Overnight At The Frying Pan Tower
This was one of those trips you’ll never forget. When Airlie Pointe Yacht Charters was still just an idea, I dreamed of having a boat capable of pulling this off. The iconic Frying Pan Tower sits about 35 miles off the tip of Bald Head Island at the end of the Frying Pan Shoals. Built in 1964 and manned by a 4 person USCG crew until 1979, the tower marks the edge of the shipping channel into the Cape Fear River which is still widely used today.
As it sits about 45 miles from Wrightsville Beach, it can be a long day trip to run out and back. The solution? Take advantage of Civility’s versatility and make it a 24 hour dock to dock epic overnight adventure!
The forecast was perfect for our crew. 3 friends and the captain turned out to be the perfect size group. We loaded up and left Wrightsville beach for our scheduled leisurely 1pm departure.
After clearing Masonboro Inlet, we engaged the autopilot, had lunch and spent the cruise tying up fishing rigs and plotting our strategy. The slick calm seas were only broken up by the occasional school of False Albacore blitzing bait fish on the surface. After a couple hour run, there she was! One of the most incredible parts of the journey was even with the perfect conditions and it being a Sunday, we were the only boat around. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but it’s almost eerie to be at such an amazing, iconic destination without another human as far as the eye can see.
After a brief moment to take it all in it was time to go to work! We decided that even though the focus of our trip would be bottom fishing, the best strategy would be to troll for a couple hours before dark to really dial in on the live bottom spots we would fish at night. This turned out to be the the right move, and after getting anchored on our first waypoint, the first keeper fish came in the boat in about 30 seconds! After that it was game on with our first priority to get a couple of nice keeper Black Sea Bass to make a Catch, Clean & Cook ceviche for dinner. From sea to table in less than an hour gives a whole new meaning to the term “fresh catch”!
The action was absolutely nonstop the rest of the evening. As one of the guys put it, “this isn’t fishing, this is catching”. We called it a night just before midnight with only the faint glow of container ships out in the shipping channel and the shadow of the tower visible in the light of the moon.
After taking in the sunrise with bagels and coffee (typical “fishing” boat huh? :)) we put together our game plan for the day. Since we already had lots of fish in the cooler, the pressure was off so we decided to spend the morning anchored right on the tower and do some snorkeling and just see if any nice fish showed up… Well sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time!
I can’t even begin to describe how awesome this next part was (but I’ll try!). The underwater visibility was some of the best I’ve ever experienced, at least 75 ft. This of course made for some incredible snorkeling under the tower but where it led us was truly the part of the trip I’ll never forget.
I’ve sight casted for Red Drum in the shallows and Stripers on the surface, but the visibility was SO good and massive schools of Barracuda and Amberjack kept showing up so I literally spent the morning swimming around sighting fish for the crew and helping to instruct them on depth, size of fish, when to set the hook etc. This was amazing and we didn’t think it could get any better until out of nowhere I spotted a massive stingray cruising our way with a big Cobia following directly behind him. Cobia are known to follow rays and turtles but to see it with my own eyes from the surface 50 ft above was mind blowing. I quickly alerted the fellas who got a couple bottom rigs in his vicinity and bam! The fight was on. Pound for pound one of the best fighting (and table fare) fish in the world, Mark battled him for 10-15 minutes on a medium heavy spinning combo before we were finally able to haul him in!
You know karma is smiling on you sometimes after an experience like that. That big cobia filled the cooler to the brim and was our cue to ice everything down really well (take care of your catch!) and head back to Wrightsville Beach.
This was a bucket list trip if there ever was one, we’re truly honored to create these memories for friends and family that last a lifetime. Check out some more underwater footage below and give us a call if this is a trip you want to recreate with your own crew (how could you not?!?). Take care, be safe and see you out on the water!
