Access limited on river

Wilmington pier lone fishing spot

WILMINGTON -- The Wilmington waterfront revival has been impressive.

Where abandoned docks with pilings akimbo and bulkheads with gaps between the timbers or steel-sheet pilings framed the waterfront a decade ago, spanking-new docks and a boardwalk of treated wood provide pathways for pedestrians and sightseers with boats.

Even with the renovation, there remains a lone spot for fishermen in downtown Wilmington: the Conlon Pier.

"With all the money they've spent on the waterfront, you would think they would have provided more than one little spot for fishing," said Ira Davis, 61, a retired concrete finisher. "If you don't know where the public fishing dock is, you would have a hard time finding it."

Davis was fishing at Conlon Pier. He said he has caught all kinds of fish from the pier.

"I've caught 20-pound catfish," he said. "Sometimes I catch a lot of catfish. I caught a big old sea mullet yesterday. Today, I'm catching croakers."

Davis ties his own rigs, using large threaded nuts as weights. He said using a piece of discarded hardware rather than a lead sinker saved money when his hooks got snagged and the line broke.

"A nut works better than a sparkplug," he said. "A sparkplug rolls in the current."

Signs prohibiting access stared from surrounding piers. He said if he hooked a fish, he had to reel it up to the pier, standing at least 10 feet above the water. The pier was atop a commercial mooring constructed of a circle of steel sheet pilings filled with concrete. A brick and concrete surface surrounded by a circular railing made the fishing area appear as a guardhouse among the taller parapets of pier-castles.

"You're surrounded here, so if you get a big fish on, you can hardly land him," Davis said. "They won't even let you walk down to the floating docks to get him in. You can't even walk your rod to the bank to play the fish."

Conlon Pier extends straight over the Northeast Cape Fear River. It is operated and maintained by the city's Department of Parks, Recreation and Downtown Services. It was the brainchild of Archie Jones, city dockmaster.

"The riverwalk and boardwalk are closed to fishing because of public safety," Jones said. "But we identified that area where it is OK to fish along the riverfront.

"It's a pier design with floating docks. There was an old existing commercial pier and dock, which the city incorporated into the boardwalk design. We had hoped to use the pier and dock for large vessels but found that it was not appropriate for that purpose."

The adjoining floating docks are used for fireboats and police boats and are leased to a commercial tour boat, the Lorelei, which gives tours of the Northeast and Cape Fear rivers. The city also has transient boat docks.

"People who use the fishing pier have to park wherever they find a spot," Jones said. "Technically, the Coastline Center is not available for parking, and neither is the Chamber's parking lot. Anglers drop off their fishing gear at the Chamber then park in a metered space along the street or at a public parking deck.

"The new convention center is under construction right beside the pier, and once it's complete, anglers will be able to park in the convention center deck."

Jones said the pier was not used much except by local fishermen, and Davis was a regular. He was sympathetic to their lack of opportunity because he came from a family of fishermen.

"It gives them a place to crab and fish," Jones said. "Supervisors approved it being a fishing area as long as it doesn't become a problem, and it hasn't. There are trash containers there. The nearest public restrooms are four blocks away at the end of Market Street, but you can walk to them."

Davis cast carefully to avoid snagging his hooks on the line of a commercial crab pot, which had been set right in front of the pier. Several other crab pot floats bobbed nearby in the current.

"It's a shame they don't realize it's the only place we have to fish from the bank," Davis said of the commercial crabbers. "If they did, they might move that one crab pot to make more space for us to fish."

Another angler who fishes at the pier is Beverly Martin, a 59-year-old Wilmington resident.

"We catch catfish, spots, croakers, catfish and eels," she said. "I fish with worms and shrimp.

"I think they should open up some of the other piers for fishing, as long as the fishermen keep it clean and don't cause any problems."

But Jones said it probably would not happen.

"I think any additional use of the docks would conflict with other uses," he said. "There was a fishing line recycling container out there, and it disappeared."

Still, Davis isn't going to stop fishing -- or wishing.

"Fish are good to eat, good for you and fun to catch," Davis said. "If this is the only place I can fish, I'm going to come here. I just wish we had more fishing spots."