Fishing success rates were moderate-good in most modes this week when anglers were able to avoid the unfavorable weather conditions. Water temps in the surf throughout the region remain in the lower 60s. A brief warming trend is predicted for the coming week allowing anglers to access all modes of fishing.

Northern District Dare, Hyde, Currituck, & Beaufort Counties
Ocean: Bluefin tuna have starting showing up. Most of them were small, but anglers at all areas and marinas throughout the region were catching them. Yellowfin tuna remain the most abundant species caught with limits caught over half of the time. Blackfin tuna, wahoo, dolphin, and king mackerel were caught, but in lower numbers. Midrange fishing has slowed, but anglers are catching a few blueline tilefish, black seabass, triggerfish, hake, and amberjack. Striped bass catches in these waters have made a modest improvement with a few very large specimens being caught.. Nearshore anglers have been targeting red drum and striped bass with moderate-good success. Red drum were caught primarily by those who could access the very near-shore surf zone on calm days.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Striped bass catches made a notable increase this week, with moderate success rates throughout the sounds. Catches at Manns Harbor were plentiful, but specimens were small. Anglers at Oregon Inlet did not catch as many, but most were legal keeping size. Seatrout of both types, along with flounder are next most prevalent, with some very nice catches by anglers fishing the shallow waters near islands and land masses throughout the sounds.

Piers/Shore: Red drum catches have been the best that I have observed in quite a while. Anglers on the beach and piers have been catching red drum with little effort, most of them falling in the legal slot limit or larger. Anglers don’t need to worry about long distance casting to access them, as most of them are being caught in the very close backwash area of the surf zone. Large croakers and a few striped bass were also caught by these anglers. A mixed bag of others, including flounder, spot, silver perch, kingfish, black drum, dogfish sharks, skates, and seatrout of both types were also caught.

Central District Pamlico, Craven, Carteret, & Onslow Counties
Ocean: The head boats are still running offshore and bringing in lots of spottail pinfish, triggers, snapper and grouper. Kings in the 10 to 20-pound range can be found at the Atlas Tanker and on AR285. They are also on the east side of Cape Lookout Shoals. Weakfish are reported on AR315.Trout and drum are on the ocean side of Shackleford and around Beaufort Inlet. Anglers are having good luck fly fishing for little tunny.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Red drum are near Browns Inlet and near the Coast Guard station at Bogue Inlet . Spotted seatrout are in the rivers and especially around the jetty at Cape Lookout. Some fish looked to weigh 4-pounds or more. Both the spotted seatrout and red drum are found everywhere, in creeks and marshes, rivers and sounds.

Piers/Shore: Bluefish are the catch of the day off the beaches at Fort Macon. Large sea mullet over 1.5 pounds and black drum are prevalent down in Emerald Isle Area. Piers are catching small pigfish, spots, black drum and bluefish.

Southern District Pender, New Hanover, & Brunswick Counties
Ocean: The wind finally let up this week. Offshore, the whaoo bite was not great, but there were some decent catches, along with some blackfins and a few late season sailfish. Closer to shore, the king mackerel bite has been fantastic. There are school size kings on most ledges from 10 miles on out. The 23-mile rock and the horseshoe both produced limits of kings last week as well as many other places. 67 degree water or warmer and bait is all it normally takes to catch all the kings you want this time of year. I heard there was a bluefin hookup down off of Ocean Isle, but the fish got off after it spooled an 80 wide. It's getting time for them. The nearshore reefs like high rock, should be holding some gray trout, but I haven't heard any recent reports.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Trout fishing really took off. They showed up along most area inlets. Live bait seems to be the ticket right now on catching a limit of trout. Along with the trout, the drum have been biting well of late. Fishing for both species should only get better in the coming month.

Piers/Shore: For mid-November, fishing on area piers is good. There are a lot of nice citation size sea mullets being caught on area piers. Most of the better catches are coming from anglers fishing live shrimp for trout, and people fishing at night. Along with the sea mullets there are a good many black drum, blues, and small pompano. Anglers fishing from the surf are catching the same as the piers, with the exception of a few more trout and some red drum by people fishing the deeper sloughs with Mirror lures.

NOAA Real Time Marine Forecasts and Buoy Reports For the North Carolina Coast
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Rutgers University's Sea Surface Temperature Great site to check out sea surface temperatures which are vital to know for fishing

North Carolina Coastal Fishing Rules and Regulations Check this link for the latest North Carolina Tidal Rules and Regulations

North Carolina Non-Tidal Fishing Rules and Regulations
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North Carolina Fishing License Information
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Locations Where to Buy North Carolina Fishing Licenses
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North Carolina Artificial Reef Locations and Information
Get information and the locations for all the artificial reefs in North Carolina waters.