Southport Magazine

I remember clearly waking up at zero dark thirty in the morning to go on a fishing trip with my best friend David Patterson and our dads when we were pre-teens. We lived in the Philadelphia suburbs and had a few hours to drive to get to the head boat on the Jersey shore. I remember getting to the dock as the sun was rising and looking for the boat. I remember the trip out and fishing for several hours and and it being little rough, resulting in several people (but none of our party) getting seasick. I remember talking fishing and other stuff with our dads, floating on the sea, and riding at the front of the boat on the way back in, but I don’t remember what we caught. I know we caught something because I remember giving it away on the dock. We didn’t want to mess cleaning and cooking it because it wasn’t going to feed both families, not by a long shot. 

Last month we had family in town and I thought it would be fun to give a new generation a chance to experience something that I remembered so fondly. Thanks to Reelin Pelican Fishing Charters and Rusty Hooks Dockside Grill, three generations were able to enjoy a day of fishing, and afterwards we got to enjoy our catch without any of the hassle of cleaning and cooking the fish ourselves. 

We didn’t have to wake up in the middle of the night like my childhood experience, because the Reelin’ Pelican is docked at Safe Harbor Marina in South Harbour and we were all coming form Oak Island,  but it was still fun to see my son, now 23 years old, rising well before the sun. We met the rest of the crew — my dad, my brother-n-law Chris, my niece Sophie (14), and my nephew Zach (12) — in the parking lot, and set off to find the boat and our Captain. 

Captain Robert Capps greeted us from the dock where he was busy getting the boat ready. He later told me that he himself does indeed wake up in the middle of the night to prepare to take charters out. He helped everyone into the boat, we stowed our snacks and drinks, Capt. Robert helped Zach into a life vest (he needed to wear one because he is under 12, but they are available for everyone on the boat), we settled down in the center console “Reelin’ Pelican,” and we were off before the sun came up. 

It had been such a hot summer that it felt nice to be almost chilly as we ran up Dutchman Creek in search of bait. Reelin’ Pelican offers full and half-day trips and the half day trips leave either six in the morning like ours or right around lunch time. I would recommend booking the morning trip if you’re going in the summer, as the afternoon would be pretty hot. Capt. Robert said it does indeed get toasty and sometimes he’s watching six people try to jockey for position in the shade of the boat’s t-top. The weather on our trip was ideal.

We joined several other boats in searching for bait fish in Dutchman Creek, and my son, John, was impressed with how the boat captains all talked to each other and helped each other find where the bait was that particular morning. It really seems like a tight community. We (well, Capt. Robert) filled our bait well and we set off into the sunrise to our first fishing spot. 

Now I’m not going to write about where this or later fishing spots are located. Each Captain has places he likes to go and while the fishing spots aren’t national security-level secrets, they are part of a charter boat captain’s stock-in-trade and I’m going to respect that. You’ll be able to get a general idea from the photos, and Capt. Robert said he was ok with that, but that’s as far as we’ll go here. 

Suffice to say, Cape. Robert can find fish. We had a great day catching sea trout and flounder, and even hooked a few sharks and a ray. We moved around enough to keep things interesting, but always felt we had plenty of fishing time at each stop. 

Capt. Robert kept everyone’s hook baited and told us where to cast. He did a great job helping Zach and Sophie, who both became rather good at placing a hook where they wanted it. Capt. Robert said his favorite part of his job was the kids, and it showed. As a dad, I can say it’s a treat to go fishing with children and not spend the entire time baiting hooks and untangling lines. Capt. Robert took care of it, and cheerfully at that. 

Our community is gorgeous from the water, and John and I were excited to go places on the water we’d never been and see things we were familiar with from new perspectives. Our Pennsylvania family loved every minute of it, and got to see three lighthouses and watch two giant ships come into the Cape Fear and head up river. None of us are what you’d call avid fishermen. We were in this for the experience, and we got all we could have hoped for and more. 

After half a day of fishing we headed back to the dock. Capt. Robert kept ahold of the “keepers” and told us how Hook & Cook works. He took the fish to Rusty Hooks’ kitchen and we returned later for dinner, told the hostess we were the “Hook & Cook people,” and the restaurant took care of the rest. 

Hook & Cook is a unique partnership between Reelin’ Pelican and Rusty Hooks Dockside Grille. It’s a family affair as Capt. Robert is Rusty Hooks owner Cindy Capps’ son, so it works well. The restaurant cleans and cooks your fish to your order. It’s a guarantee of the freshest fish possible without any of the bother of cleaning the fish or hoping you get the cooking just right. 

We went to dinner the evening of our fishing day with just myself, the lovely and talented Lisa, and John. Our server asked how we’d like the fish prepared and we passed it back to her looking for suggestions, which she was ready for. The kitchen recommended, she said, grilled and lightly blackened sea trout with either a lemon sauce or mango salsa. We ordered some of each preparation to get to try both. While we enjoyed and our drinks and watched the sunset, our server came by with a fried fish bites  appetizer made from the fish they wouldn’t need for our entrees. It was a delicious and welcome surprise. 

The entrees were terrific, grilled to perfection, and the toppings each complemented the fish well. I’d certainly urge you going with whatever preparation of your catch that the kitchen recommends. They obviously take pride in what they do. 

A side benefit of our evening was the chance to chat with Cindy as she bustled around the restaurant. At one point she thanked us for “spending the day with my family.” As I told her, it was our pleasure. The Capps made our day one to remember.

I put a few photos of our trip on social media, as one does, and the first comment was from my childhood best friend David, “Do you remember that fishing trip with our dads?” Yep. And I’m hoping 40 years from now my son and niece and nephew will still be talking about ours. 

To book your own trip with Reelin’ Pelican, contact Captain Robert at ReelinPelican@gmail.com, call 910-431-5341 or visit the website at www.ReelinPelican.com

To enjoy some of the best food and views in town, visit Rusty Hooks Dockside Grill, 4907 Fish Factory Road, give them a ring at 910-477-6616 or check them out on the web at rustyhooksdockside.com (they have lots of photos of their deliciousness).