Cape Hatteras & the Outer Banks fishing conditions and tides
North Carolina · Atlantic coast · 3.4 ft mean tide range · 34 ppt
Where the Labrador Current meets the Gulf Stream and the surf fishing is the best in America
Current conditions
Excellent
Fishing score 87/100
How this score is calculated
66°F against a 60–78°F band for red drum.
Incoming (flood) at 0.5 ft, moving 0.3 ft/hr. Moderate movement; fish the tightest current seams you can find.
9 mph out of the S. Workable wind with useful chop.
2.1 ft at 12 seconds. Good working surf for beaches and inlets.
Good working clarity with some colour for cover.
30.31 inHg and steady.
56% illumination — neap tides with a smaller exchange.
Fall pattern is fully established for this zone.
What should I do today?
The highest-percentage pattern for this tide and this wind.
Backup pattern
Speckled Trout — soft plastics and topwater at dawn in 2–10 ft. Hold in the sound grass and the inlet sloughs; the best bite follows a warm spell in late fall.
Right now
Current conditions
Tide
Incoming (flood)
0.5 ft, +0.3 ft/hr
Next high
8:18 AM
3.1 ft
Next low
2:31 PM
0.3 ft
Mean range
3.4 ft
Typical high-to-low swing
Water temp
66°F
-0.9°F / 3 days
Water clarity
Clear
Salinity about 34 ppt
Swell
2.1 ft
12 second period
Wind
9 mph
Out of the S
Pressure
30.31"
Stable pressure
Air temp
63°F
62% cloud cover
Moon
56%
First Quarter · solunar 12/100
Daylight
6:18 AM
Sunset 5:15 PM
Timing
Today's tides and fishing windows
- Low tide (0.5 ft) — tide change window1:06 AM – 3:06 AM
- Solunar major 25:43 AM – 7:43 AM
- Morning prime window5:53 AM – 8:38 AM
- Sunrise6:18 AM
- High tide (3.1 ft) — tide change window7:18 AM – 9:18 AM
- Low tide (0.3 ft) — tide change window1:31 PM – 3:31 PM
- Evening window3:15 PM – 5:50 PM
- Sunset5:15 PM
- Solunar major 15:43 PM – 7:43 PM
- High tide (2.9 ft) — tide change window7:43 PM – 9:43 PM
Targets
Target species in this zone
| Species | Activity | Depth | Best tide | Technique | Bait | Active temp | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Drum | ★★★★★ | 2–15 ft | Rising tide into dusk | Heaver with 8 oz and cut bait, 100-yard casts | Cut mullet, fresh bunker | 60–78°F | October through November, April through May |
| Speckled Trout | ★★★★☆ | 2–10 ft | Outgoing through grass edges | Soft plastics and topwater at dawn | Live shrimp | 55–75°F | October through December |
| False Albacore | ★★★★★ | 3–30 ft | Clean water, any tide | Small metals and fly | Silversides | 62–72°F | October through November |
| Bluefish | ★★★★☆ | 2–15 ft | Moving water at first light | Metal and cut bait | Mullet | 58–78°F | April through November |
- Red Drum: Big fall drum work the sloughs at Cape Point on a rising tide after a northeast blow.
- Speckled Trout: Hold in the sound grass and the inlet sloughs; the best bite follows a warm spell in late fall.
- False Albacore: Harkers Island and the Cape shoals fill with albies feeding on silversides in November.
- Bluefish: Blitz the surf line all along the Cape beaches, often mixed with drum in the fall.
Structure
Habitat and structure that holds fish
- Surf slough
- Sand shoal
- Inlet
- Sound grass flat
- Gulf Stream break
- Diamond Shoals
- Cape Point sloughs
- Oregon Inlet
- Hatteras Inlet bar
- Pamlico Sound grass beds
Surf and beach notes
Cape Point needs some energy — a 3–5 ft northeast swell digs the sloughs and pulls fish in close. Flat water empties the beach.
Bait in the zone
Mullet run in September, silversides in November, and fresh bunker any time you can get it.
Patterns
Season-by-season patterns
Spring
58–70°FBig drum move through in April and May, and bluefish blitz the beaches on warming water.
Summer
76–82°FInshore goes quiet in the heat; the action moves offshore to the Gulf Stream and to night fishing in the sound.
Fall
62–76°FThe Cape Point drum run, albie blitzes and specks in the sound all overlap — the best six weeks of the year.
