time there again.
> I guess I am hoping that you cam share your thoughts
> 
> EatTheFlounder


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

Here are a few (crappy phone) pics of the quick and easy mods that I made to the Lil' Mate beach/pier cart that I got this week.


























Simply zip tied bungees on the sides to hold sand spikes, riveted 4 plastic pipe clamps to the bottom rail to keep the sand spikes upright and steady, and zip tied one of those grocery baskets to the top, and cut another down and zip tied that underneath to throw another small lunch cooler in, and sundry other supplies like a rain jacket and sunscreen and whatnot.
With the Zip ties I can just snip them off to make it smaller for packing in the truck, and then zip 'em back on once I get to where I am going. I love zip ties...
Hstew told me that a lot of the guys will make an upright "T" extension out of small diameter PVC for the handle, to raise it up and extend it out further than it is. And after nailing my heel with the front of the cart while walking down the beach, (and bleeding like a stuck pig all the way back to the Sea Vista) I can see where that would be a good thing to do as well.
I'm already itching to get back down there and give it another spin down the beach!


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## Eattheflounder (Apr 24, 2011)

Thanks for the cart review. With the closures I think it might be time to buy one.

EatTheFlounder


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## roostertail (Jul 7, 2012)

I fished and camped at ocracoke all weekend and after seeing firsthand how much beach is closed to ORV I dont think the ORV guys have much of an advantage over the cart guys... Im goin to get me a jr shortly.


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## Oldscout2 (Sep 15, 2008)

tjbjornsen said:


> Here are a few (crappy phone) pics of the quick and easy mods that I made to the Lil' Mate beach/pier cart that I got this week.


The mod with the spikes makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the idea.


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## yerbyray (May 18, 2010)

I took the modification to the sand spikes one step further. I will try and post pics tomorrow but I will describe them here now.

I took a basic 4' sandspike and added a "T" fitting about 18" from the top, a 8" section of pipe perpendicular, and added an elbow and additional pipe facing upwards. This created an inverted (upside down for those who attended a state university) lower case letter "h". I make a pair of these so I then stick them into my pier cart rod holders and I can carry a folding chair, hang my pier net, or carry other longer unruley items in the "h". You can still use the sand spike to haul rods on the cart as well as stakes on the sand.

This frees my beach cart to hold more beer....er I mean fishing gear.


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

yerbyray,
I like that idea a lot, but the rod holders on the one I bought will not accomodate a sand spike; too skinny. 
But I might steal your idea and use it some other way.
Heck. You could do the same thing and simply end the shorter upturned part of the h with a cup of some sort and have a baitholder.
Or a beer holder!


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## yerbyray (May 18, 2010)

tjbjornsen said:


> yerbyray,
> I like that idea a lot, but the rod holders on the one I bought will not accomodate a sand spike; too skinny.
> But I might steal your idea and use it some other way.
> Heck. You could do the same thing and simply end the shorter upturned part of the h with a cup of some sort and have a baitholder.
> Or a beer holder!


Yeah PVC is fun to tinker with. I have been fooling around with sand, heat fun, and some PVC pipe for a project for the squirt. Two years ago I took an old pair of Rossignol skies, some PVC pipe, and my labrador retriever wearing his doggie backpack harness and made a awesome dogsled for the snow.


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