People are always saying things about how they are going to take the thing they love to do and turn it into their life’s work. Most of us never act on it. Tim Still of Havelock has, and by all accounts seems to be doing well at it.
Next time you’re in a tackle shop, look at the selection of casting spoons, chances are, Still’s Beach Bum Lures will be represented on that rack. Still has taken his avocation and turned it into an ongoing vocation. It’s not many of us who can make their love of fishing into a successful career.
Originally from Salisbury, that’s where Still was introduced to fishing by his family.
“I grew up pond and river fishing with my family for crappie, bream, catfish and white bass,” he recently told Coastal Review.
It was his father’s best friend, Mr. J.C. Campbell, who taught him about doing more than just sitting and waiting.
“He only used artificial baits, which I found more interesting because he was constantly moving around the pond looking for fish rather than waiting.”
Mainly, Still enjoyed pond and river fishing for panfish as a kid, but the saltwater was always there, an annual event.
“Once a year we would go to Virginia to fish for spot and croaker,” he explained.
As he got older, Still developed into a good athlete, good enough to play three sports in high school and to play college baseball.
“In high school, I played football, baseball and indoor track; I played college baseball at Wingate University,” he said, referring to the private
He was also good enough to pursue a career as a baseball player for several years. But like most of us, he had to come back to Earth and get a job. For a while the sports world continued to keep him busy.
“After baseball ended, I was a sports writer at the Sun Journal in New Bern, then at the Daily Reflector in Greenville,” he recalled. Then a career change landed him in Charlotte, where he worked for Wachovia, now Wells Fargo.
But another change was in the works.
Still made untold numbers of trips to the coast from Charlotte and developed a real love for casting to schooling fish from the beach.
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