Tommy Farmer, 3 time National Distance casting Champion will again provide a benefit casting seminar on May 30, 2010. The NCBBA event will be held at the Salvo Day Use Area from 9 am to Noon. Everyone is invited but we are limited to the first 50 people that register. Proceeds will benefit the NCBBA Legal Fund. Donation is $25 for adults and $15 for children under 16. Please register and send your donation to Mike Metzgar, 407 Walnut Street, Roaring Spring, PA 16673. Please include your name, email address and telephone number. Email Mike for more information at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

"I've been fishing the beaches of North Carolina for 20+ years. Fort Fisher and Carolina Beach are my favorite local fishing spots. During the spring and fall I love to fish Cape Hatteras for Drum and Striper. There is something special about this place. Fighting and landing a big Red Drum from the surf is one of the
most exciting and challenging fishing experiences for me." Tommy Farmer, www.carolinacastpro.com

Surf Fishing led me to long distance casting. In turn this sparked
my interest in competitive distance casting.

My accomplishments over the past 4 years of competitive distance casting.

Sportcast USA SE Open Champion Sportcast USA NE Open Champion New 150 gram national record 826' Sportcast USA US Open Champion Sportcast USA National Champion The Big Danny International casting event. 5th place out of 100 casters from 15 countries

Sportcast USA SE Open Champion Sportcast USA NE Open Champion Sportcast USA US Open Champion

SCUSA US Open Champion. SE Open and NC state champion. Primo Livenais World Invitational Tournament. 2nd place in the main event, Off the Ground Cast, behind world record holder Danny Moeskops. SCUSA National Champion.

SCUSA SE Champion and new National distance record of 839.25 feet. National Champion 150 gram. SCUSA Worlds Champion. Jerry Valentine Classic Champion. SFCCI Worlds Champion.

For the one hundred or so that have already provided you email address and an opinion: OUR THANKS!

For those that have not...........please do so soon and join the 2000+ members on our list! We live in an electronic world and NCBBA plans to test mail our newsletter in mid to late February after the US mail copies are sent. Your feedback is important and will guide the BOD in their efforts to reduce NCBBA operating costs while maintaining services.

In an effort to significantly reduce our large Publishing and US Mail expenses; NCBBA would prefer to email your newsletter to you.

I would prefer that NCBBA:

1.     Provide the newsletter by email. Yes (Least expensive to NCBBA)  (You can print the newsletter)

2.     Provide the newsletter by US Mail. Yes (More expensive to NCBBA)

3.     Provide the newsletter by both methods. Yes (Most expensive to NCBBA

Please respond to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your preference and email address so we have time to make your changes.

Send your email address to Director Mike Metzgar at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Comments by NCBBA/CHAPA/OBPA

On NPS Pre-Nesting Closure Recommendations
February 26, 2010

The Consent Decree requires piping plover (PIPL) pre-nesting closures beyond that which is required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the NPS Organic Act, and NPS Management Policies 2006. After reviewing the 2010 pre-nesting closures proposed by the National Park Service for Bodie Island, Cape Point, South Beach, Hatteras Spit, Ocracoke, and South Ocracoke, the NCBBA, OBPA, and CHAPA recommend the following changes.
American Oyster Catcher (AMOY) nest sites should not be considered a relevant factor, nor shown on any maps of proposed closures for PIPL since the species was not specifically addressed in the Consent Decree.
Bodie Island - Map #1

