# Cape Point, the walk, the score........



## huckfinn38 (Jun 13, 2006)

Hap, Jt, and me headed down to Buxton on Thursday 04/07. The weather was looking pretty good even though it seemed to be changing every hour on all of the websites. Hap and I got there hit RDT at about 4:00 to pick up some purty cobs and some purty bunker. Pulled up to the narrows, loaded our packs, and started the walk to the Point. On Thursday, the rule was as long as we stayed below the closure there was no problems with walking out there. The walk took 18 minutes and I estimate is about 3/4-1 mile. As soon as we got to where the best water was we saw a guy pulling in a nice 40+ fish. It didnt take us long to get baits in the water. After bailing some spineys and smoothies for about 30 min-1 hour I got a pick up and the drag started screaming. About 10 minutes later I beached a 47 inch drum. As Hap was snapping the picture, I looked up and saw Jt coming over the last hump to see me holding his fish. He started smiling...Jt has been on a 3 year slump and you could tell he was ready to get that monkey off his back. About 30 min later JT picked up his first at 38 inches. He was smiling like a kid to get the monkey off his back. We fished on until about 12-1 am. I picked up another 41 and another one that I did not measure that was between the 41-47. JT picked up another drum that he said was probably his biggest drum to date somewhere in the upper 40's he thought. There were about 8-10 of us that made the walk Thursday night with what I estimate 25-30 fish caught. A guy who lives in Kitty Hawk named Nick got 5-7 fish, Willard got 1, Zach from RDT got 2, Phil got 2, and Pat got 2. Others that I did not talk to scored as well. It was a fun but tough night. We were constantly moving our packs up the beach as the tide was coming in. We all took probably 5 lbs of bait with us and multiple bottles of water. I was soaked from the sweat. Hap will add pics because they are on his camera. We didnt get picks of all the fish because we were spread out and ansy to get our baits back in the water.
*Now for the frustrating part*. Friday our plan was to hang out at Ramp 49, fish for bait, and walk back to the Point Friday night. We caught quite a few small drum candy sea mullet and a few puffers. We also caught 6 nice 2-3 lb blues on metal. 
Anyway about 2 pm I got a call from a buddy Sam who was heading down. He said that RDT was reporting we could no longer walk to the Point. Being skeptical I called the NPS and could not get Cindy Holda so I hit 0 and was transferred to the operator. When she answered I asked her if the Point was closed now to foot access. She said yes it was because fisherman walking by the closures had spooked birds off of a scratch. With this happening we packed up our truck and headed south to the inlet. The water down there was cold and we got 1 Blue. About 3:30 Sam called me again and said the Point was no open again to foot access. Not knowing what was going on I called the NPS again. Cindy Holda did not pick up her phone again so I hit 0 again and was transferred to the operator again. The operator said she still thought it was closed to foot access but was not sure and Cindy was in a meeting discussing the Gov shutdown which was getting ready to take place. She said Cindy would call me back in 30 minutes. At 4:15 I called back and Cindy was still in the meeting. I called back again at 4:45 and finally got her. I guess she never intended to call me back. I told the operator that I was already down there on vacation and needed to know. Cindy told me we could walk out there and keep our feet in the water. She also told me that she did not know what would happen if there was a Gov shutdown. She said the ramps might be closed and they might not.
To me this is rediculous. 
1. You can never get a hold of anyone there who knows or they wont call you back.
2. I think the NPS is spreading confusing information so we wont come down and fish.
3. They dont know what they are doing with regards to the consent decree vs closures.
4. They are obviously targeting fisherman because they tried to keep us from walking Friday night. I am sending my experience to Burr, Hagan, Rep Walter Jones, Rep David Price, Salazar, and head of NPS. This is rediculous. I strongly suggest you do too.


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## huckfinn38 (Jun 13, 2006)




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## PoBenda (Sep 6, 2010)

Same thing happened to me friday night. One ranger told me that you could walk in the suds up to the point, then another came up to me on foot while i was at the point and told me that i was in violation of the reg, but let me off the hook as long as i walked back.


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## Bullred (Mar 13, 2010)

Very nice fish. Congrats.


