- I love to fish, but more importantly, I, I love to take people fishing.

- I wanted to get a dock here because this is probably the only place in the continental United States you can catch a tuna 12 months out of the year.

- It all started with the albatross fleet outta in the late thirties.

And it was funny because when they started, nobody thought they could make any money taking people fishing.

- I've been able to fish in different areas of the country here.

It's one of the best, if not the best year round fisheries in my opinion.

So there's always something to go out and catch.

- You get up at three 50 in the morning and by the time you get back to the house, it's six 30 in the evening.

It isn't for everybody, but if you get it in your heart and you get the bug, there's no fixing it.

- I am Jay Foes and today we're in beautiful Che at Safe Harbor Marina on the Bazinga.

It is the boat that Wheels on Deck owns to help people in wheelchairs with mobility challenges.

Get out into the ocean to go fishing safely.

- Jay Kavanagh, I'm the captain and owner of The Bite Me Outta Haters North Carolina.

I'm Joe Kavanagh.

I'm the first mate.

When Joe was little, he used to ride with me on the bridge and he'd be sound asleep.

And the teaser, the teaser reels are right over his head where he is sleeping.

And if the teaser reel got hit, he would jump to his feet and holler Blue Marlon three.

No matter what it, no matter what it was.

- My name is Billy Maxwell and I'm the captain of the Tuna Fever.

The boat behind us, we're located at the Oregon and Lit Fishing Center in South Nag, said North Carolina.

And this is where we meet our groups in the morning to go to the Gulf Stream.

You have a much longer season here because the edge of the Gulf Stream crosses out there at what we call the point.

And the point is the place on the Continental shelf that's shaped just like the shoreline where the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is at Buxton - Outta Hatteras, we only typically have to run 20 some miles, not, and often we're fishing closer than that.

We can have a lot of different variety that we fish for throughout the year.

- And if you leave out of Oregon Inlet and you go to the Northeast and you go up to the Triple Zeros, it's 45 miles.

And if you add the numbers up between the two locations, that's almost 130 miles of a hundred fathom curve that you can fish outta one inlet.

And that is unique in itself because most other places you can't do that.

- You know, we are in the entertainment business and often the fishing entertains the people by itself.

- The people that come here to go fishing with us, they don't have to know anything they're not expected to.

But what we're expected to is show 'em things that make the day special to people.

- You have to have some witty jokes.

And it's fortunate that we only have to have one set of jokes 'cause we got a new audience every morning.

- It doesn't matter how many times we have to answer the question.

You just try and keep everybody informed about what's going on.

They wanna know about the water temperature.

They wanna know about what color baits are they gonna bite today.

And then you have to get there and figure that out.

- A lot of people, they'll never leave that chair the entire day.

And we've come up with different mechanisms, right, to help somebody hold the rod, give them more support.

We've even designed what we like to call a battle station, right?

So if a wheelchair actually has an open toad design, we can roll them right up in behind a gimbal, right?

To allow them to fight, you know, a fish a little bit more easily, right?

Because we want to give 'em all the advantages they need, you know, to catch that fish.

So it's not a struggle.

- Charlie and I, we want to let them do all they think they're capable of.

The more you can let the people do, the more exciting it is, the more memorable it is and the better chance you have of them returning to dare County to go fishing again.

- Sometimes out there in the ocean, you never know what's gonna get on the end of your line.

So we do have some electric reels.

It makes it a little bit easier for them to get the feeling where they've got leverage to fight the fish.

- It all started with the Albatross fleet outta haters in the late thirties, I guess.

And they're still running three boats strong today.

- Tony Tillett and Omi and Sam Stokes and Buddy Kennedy buddy ran to Captain bc.

Sam Stokes was a fighting lady.

Omi Tillett was a sportsman and Tony Tillett was a Carolinian.

I always called them the Poor Horsemen because they were like the wrestlers, you know, they, they were the best.

They set the pace for a game.

You followed them and you did what they did.

