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Where to move to in NC

33K views 45 replies 14 participants last post by  Brianczaw 
#1 ·
Starting to get real fed up in this formally great state of MD. I am starting to looking where to move to in NC, my wife is from Sanford but we want to move to Albemarle or Pamlico sound area. The requirements for me is I want to be close to striper and crabs. can anyone provide info about species in Albemarle around Edenton, maybe what bites between the 94 and 17 bridges? Are there crabs there. Waterfronts are soooo much less expensive down there. Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Albemarle sound and all the rivers off the sound produce the same fish, bass, bream, rock, catfish, white perch, redfin perch, crappy, trout, puppy drum, black drum, lets see what else...ummm just about all the fresh water stuff just bepends on the time of the year. Plenty of crabs, are you going commercial or just rec.? Plenty of land or houses for sale, just depends on how deep your pockets are.
 
#13 ·
So do the trout, drum and redfish go up the sound as far as Edenton? or are they mostly closer to the OBX portion of the sound. We'll be close to where the yeopin and Bethel meet the sound.....

Thanks!!! BTW we are headed down this weekend and going to the Edenton Shrimp fest...
 
#4 ·
I live in Edenton. Great community. Good fishing in the sound at some times of the year. About 1 1/2 hour from the ramp in Manteo if you want to go offshore.

The list of fish I've caught or seen caught- rockfish up to 30 inch or so (vast majority are 15 - 24 inch), tons of white perch when they are in, flounder, the rare bluefish bite down towards Elizabeth City, and all of the common freshwater species you can think of. It is a real weird mix some times due to the brackish water.

No real tide, the water level is much more dependent on the rivers flowing into the sound.

I haven't checked in the last couple of years, but last time I asked it was $100 per month to keep my 25 foot boat at the local marina dock.

Great deer hunting around here and pretty good duck hunting from what I hear. I only deer hunt.

Nice folks. A real small town feel to the place. It can be buggy when the wind is from the wrong direction. We have these little fruit fly type critters that swarm into town when the wind is coming from the cantelope fields nearby. They don't bite, but are annoying as heck!

Employment is a tough one right now around here. Almost all of the industries have left, the boat builders are running skeleton crews. I teach 3rd grade and my wife is a Nurse Practitioner so we've been steady but it can be hard to find work, depending on your skills.

Contact me here through the board if you'd like a tour. I'd be glad to help someone escape the **** going on in Maryland. I love living in a community where the kids can still talk in school about shooting and hunting and not get suspended!

Edited: Oh and TONS of crabs in the spring, summer, and fall. Sometimes it looks like you could walk across the sound on the crab bouys.
 
#9 ·
Heard you guys up there were going to get taxed on the rain now. LOL
Moved up here for the fishing 13 years ago. Had been coming up here for 11 years brim fishing and its some of the best in the world. Crappie gone to bed, and inshore stripers are everywhere, but so is the man. LOL They watch you right close around here.
Got into offshore, but just sold the Fountain last week and will know if I own a bass boat again tomorrow if I win on e bay. Going back to fresh water fishing and will be selling the Hydra sports bay boat so if your looking for a all around boat that will fly, theres one waiting on you, . :)
Waterfront is cheap but so is the pay around here so bring your own job or a wad of cash when you come.
If you find a woman down here with all her teeth and works at Wal Mart you marry her . Don't ask no questions cause she's in the top 6 percent round these parts. LMAO>
Crabs all over the place but there one thing.... DOWN HERE,, not up here.
Give us a ring when you get moved. Its a fantastic place to live if you enjoy water.
 
#11 ·
wachapreague VA 23480 means little city by the sea. Best kept secret 256 houses in our seaside fishing villege use a golf cart if you want. natural inlet has all the fish your looking for. If you don't fish you don't belong here. Everybody knows one another. Kinda like hatteras island 30 years ago. look at it on youtube
 
#12 ·
Ended up buying a beautiful waterfront lot near Edenton. Loved the town. Don't know when we will be able to build a house yet but I am sure I will be down there fishing more and more....

Thanks for all the input.
 
