Carolinas Coast
Water Temp & Local Waters
Spot-by-spot knowledge for the waters we fish every week. Access, species, seasons, and what actually works — built from time on the water, not the internet.
Oregon Inlet
The northern gateway to the Outer Banks, Oregon Inlet moves an enormous volume of water on every tide. Flounder hold in the cuts and along the channel edges, bluefish and false albacore blitz through in fall, and the sound-side flats behind the inlet hold redfish and speckled trout. Heavy boat traffic through the channel — fish the edges.
Avon Pier
Avon Pier reaches past the first bar and out over the second, which is what makes it work — you can fish the wash for pompano and whiting off the near end and cast for Spanish mackerel and kings off the end on the same trip. Sitting north of the Cape, it runs cooler than Hatteras through spring, so the Spanish show here later than they do south of the Point.
Cape Hatteras Point
The Point at Cape Hatteras is the most productive stretch of surf on the East Coast, and it earns that by geography: Diamond Shoals bends cold northern water and warm southern water into each other right off the beach. The current seams that result stack bait, and everything that eats bait follows. Water temperature here can differ sharply from Avon a few miles north — the two sides of the Cape are genuinely different fisheries.
Hatteras Inlet
The cut between Hatteras Island and Ocracoke runs hard current on both tides, and that current is the whole game. Flounder stage on the edges where the channel drops away, redfish work the shallow flats on the sound side, and speckled trout show in the deeper holes when the water cools.
Murrells Inlet
A protected tidal creek system behind the Grand Strand, Murrells Inlet is structure fishing rather than surf fishing. Flounder stack on the channel drops, redfish push into the spartina grass on a flood tide, and speckled trout hold in the deeper holes through fall and into winter.
Folly Beach
Folly Beach fishes as a classic Lowcountry surf break — a long sand beach with a defined trough, bookended by the Folly River and Lighthouse Inlet. Whiting and pompano work the wash, redfish hold in the trough on a moving tide, and Spanish mackerel and bluefish push in tight to the beach once the water warms through the upper 60s.
More spots coming
Added as we fish them
Need Local Bait?
We don't sell live or frozen bait — but these local shops do. Fresh bait from someone who knows the water beats anything shipped.
Hatteras Landing Marina
Hatteras Village
Live shrimp, finger mullet, fresh cut bait
TW's Tackle
Nags Head
Full bait selection, pier passes, live bait in season
Avon Seafood
Avon
Fresh mullet, menhaden, bloodworms