• The pre-nesting closure at the southern tip of Bodie Island Spit is encompassing more area than was closed in 2009 and there were no (0) PIPL nests in that area. With the dredging, erosion and uncertain accretion on this ever changing spit, this extended closure is unwarranted. Should nesting occur outside of a reasonable pre-nesting closure, it can be enlarged. However, if erosion occurs, there is no provision to relocate these overzealous boundaries. The chance of total closure to the safest youth recreation area north of ramp 23 is too great for the NPS to not allow this minimal request. The area where the high tide line touches the proposed closure line needs to be reconsidered and a 100 ft. corridor should be maintained.
• With no (0) nesting of PIPL near the northwestern border of the pre-nesting closure, NPS should reopen the access corridor from the ocean beach to the "Bait Pond." This corridor could act as a potential barrier between the predators in these dunes and the potential nesting areas on the spit. This corridor will also help keep this area free of vegetation. This entire area is routinely subject to ocean over wash, as it has for the last two (2) years.
• The closure for "Pedestrians Only" from the "Bait Pond" southward is unjustified and unreasonable. As evidenced by the NPS aerial photographs, this family beach continues to accrete from the south to the north. The waters adjoining this beach are shallow and warm early in the spring, allowing families with children (and the untold materials they bring for a day's enjoyment) to utilize this beach from the "Bait Pond" to the southern tip of the Spit. This genteelly sloped beach with minimal wave action loved by our young visitors should be opened to the maximum for the families that flock there every year in pursuit of a safe beach on which their children may play. If NPS enforcement personnel believe that the beach is currently unsafe for vehicles, it should have a safety closure, not "Pedestrian Only," until it has grown to an acceptable width.

• Cape Point closure should not eliminate the bypass The bypass should either continue west of the 2009 nest site to rejoin the access corridor further south, or the bypass should be shortened to join the access corridor further north.
• Relocate the most northern / east pre-nesting closure line, to the southern most point of the bypass trail. This can be allowed because of the natural dune barriers that provide protection of the various bird species from ORVs and pedestrians. These provisions are allowed under the Piping Plover Recovery Plan.
• Move east facing pre-nesting closure line 50m to the west to accommodate reasonable closure expansion. Maintain access to Cape Point to the greatest extent possible.
• Should restore plover habitat on the south and west side of the Salt Pond to encourage plover nesting to safer interior areas, keeping natural dune barriers to protect species.

• Should restore plover habitat on the south and west side of the Salt Pond to encourage plover nesting to safer interior areas, keeping natural dune barriers to protect species.

• Eliminate Hatteras Spit Over-Wash Fans area pre-nesting closures. This area has no (0) history as plover breeding /nesting areas. Pole road is necessary in the future ORV Management Plan, along with additional ramp provisions.

• Eliminate Hatteras Spit pre-nesting closures. Hatteras Spit has no plover habitat. NO areas of PCEs (Primary constituent elements.) Erosion has all but eliminated plover habitat, back interior dune area.
• Current conditions do not warrant expansion of the closure at Pole Road. NO PCEs exist.
• A 100 ft. corridor should be maintained.

• Open pedestrian corridor to ORVs, as ORVs are less disturbing to birds than pedestrians.

March 5, 2010                                                                                

Coalition for Beach Access

Announcement: ORV Access Environmental Impact Position Statement Released

The Coalition for Beach Access is a group of organizations committed to the preservation of pedestrian and ORV access to the beaches within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area.  These organizations participated in the NPS Negotiated Rule Making Process which was unable to arrive at a consensus recommendation from all parties.

The Coalition, which includes NCBBA, continues to advocate its positions over the intervening months as the NPS has prepared the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft ORV Plan for the Recreational Area.

The Coalition has developed the attached "ORV Access Environmental Impact Position Statement" to summarize its positions on many of the issues that are important to its goal of open access to the Recreational Area.

The Coalition believes the positions stated within this document and its attachments represent a common sense, reasonable approach to ORV Management that will protect public access and natural resources without impairment to either.

All who are interested in the preservation of pedestrian and ORV access to the beaches within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area are urged to compare and contrast this document with the NPS DEIS and ORV Plans to assist them in the preparation of comments during the official comment periods.

Electronic Copy of Statement can be downloaded at www.obpa-nc.org/position/statement.pdf

Electronic Copy of NPS DEIS can be downloaded at:  http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=358&projectId=10641&documentID=32596

The Coalition:

American Sportfishing Association

Avon Property Owners Association

Cape Hatteras Anglers Club

North Carolina Beach Buggy Association               This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Outer Banks Preservation Association                   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Civic Association

United Mobile Sportsfishermen

Watersports Industry Association, Inc