- When people are sick, you know, you just don't know.

And I have had, again, you know, those bucket list items from sons that want to take their dad's fishing one more time.

And unfortunately by the time we got to the fishing season, you know the dad's not around.

And that's heartbreaking.

And that's why we do what we do here with Wheels On Deck, is to take friends, families, loved ones, you know, back out on the water so they can enjoy time together.

And the ocean's awesome - From where this boat's parked to where you get out there on that bar, it's a 15 minute ride.

So you've got minutes while you're dreaming about where you're gonna go and catch everything.

You cross that bar and you gotta decide where you're gonna point that boat.

One of my mentors, buddy Kennedy, he hosts to always call it dreaming and decision.

It's all about a lucky land.

And if you land in the right place, it takes care of itself.

And if you land in the wrong place, you spend the rest of your day trying to figure your way out of it until you do.

- There was one trip in particular, it was a young man, 21 outta Maryland who was in a car accident.

He always wanted to go offshore fishing.

We went out and we fished that day and, and the fishing was just bad.

You know, we got one bite all day.

So I said to the young man and his family, I said, look, let's do this again next year we'll cover the cost.

We'll get you out, it'll be a better experience.

So he came back a year later in May, got this young man and his family on the fish and the smile on his face, you know, was as big as this back deck because his mom told me, she's like, after his accident, we never thought he'd be able to do something like this again.

- I love taking little kids fishing, you know, having three boys of my own and you know, having a small kid see a school of dolphin behind the boat or a big tuna coming aboard or a billfish jumping around, just seeing the thrill that they have is, is very satisfying.

You see the bite, the fish jump around a lot.

It's very, it's very active, it's very visual.

It's, that's what does it for me.

- Well, working for Buddy Kennedy, you have to apply for a dock and you had to go to each member of the board and tell him why you wanted a dock, what you thought you could do for the fishing center, and how much business could you bring.

Buddy grabbed Sam by the shoulder and he says, Sam's gotta talk to you.

He's the president.

And he says, well, what do you want, the good news or the bad news?

And I was like, oh boy.

I said, gimme the bad news is at first.

And Sam says, well the bad news is we've all decided we're gonna put up with you and give you a chance.

And he says, the good news is you got you a dock.

- We work with all the boats out there to put each other on fish and it's better that we all catch a little something rather than one or two boats catch 'em all.

I kind of look to that philosophy, you know, I've shared spare parts with people and people have shared spare parts with me.

And I feel very fortunate to be in this business 'cause we are so cooperative with each other.

- You know, I don't fish every day then I think I've said it before, I don't know how some of these captains do it day in and day out.

It's, it's a hard day on the water.

And you know, my hat's off to them, - A charter fisherman and his mate, they spend more time together than anybody else.

More time than you do with your family.

And yeah, they're screaming matches.

But we wear headsets now so we can talk to each other without anybody else hearing what we say.

So - This whole group, whether it's here or Pirates Cove, it's a very, very close knit fishing community.

You have so many people that keep our boats, my gosh.

It goes right out to the restaurants and the motels.

Everything that's caught on one of these boats around here.

I don't think there's a restaurant in Dare County that won't cook what you caught on your boat.

If you walk in the door with it in a bag.

- These guys around here are super helpful on, you know, making sure you're paying attention to where a shoal may have moved, right?

Or where a channel might have shifted somewhere.

And every now and then they'll give you a tip.

You know, here's a good spot to go for the bite.

So that's always been a huge benefit as well - From boat building to taking people fishing in the entertainment business.

I've never worked a day in my life.

I get to do as a please and get paid for it.

- I really like the, the, the personal thrill it gives me, allowing someone the opportunity to catch their fish of a lifetime.

Often the fish is, you know, the fish is bigger than the person catching it.

- Having the ability to give back to the community is what really helps me, you know, keep going and wanting me to do this as well as I'm physically able to do it.

- This is totally a fishing community and the outer banks fishing is what people come here for.