Fishing in Hatteras, NC: A Complete Guide

Fishing in Hatteras,
Photo credit: A. Strakey via Flickr CC2.0

As you plan your visit to the Hatteras area in the Outer Banks, you should understand what makes Hatteras such a legendary location for anglers to catch amazing fish. This guide will take you from a beginner to fishing in Hatteras to a knowledgeable expert about it. You should fully understand the details of fishing here and what kind of fish you can expect to catch while here. Also, you want to know the different seasons for the fish.

Surf Fishing Tips

The first tip is if you plan to catch the bigger fish, you may want a bigger rod between 10 to 12 feet long because it will cast farther into the surf. Second, you should pay close attention to the type of bait you buy because the fresher the bait, the greater your chances of hooking a big fish. Third, you may also want to vary your fishing according to the tides for better success. For example, you might try an outgoing or an incoming tide to see what happens. As always, to safely cast on the beach, you should always have situational awareness of the people walking and playing on the beach so that you don’t accidentally hurt someone.

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Charter Fishing Companies in Hatteras

Fishing in Hatteras
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Sea Angel II Fishing Charters

If you’re looking for a fishing charter company, you may want to begin with Sea Angel II Fishing Charters. This is a highly professional and friendly company with an experienced sea captain. The guides on this boat will also work hard to see that you catch some fish. You can often choose from half-day and full-day charter boats for the perfect fishing experience. The fishing boats

OU: Hatteras Fishing Charters

Fish with the pros of OU: Hatteras Fishing Charters. Fishing in Cape Hatteras has developed somewhat of a legendary reputation, and when you fish with experts, you can rest assured that they will help you to find some of the best fishing spots.

Whatever Sport Fishing Charters

The philosopher at Whatever Sport Fishing Charters is that whatever swims and whatever you want to catch can be caught here as long as it’s in season. The company has a specialization in marlin fishing, but they have also excelled with family-oriented fishing trips for wahoo, dolphin, tuna, and king mackerel.

Sea Creature Sport Fishing

Featuring a 58-foot boat, Sea Creature Sport Fishing has one of the biggest boats in the Hatteras Harbor Marina. It produces up to 1400 horsepower, and the captain has decades of experience fishing in the Hatteras Island area.

Featuring a 58-foot boat, Sea Creature Sport Fishing has one of the biggest boats in the Hatteras Harbor Marina. It produces up to 1400 horsepower, and the captain has decades of experience fishing in the Hatteras Island area.

Fishing in Hatteras During the Different Seasons: Common Fish Caught and What You Can Catch

The Early Winter Months

In January, you can expect to catch sea bass, trout, bluefish, oysters, bay scallops, striped bass, and bluefin tuna.

February

When February rolls around the corner, you can catch the same as in January. There’s not much difference.

March

March brings you a couple of new types of fish, however, with grouper, bluefish, yellowfin tuna, and snapper. You can also catch sea trout, sea bass, bluefin tuna, striped bass, and oysters.

Spring: The Bite Starts To Pick Up

In April, some of the fish that you can catch include snapper, grouper, croaker, sea mullet, sea trout, wahoo, king mackerel, striped bass, and oysters. You can also catch channel bass, also known as red drum, and bluefish.

May

During the month of May, you can fish for bluefish, king mackerel, cobia, grouper, tuna, crabs, wahoo, dolphin, soft crabs, blue marlin, sea mullet, channel bass, Spanish mackerel, croaker, and sot.

Summer Season: Offshore Success!

June is a noteworthy month because you can start fishing for blue marlin on Hatteras Island. You can also fish for white marlin, wahoo, cobia, dolphin, king mackerel, snapper, Spanish mackerel, crabs, shrimp, spot, and croaker.

July

The month of July lets you fish for blue marlin, dolphin, wahoo, sailfish, snapper, white marlin, Spanish mackerel, Mahi, soft crabs, shrimp, and croaker.

August

Some of the fish you can catch in August include white marlin, blue marlin, Spanish mackerel, group, bluefish, snapper, speckled trout, shrimp, and crabs.

September

In September, you can fish for tuna, Spanish mackerel, sea mullet,, shrimp, striped bass, king mackerel, and blue marlin.

Late Fall & Winter: Wide Open Surf, Active Fish

The month of October lets you fish for speckled trout, oysters, striped bass, shrimp, king mackerel, tuna, snapper, channel bass, and bluefish.

November

In November, you can fish for bluefish, tuna, king mackerel, clams, group, striped bass, flounder, and speckled trout.

December

Finally, over December, you can fish for sea trout, oysters, speckled trout, bluefish, tuna, flounder, grouper, striped bass, and snapper.

How to Get a License

Before you can go fishing in Hatteras Island, you will first have to buy a North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License. This law first began on January 1, 2007. For people who are coming for a short time, like the people at a vacation rental, it might prove cheaper to buy a 10-day license over the annual or lifetime license. If you plan to come back often, however, the lifetime license might save you money over the long term. The license that you

Why is Hatteras a Big Deal?

Fishing in Hatteras
Photo credit: Jed Record via Flickr CC2.0

Fishing in Hatteras has become a popular angling place because you have a diverse fish population. If you have never experienced the thrill of strapping into a chair and cranking in a monstrous fish after an exhaustive two-hour long fight, then you should try this kind of fishing at least once in your life. Hatteras has six different village marinas, which means that you can hop on a boating charter quite easily here. This is a place for those who love the sea.

Going fishing in Hatteras can be a one-of-a-kind experience that you won’t soon forget. After an exciting day of offshore fishing, inshore fishing, deep sea, or even surf fishing, you have a ton of different sightseeing opportunities. For those who want a little surf fishing advice, you might ask the local bait and tackle shop for tips on what is biting and getting ideas for different places to reel in the big one. You can also visit two different fishing piers in Hatteras to see if you can catch a big one that way. Outer Banks fishing is not only a popular pastime within the Hatteras Village but also in Rodanthe, Ocracoke, Avon, Buxton and, Frisco. Hopefully, these Hatteras Island fishing tips have helped and we hope to see you on the island soon.

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