#16 ·
Brian, I've have friends that have moved to Carolina along the sounds. They all like the area, except when a hurricane or northeast storm arrives. All have had property major property damage in storms and 2 couples in water front homes were flooded out. One couple almost lost their lives when they failed to evacuate. They sold the house and moved to higher ground near Belhaven. Another couple road out a storm in a neighbor's house on high ground, but they have vowed never to do it, again. (Their house is on pilings, but they lost all of their structure and belongings i the ground floor garage and work area.) A 3rd couple almost bought a house in Oriental. Later, they found that water rose 6' in a subsequent hurricane and ruined the first floor of the house.

If you buy, make sure you check into the elevation of your lot and what has happened there in previous storms. Older sections of towns might be safer than new developments. There is a reason why early settlers chose those locations.

Also, check out health care, how far away specialists are, and the quality of local hospitals, and what procedures they can and cannot perform there. We have, and that is one or the reasons that we will continue to live up here and visit eastern Carolina.

Good luck.
 
#17 ·
"They sold the house and moved to higher ground near Belhaven." That's kinda funny, the land around there has drainage canals just so they can drain and farm it. Bottom line, if you live by close to the water expect to get flooding during hurricanes. All these houses around water that's built on stilts are built that way for a reason. Eastern N.C. is low lying and flat, period! Bainczaw keep all that in mind when you do build.
 
#23 ·
Your correct about waterfront being affordable in NC. Thats the reason i'm here. Lived in Lake Waccamaw NC for 20 years, moved to New Bern on the Yacht for a year, then bid on the property here in Nixonton NC just outside of Elizabeth City. After winning stayed three more month in New Bern was having so much fun down there then headed north to build the home. Have 12 acre's and 600 foot of waterfront by ourselves on Sunset Point, was into the fresh water fishing when I moved up here, and got into the offshore fishing with the 31 Fountain for several years but between drag racing and work just didn't have the time so moved back to the 21 Triton Bass boat and could not be any more happier and we got your crabs... About one at the least to two times a week. LOL
On the little River just one River south of Elizabeth City and the best brim fishing in the world in this area. Fla is over fished. Our area is not. In fact its the other way around. Brim, crappie, cats ain't as big as they were in the cape fear and black river but the numbers are just as good. Still have my shocker from back in the 70s when we use to shock the cape fear and black but its not allowed up here.
Stripers don't go much south of Hatteras most of the time so your in prime striper fishing area and the inshore bridges hold your limit about any time you want to find it.
Even the state moved a little on the dock permit so I could get to deep water and the nature and peaceful coastal living could not be better.
We have the best fishing in the world, within 70 miles from the house in all directions, close enough to VA if major shopping and a night out is whats needed its a hop and a skip away. Local drag strip is 11 miles from the house, Richmond and Jackville NC is a short pull for the other tracks we enjoy and no one bothers us out in the country so it could not be a better spot in our views.
Jobs are kinda tough. If you don't bring your job with you i'd look more in the Moyock or Grandy area where VA is just a short drive to the better and more job area.
Kept my Yacht undercover in the Edenton Marina till selling it and thats a beautiful town but limited on shopping is the only hold back. We're the nearest biggest city Edenton or Herford has.
Car Hauler and pulled cars out of Jessup MD around that washington Beltway for two years. I was never so happy to leave a place in my life. LOL
I can understand your desire.
Coastal Carolina can't be beat in our views and NE NC has everything to offer we need or could want.
LUKE





 
#25 ·
Trying to get you fired up and hurry up and get the house built so we'll have another fishing partner in the area. :clapping2:

About the first of April things start heating up so you have some time to get motivated till then. LOL

Your in a great location and there's all the fishing you want on with side of the 32 bridge but fun to pull around to new areas any time.
Been wanting to try the lakes south of here for a while and planning on doing the short haul in spring seeing what they are all about.
The guys that have posted are all correct. Fishing is fantastic and you'll be glad you made the move. :)
 
#28 ·
Brian,
Congrats on the future move.

