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Already, at the age of 14, Joseph Baggett has
as good a grip on the backwaters around
Wrightsville Beach as many inshore fishing
guides. His Carolina Skiff allows him to run the skinny
tidal creeks, or marsh trails as he refers to them. “You’ll
mess up a prop before you know them (the creeks),”
Joseph laughs. “It takes about a year to really get it
down.”
Joseph started fishing with his father aboard a 21-foot
Kencraft. Then, when he was a little older, his father
upgraded to a 23-foot Regulator. Spending time on that
boat is where he really learned the ropes, he recalls.
The Carolina Skiff is much more manageable than
the Regulator and is a real utility boat for Joseph. “It
really doesn’t draw much water, and there’s a good
amount of room,” he says.
Joseph enjoys taking the vessel out and pulling
spoons for inshore fish, but he also spends a lot of time
on a surfboard. He can often be found with a board on
the deck of his boat commuting to Masonboro Island
with friends or with his little brother, Polk. “We usually
just bring one board and a boogie board and just switch
off,” he says. “Pretty much every weekend I am surfing,
swimming or fishing.”
Joseph Baggett
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM