North Carolina Fishing Reports (May 2026)

Cameron Whitaker
Hatteras, North Carolina
Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing been a little scrappy. Some drum fishing , few trout , and a few blues Good bottom fishing when we can go off the beach

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Cameron Whitaker Hatteras, North Carolina Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing been a little scrappy. Some drum fishing , few trout , and a few blues
Good bottom fishing when we can go off the beach

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Daniel Griffee
Morehead City, North Carolina
Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing has been really good here lately with the calmer winds and cleaner water. Nearshore casting at Spanish Mackerel has been steady with a mix of albacore for a fun fighting surprise. Inshore with the right tides, you can find scattered speckled trout and solid redfish, and starting Sept 1...

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Daniel Griffee Morehead City, North Carolina Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing has been really good here lately with the calmer winds and cleaner water. Nearshore casting at Spanish Mackerel has been steady with a mix of albacore for a fun fighting surprise. Inshore with the right tides, you can find scattered speckled trout and solid redfish, and starting Sept 1 we can finally keep the elusive flounder. Shrimp are all over the backwaters, cast netting enough for dinner to add to the plate!

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Jamie Rushing
Wilmington, North Carolina
Reported: 3 years ago

Great fishing continues around Wrightsville beach with many different opportunities, from Spanish mackeral to great flounder fishing, red drum a few speckled trout and Tarpon are in the area. Expect great fishing for old drum citation size and fantastic Spanish mackerel and false albacore casting opportunities aswell. Tarpon can be...

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Jamie Rushing Wilmington, North Carolina Reported: 3 years ago

Great fishing continues around Wrightsville beach with many different opportunities, from Spanish mackeral to great flounder fishing, red drum a few speckled trout and Tarpon are in the area. Expect great fishing for old drum citation size and fantastic Spanish mackerel and false albacore casting opportunities aswell. Tarpon can be caught but it’s a very specialized trip. If you’d like to book a Tarpon trip before the end of August call in to the team at Captain Experiences to hear about availability and pricing.
Though there are September opportunities for Tarpon, our focus switches back to the trout. As Speckled Tout fishing starts getting really good as well as big reds.

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Joshua Benton
Wilmington, North Carolina
Reported: 3 years ago

Redfish are chewin along with flounders. Topwater, swim baits and gulp. Along with live bait for begginers.

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Joshua Benton Wilmington, North Carolina Reported: 3 years ago

Redfish are chewin along with flounders. Topwater, swim baits and gulp. Along with live bait for begginers.

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Guion Lee III
Wilmington, North Carolina
Reported: 3 years ago

Wilmington has been offering a good topwater speckled trout bite early in the morning. Plenty of flounder as September starts our keeper season. Plenty of grey trout and redfish as well. In Oriental, the bull reds are starting to fire up. Morning trips with popping corks and evening bottom fishing...

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Guion Lee III Wilmington, North Carolina Reported: 3 years ago

Wilmington has been offering a good topwater speckled trout bite early in the morning. Plenty of flounder as September starts our keeper season. Plenty of grey trout and redfish as well. In Oriental, the bull reds are starting to fire up. Morning trips with popping corks and evening bottom fishing with bait have been producing some big bull redfish.

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Jamie Rushing
Wilmington, North Carolina
Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing is good for flounder inside and out It's good and giving anglers the best Bang for their buck although we are in a moratorium and can't keep the fish and proper Care is demonstrated and delivered to the fish as do the fish as we have to put them...

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Jamie Rushing Wilmington, North Carolina Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing is good for flounder inside and out It's good and giving anglers the best Bang for their buck although we are in a moratorium and can't keep the fish and proper Care is demonstrated and delivered to the fish as do the fish as we have to put them back catch catching Spanish macro on the beach on spoon and plainer combo's introductional trolling methods for anglers who need to put a big meal together some larger Spanish are binding on live dates which have been slow trolled Some trout and red fish have been caught but they have almost been far in between lately remember between lately as we are in the dog days of summer fill on down for a great day of reef and Spanish macro fishing that is very good and it's a staple for us in the summertime.

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Dave Wood
Wilmington, North Carolina
Reported: 3 years ago

The last couple weeks the wind has kept some from getting out and fishing but when the weather has cooperated fishing had been producing some nice fish. Trolling for Pelagic's has been spotty and when you do find them numbers have been down compared to previous seasons. Bottom fishing when...

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Dave Wood Wilmington, North Carolina Reported: 3 years ago

The last couple weeks the wind has kept some from getting out and fishing but when the weather has cooperated fishing had been producing some nice fish. Trolling for Pelagic's has been spotty and when you do find them numbers have been down compared to previous seasons. Bottom fishing when you find your spot has been extremely good producing keeper gag grouper and for some reason lots of cobia. Almost every bottom trip produces keeper size cobia. Many of us agree that our cooler than usual spring that went straight to intense summer heat may have derailed some of the usual migration of certain species. That being said last few days those missing fishing are starting to show.

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Jamie Rushing
Wilmington, North Carolina
Reported: 3 years ago

Good fishing continues at Wrightsville Beach anglers are enjoying catching flounder while having to release right now the open season starts September 1st and anglers will be able to keep flounder for the month speckled trout are still biting early in the morning on topwater plugs for anglers that are...

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Jamie Rushing Wilmington, North Carolina Reported: 3 years ago

Good fishing continues at Wrightsville Beach anglers are enjoying catching flounder while having to release right now the open season starts September 1st and anglers will be able to keep flounder for the month speckled trout are still biting early in the morning on topwater plugs for anglers that are able to do so and there are large big red starting to show and that should just improve as summer goes on some fish caught in the 40 in class .

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