We vacation in Nags Head every year. I highly recommend getting a 14-17' aluminum boat for fishing that area. Really good for getting into the skinny water and catching flounder and puppy drum. I stopped bringing my big boat, as the little boat is cheaper to tow, easier to park, and we catch more fish inshore anyway.

Here is mine. It's a 15' Crestliner that I cobbled it together from Craigslist. I think the hull was $350, motor was $350, trailer was $200. Added the front deck, and that's about it. Since these pictures, I sold the 15 and upgraded to a 25 HP Evinrude for $0 net, and now that little boat really flies! And with the deep-V, it's surprisingly seaworthy in choppy water. Really happy with this little rig!

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Best wishes.

-TH
 
#34 ·
Brian,
Congrats on the future move.

We vacation in Nags Head every year. I highly recommend getting a 14-17' aluminum boat for fishing that area. Really good for getting into the skinny water and catching flounder and puppy drum. I stopped bringing my big boat, as the little boat is cheaper to tow, easier to park, and we catch more fish inshore anyway.

Here is mine. It's a 15' Crestliner that I cobbled it together from Craigslist. I think the hull was $350, motor was $350, trailer was $200. Added the front deck, and that's about it. Since these pictures, I sold the 15 and upgraded to a 25 HP Evinrude for $0 net, and now that little boat really flies! And with the deep-V, it's surprisingly seaworthy in choppy water. Really happy with this little rig!

View attachment 103937 View attachment 103945

Best wishes.

-TH
That's the honest truth.I've owned over 30 boats in my lifetime so far and I'll have to admit I've caught more fish,more crabs.and have had more fun less expensively in small boats than any of the other boats I've owned.I'll be leaving one of my small skiffs on my property on Va.Eastern shore this spring for the season for the Shallow Barrier Island fishing myself.You can't beat it for that type of just plain fun fishing.
 
#30 ·
Curious... are you the same Brian C. that I've fished with?

I would recommend you find one NOW, as the prices will shortly be going up as demand increases. I see a bunch of them around, some really cheap, but including one just like mine that is finished a lot nicer, particularly in the back of the boat. (the back of mine is empty, but I plan to install a livewell and some other goodies eventually) I think the boat, complete and ready to go, was $1,100 with a nice Yamaha on the back. Really nice looking rig:
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But at that price, it will not be around for long. These older Crestliner hulls are very thick and solid. Rated for 60 HP, they were originally designed as speed boats. The original brochure shows one towing two water skiers at the same time, with a 60 HP Evinrude on the back. So they are made a lot more solidly than the average jon boat, for what it's worth.

Having a nice secure place to leave it down there would be good. Chained upside down on your dock might not be bad, if you have a secure spot to leave the motor.

These little boats are really liberating! You only need a couple of quarts of gas, and you can go fishing!

-TH
 
#32 ·
Sorry, I thought you might be Brian Cain. Fished in Baltimore and mid-bay together. I think his screen name is BrianC.

That boat had been in Richmond, but I see that it is gone, now. Must have sold over the weekend. That was an exceptional deal, in my opinion.

Suddenly, every one of the cheap deals are gone! I guess March fishing is getting closer. I'm seeing a bunch like this, though:
http://easternshore.craigslist.org/boa/4261910165.html Nice rig, just expensive!

But keep scanning the ads, and pounce on any you like the same day you find them.

-TH
 
#33 ·
Prices won't move to much in the future unless industry come in. No pay on the coast unless like stated you bring your job with you.
Small communities like Edenton and Herford and even the bigger Elizabeth City are farm land town like I grew up in SE NC, Tabor City and
10 to 11 dollars a hour jobs have standing room only on the waiting lines for jobs like that.
Lived in New Bern for a year. Beautiful town and about the same as Wilmington. Been a while since I left Lake Waccamaw but I don't think even wilmington has moved to much in the pay dept.
Cheap living east of I-95 but there's a reason. You can still rent a nice house around here for 600 a month.
One thing about Edenton. I think the crime rate is very low over there. Pop up some security cameras that can be seen and I doubt you'll ever have any issues.
 
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