Captain Leroy Goodwin

A chat with Captain Leroy Goodwin
Cedar Island, NC
Fishing Vessel Miss Agatha

What‘s your family background? “I grew up right here in Cedar Island. Did you know we had two communities here, Roe and Lola? I have a sticker on my truck that says ROE!” Leroy, born in 1940, recalls when the mail was delivered by boat. “Elmo Fulcher would bring the mailboat Aleta to Long Bay, and boys would pole a skiff out from Lewis Creek to meet it. Then Uncle Billy would take the mail from the skiff to the post office with horse and cart. I‘ve seen it all – from horse and cart to a man on the moon!”

When did you start shrimping? “I‘ve been studying at it since 1973 when I got off a dredge boat.” Leroy comes from a long line of fishermen, but says nobody cared much for shrimp until the 1940‘s. “George Wallace got them thick in his pound nets. He started bringing home buckets of shrimp to eat, and everyone thought he was crazy. “Don‘t eat those – they‘ll kill you!” Leroy‘s uncle took him shrimping when he was a boy in the 40s and 50s, and fishermen got between 10 and 25 cents a pound. Leroy‘s father ran a big boat clear to Key West in the 1950s, shrimping for Clayton Fulcher Seafood.

What‘s your favorite fish story? “Pound net fishing after hurricane Hugo.” Pound nets are stationary fish corrals, trapping live flounder and other fish. “I was quick to set up my nets the day after Hugo hit South Carolina. Nine sets. The next day it was blowing a gale. Nobody else had set their nets yet. I was supposed to carry some sportsmen out to Core Banks, but told them to hang on, let me check my nets first, I should be back by 10:30 because they‘re probably empty. The first pound, I loaded 15 boxes of flounder. The next net was so heavy I couldn‘t lift it off the bottom. I loaded a skiff, got a new skiff and loaded it, and ended up with 2 and a half skiffs full, or 80 boxes of flounder from that one net! The storm chased the flounders out of the rivers into the sound.”

Who are your influences? “My uncle showed me how to fish, to set a pound net.” Leroy‘s 35 year old son is a fisherman and fishing guide. Leroy‘s 9 year old grandson loves shrimping. “I had to fire him at the end of the summer so he‘d go back to school!”

What‘s on your mind? “A fishermen needs his own lawyer on board just to keep up with all the rules and regulations!” Leroy says it‘s hard to find a good crew, as youth today are spoiled by their parents who don‘t want them to grow up with the hardships they had to endure. He‘s also worried about low market prices and high fuel costs that are “just killing” fishermen. Still, what does Leroy like about his livelihood? “Everything!”

What‘s your claim to fame? “I won ‘Worst Place‘ in the Boom Truck parade.” A boom truck is a custom made contraption invented by fishermen to help lift heavy nets out of boats. They‘re old pick up trucks with a boom and winch welded into the bed. Cedar Island preacher Bob Carpenter came up with the idea of a parade and contest to liven up the bleak February days -- fishermen decorate their old boom trucks in every way imaginable! “I bought that old Chevy truck for $100. George Brown removed the doors first thing with a burning torch!”

Who‘s your boat named after? “My wife, Agatha.”

Interview / Text: Dr. Barbara Garrity Blake