Best times of year for fishing saltwater species in NC

Red Drum

Red drums, aka red fish, are around all year, but the time of year determines their habits and how to target them. In the spring, we generally have bigger schools of fish that have just pushed in from the ocean in areas like Wrightsville Beach up to North Topsail Island. These fish schools make great targets for fly fishermen and light tackle fishermen alike. In the summer, these schools of redfish, for the most part, break up and spread out within the marsh. If you like catching redfish on topwater, generally summertime is the best time of year for that. Summer is also great for fly fishing but provides a greater challenge as instead of casting at large schools like you would in the spring, you are casting at single fish or very small groups swimming shallow looking for their next meal. Fall is very similar to summer for the most part, but anglers will start to notice schools starting to gather redfish and starting to find their homes for the winter.Winter is much like spring; you have large schools of redfish that have decided to winter in the marsh over the colder months. The best part about these fish is that they generally stay in the same areas for a couple months, so they can be fairly predictable. The only caveat to this is fishing pressure and inconsistent weather; either of these in excess will push schools around or make them leave the area entirely.

Black Drum

 Black drums are also around all year, but not in large groups in shallow water like redfish. In the summer, these fish are prevalent but generally seem to like slightly deeper water and structures. In the spring, these fish can be found in large schools on docks along the ICW and are generally best targeted with cut bait like shrimp or mullet. In the fall and winter, these fish are still around in good numbers, but some will move out to the ocean, and in the winter, they will be in more temperature-resistant depths.

Speckled Trout

A fan favorite, the Speckled Trout is also around all year, but the hot bites for them are during the fall and spring around Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, Topsail, and Bald Head Island. These fish tend to show up in great numbers in the fall when we have migratory trout moving from the north down to warmer waters (September–December). In the spring, they tend to come out of their hiding places and give us a great run from around mid-April to mid-JJune. The springtime trout fishing has been great the past few years, and at least for me, it has almost exceeded the fall run of trout. We do have trout in the middle of winter, but they can be very tricky to catch, and the best numbers of them reside in the Pamlico and its river systems over the winter.

Flounder

Flounder fishing has been a staple in North Carolina for a very long time, and this fish is highly sought after. Due to this, their numbers have decreased, and we are currently, as of 2024, limited to a two-week season on them during the month of September. Flounder are around in pretty much all of the warmer months (May–September). In the early summer, we like to target them on nearshore structures as they are staging up to come into the marsh. In the heat of summer, many of these fish move into the marsh to feast on mullet, other baitfish, and crustaceans. During the winter, you will see a handful in the marsh, but the vast majority of them move into the ocean in much deeper water to find more moderate water temperatures.

False Albacore

My personal favorite nearshore fish, the False Albacore, is a highly migratory fish, and it travels all up and down the east coast in its entirety. In the fall, we have our best pushes of these torpedoes just right off the beach in places like Topsail Island, Wrightsville Beach, and Carolina Beach. These make for a great target on the fly as well as on light tackle. We also get a push from them in the spring, but it seems to be far more inconsistent than in the fall.

Atlantic Bonito

Some argue that nearshore fish are the best to eat. The Atlantic Bonito (very similar-looking to a false albacore) is a hard-fighting migratory species that shows up in good numbers in the spring (generally around April) and will stick around for a few weeks. Many times, it is a pretty short window to be able to catch these fish due to the limited time they are here and the number of times you can get in the ocean due to weather. But when we can find them, it makes for very fun fishing and even better eating.

Spanish Mackerel

 Spanish are a very prevalent species here in North Carolina and make for excellent fishing as well as table fare. They are also migratory species, but they hang around much longer than most other nearshore migratory species. They will start to show up in good numbers in the spring and can last all the way through the summer and into the early fall. They always seem to get a little thinner numbers wisely in the middle of summer and then show up pretty well again in the fall, but overall, if you want to catch large numbers of these fish, the spring and early summer are my favorite months for these fish.

Sheepshead

 A fish that does not get near enough respect is the sheepshead. These fish are absolutely delicious, and we generally have plenty of them around. The late spring through the early fall Sheepshead make their way into the backwaters and river systems of the Cape Fear River and marsh systems behind Topsail, Bald Head Island, Southport, Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, and Wrightsville Beach and find structures that they will call home for the warmer months. We use live crabs to catch these fish, but you have to be quick on the draw because their bite can be very light. They are a great target, and they have saved the day many times when it’s too windy to do anything else.

Sharks

 Sharks are also a very underrated target for light tackle and fly fishing. If you are looking for a fight, sharks are where it’s at. Very few fish will pull harder from a shark, and giving up does not seem to be in their vocabulary. Sharks show up in great numbers in the warmer months, so generally from May to September, they are here in good numbers right off the beach, especially in places like Bald Head Island, Holden Beach, and Southport.

Tarpon

 Tarpon is kept very secretive around these parts, and for good reason. We do indeed have migratory tarpon in North Carolina, and the months to target them are generally June–September. It is not easy fishing by any means, and even just getting one on the hook is a big deal, but they are around, and they are catchable if you are up for the challenge.