Winter
48–56°FCold, hard surf fishing with striped bass down the beach on some years and nothing on others.
Outlook
7-day fishing forecast
| Day | Score | Water | Wind | Swell | First high tide | Best species | Morning window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Today | 87Excellent | 66°F | 9 mph S | 2.1 ft | 8:18 AM (3.1 ft) | Red Drum | 5:53 AM – 8:38 AM |
| Tue | 81Very Good | 66°F | 8 mph NW | 1.6 ft | 9:09 AM (3.2 ft) | Red Drum | 5:54 AM – 8:39 AM |
| Wed | 88Excellent | 63°F | 11 mph E | 0.7 ft | 9:59 AM (3.4 ft) | Red Drum | 5:55 AM – 8:40 AM |
| Thu | 93Excellent | 64°F | 8 mph E | 2 ft | 10:50 AM (3.6 ft) | Red Drum | 5:56 AM – 8:41 AM |
| Fri | 88Excellent | 65°F | 18 mph E | 3.2 ft | 11:40 AM (3.7 ft) | Red Drum | 5:57 AM – 8:42 AM |
| Sat | 96Excellent | 65°F | 7 mph W | 1.3 ft | 12:05 AM (3.8 ft) | Red Drum | 5:58 AM – 8:43 AM |
| Sun | 91Excellent | 65°F | 22 mph S | 2.5 ft | 12:56 AM (3.8 ft) | Red Drum | 5:59 AM – 8:44 AM |
Trends
Last 7 days
Water temperature
67°F → 66°F
Wind
13 mph → 9 mph
Swell
1.4 ft → 2.1 ft
Daily score
93 → 87
Water temperature has been stable within 1°F all week, so the established fall pattern should hold.
The water
About Cape Hatteras & the Outer Banks
Cape Hatteras juts into the Atlantic at the collision point of cold northern water and the warm Gulf Stream, and Diamond Shoals runs out from the Point for miles. That temperature break is why red drum, false albacore, bluefin tuna and marlin can all be caught within a few miles of each other, and why the fall drum run off the Point is a genuine bucket-list fishery.
Local knowledge
Expert notes
- Read the sloughs at low tide before you fish. The deeper cut with a break in the outer bar is where drum funnel through on the rise — mark it and come back at dusk.
- Big drum bite the last hour of light into full dark on a rising tide, far more reliably than any mid-day window.
- When the water at the Point goes from 68°F to 62°F overnight, the albies show up. Track the temperature break, not the calendar.
Logistics
Access, ramps and launches
shore
Cape Point (Ramp 44)
Oversand permit required from the National Park Service; four-wheel drive and aired-down tires essential.
marina
Oregon Inlet Fishing Center
Ramp, fuel and the offshore fleet running to the Gulf Stream.
pier
Avon Pier
Reaches past the first bar — good for drum and Spanish mackerel.
kayak launch
Frisco Woods kayak launch
Sound-side access to the grass flats.
Rules
Regulations
- NC Coastal Recreational Fishing License required.
- Red drum slot limit 18–27 inches, one fish per person per day — the big fall fish are all catch and release.
- National Park Service oversand vehicle permit required for beach driving.
Always verify current regulations with the relevant state wildlife agency before fishing. North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries
Transparency
Data sources
Where this data comes from
Conditions are modelled from each water's documented climate, structure and seasonal patterns. Modules marked “Live data integration pending” are not yet pulling from their API, so those values are clearly labelled as sample data rather than presented as real-time readings.
Weather API
PendingNOAA / National Weather Service — Air temperature, wind, cloud cover, rainfall and barometric pressure with a 7-day forecast.
Water Level & Flow API
PendingUSGS Water Services — Reservoir stage, discharge and 7-day level trend from the nearest gauge.
Water Temperature
PendingUSGS / NOAA buoys — Surface water temperature and its multi-day trend.
Tide & Current API
PendingNOAA CO-OPS — Tide predictions, current direction and speed for coastal zones.
Moon & Solunar
LiveComputed on-site — Moon phase, illumination and solunar major/minor periods are calculated from date and coordinates.
Water Clarity
PendingSatellite imagery + angler reports — Visibility estimates by lake arm, refined by submitted fishing reports.
Fishing Regulations
PendingState wildlife agencies — License, size and creel rules, linked to the official agency page for verification.
Map Data
PendingBathymetry + access point database — Depth zones, structure locations and boat ramps for the lake infographic.
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