North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
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Central District  Pamlico, Craven, Carteret, & Onslow Counties
Contact: Andrea Olsen June 29, 2009
For the 2009 fishing year, all owners/operators of vessels recreationally fishing for and/or retaining regulated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) (Atlantic tunas, sharks, swordfish and billfish) in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, must obtain an Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling permit. This permit has replaced the Atlantic tunas Angling category permit. In North Carolina, additional HMS harvest reporting requirements are also in place.

Report a tagged fish


Please Note: Anglers sometimes confuse small king mackerel with Spanish mackerel. King mackerel and spanish mackerel have different size and catch limits. Make SURE you properly identify the mackerel you are catching. (Tips here)

A recreational Recreational Fishing License went into effect Jan. 1, 2007 for all of the state's coastal and ocean waters.

Ocean:   Fishing around Cape Lookout has brought in a number of nice flounder but anglers are catching about five undersized fish to every keeper. A large number of dolphin are still being caught offshore, and as in the past weeks, you don't have to go more than a few miles out to find them. Anglers are catching kings here and there along with the occasional wahoo. The headboats are bringing in some nice stringers of triggerfish with a few sea bass, grouper and snapper mixed in.  Overall, not much change from the past few weeks.

Inlets/Sounds/Bays: Again, the flounder fishing is turning up a good number of legal size fish but still with the low keeper ratio.  The Spanish mackerel are biting and anglers are coming in with limits, or close to it. The trout are occasionally turning up and there are plenty of sheepshead being caught. 

Piers/Shore: The pier and shore fishing continue to see the typical mixed bag of croaker, blues, whiting, sheepshead, pompano, skate, flounder and even a few trout. The fishing seems been best either earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon, although this may be due to the fact that the anglers are taking a break to escape the heat of the mid day sun.

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