RedactedNarrative: On October 17, 2015 at approximately 10:30 pm, Operator1 and two of his friends were flounder gigging on the Cape Fear River near the Southport Pier.  Operator1 was operating a 14ft Duracraft (V1) near the shoreline in shallow water in an attempt to gig flounder as he is a commercial fisherman. 
   
   According to Operator1, they had just come out from under a dock moving slowly northbound on the mainland side of the river when a large wake impacted his vessel and filled it with water.  He stated that once they stopped rocking from the wake, he looked up the river and saw what he was "pretty sure" was the Bald Head Island Ferry in the distance.  He stated that they then started bailing the water out of the vessel.  According to Operator1, the water from the wake damaged his flounder lights, his generator and power cords used in his floundering operation.  He also stated that the motor would hardly run and he felt he had some type of damage to the motor as a result of being swamped.  He was able to bail the water out of the vessel and he returned to his home located on the ICW in Oak Island.  
   
  From talking with Operator1, it appears that a large wake was responsible for his damage.  Because of the time of day (night), his location so close to the shoreline, and being underneath a dock at the time, it did not appear as if the Ferry, or whatever vessel created the wake, could have known he was even there.  From my conversation with Operator1, it appeared that he was fairly confident the ferry was the cause of the wake, but was not absolutely sure.  As a result of the totality of the circumstances and the degree of doubt involved, no charges were filed against the Bald Head Ferry.  They were contacted and made aware of the incident and advised to maintain a lookout for smaller vessels and well as being responsible for the wake created by the ferry vessel. The vessel was equipped with life saving devices.  They were not used by those involved.  Alcohol was involved in this particular incident, but did not play any contributing factor in the incident itself.
  
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  PLEASE NOTE:  AS MENTIONED BY OFFICER IN ABOVE NARRATIVE, ALCOHOL WAS INVOLVED IN THIS INCIDENT, BUT DID NOT PLAY A ROLE IN CONTRIBUTING TO THIS INCIDENT AND THERE WAS NO BAC TESTING DONE.
   