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## Aaron T (May 9, 2000)

PoBenda said:


> Same thing happened to me friday night. One ranger told me that you could walk in the suds up to the point, then another came up to me on foot while i was at the point and told me that i was in violation of the reg, but let me off the hook as long as i walked back.


you should have told him he was also in violation of the reg. If the fisherman and tourists cant walk the beach without disturbing the birds, how can the rangers?


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## Ryan Y (Dec 1, 2005)

Nice Jeb.


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## SaltSlinger (Aug 14, 2006)

First and foremost, congrats on putting in the effort and being rewarded with some great fish.

Second, I haven't been around in a while or keeping up with the situation, this is first post on it I've read in awhile. All I can say is this is absolutely ridiculous, really, beyond belief. First it was no vehicles and now you can't even WALK the beach? All for a few birds that can find a million other places along the beach to nest? Nuts.

What are they going to do when all the people are gone, and mother nature takes over again, and the foxes and feral cats re-inhabit the beach and are having a field day on these birds?


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## dirtyhandslopez (Nov 17, 2006)

Thanks for the report.


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

Awesome report. Sounds like the possible govt. shutdown made things a real fustercluck. Hopefully they'll be a little clearer about things now that it's passed.


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## BlueHwy (Sep 1, 2009)

Thanks. I was wondering about walking. So now it is clear - that it isn't clear...

Sounds like a good night. Congrats.


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## uncdub13 (Aug 9, 2003)

Nice job earning those fish. That top pic is one fat, healthy spring fish.


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

AwesOme stuff. Goin up this weekend, plan to make the walk too.


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## LaidbackVA (May 17, 2007)

saltslinger, there won't be any foxes nor feral cats because they (DOW) are having them trapped. You can reveiw my statement if you want to. One of the trapper's did a short video a few months back and showed the type of traps and snares.

ron


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## Fishbreath (Nov 11, 2004)

Nice report and pretty fish Jeb! 

Wish they'd get their act and assets together...sheesh!


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## SaltSlinger (Aug 14, 2006)

Thanks for the info LaidbackVA, I did not know that. Feral cats and humans are one thing that (I suppose) could be debated. However, the fact that "they" are favoring some native animals (birds) at the expense of other native animals (foxes) is clear evidence of the misguided approach here.

If "their" goal is to return the national seashore into native/untouched habitat, they would not be trapping foxes. It seems that "their" mission statement is to turn the whole national seashore into a bird sanctuary. The Feds have almost always leaned towards responsible shared usage and access with balanced impact to wildlife. Frustrating to see them leaning towards such narrow focus on the birds. Especially when (I looked it up), plovers for example aren't even threatened, and nowhere near endagered! See info (here).

Sorry for the thread hijack Jebson, won't happen again!


UPDATE....I guess I should have done a little more reading to get up to date on the situation. I thought this article was a good, current summary. Still upset to see them disallowing WALKING in certain areas for bird and turtle species, the majority of which are not threatened or endangered severely.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Unless they have changed things,you can walk in the water,below mean low tide,and you are not violating any of their stupid rules... I was there Fri night,you missed nothing but some doggies and a few bluefish..... Didn't get bothered at all...


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## huckfinn38 (Jun 13, 2006)

Drumdum said:


> Unless they have changed things,you can walk in the water,below mean low tide,and you are not violating any of their stupid rules... I was there Fri night,you missed nothing but some doggies and a few bluefish..... Didn't get bothered at all...


Kenny I saw you and Tater out there. I meant to introduce myself but was wore slap out. I was watching Tater cast and was impressed by how the young man is doing for his age. Way ahead of where most of us where at that age.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Jebson38 said:


> Kenny I saw you and Tater out there. I meant to introduce myself but was wore slap out. I was watching Tater cast and was impressed by how the young man is doing for his age. Way ahead of where most of us where at that age.


 To my right??? Yeap,he's learning,but more comfortable on the planks where he's got some footing.. He still ain't "real hip" on this surfcasting thing.. Bear in mind he just caught his first "surf fish" this year.. He's caught double figures off the planks and loves it.. Natural born planker I think...


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## huckfinn38 (Jun 13, 2006)

Yes I was too your right. We were putting the rope a dope on some doggies.


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