Fishing Carolina Beach

If you're a fisherman, you'll find there's plenty of sport waiting for you year round on Pleasure Island. From the surf to the pier and the Cape Fear River, Carolina Beach also offers both inshore and offshore angling on either your own boat or a multitude of chartered crafts.

If surf fishing is your game, you'll find that your best bet is during high tide, with an outgoing tide. The shores alongside the community of Carolina Beach are for the most part sparsely populated, so you can even wade into the ocean and cast while your kids romp in the surf behind you. If solitude is your idea of dream fishing, you can hike or drive (four wheelers only) to the north end of the island and fish without another soul in sight. Depending on the season, you can expect to catch bluefish, red drum, small flounder, croaker, Virginia mullet and many other types of shallow water fish.

Pier fishing is an ever popular option, where you can join in the camaraderie of your fellow anglers while enjoying an ever ready supply of advice and tips. The Pier House is open twenty four hours and offers bait, tackle, seasonal permits and supplies as well as gear for sale or rent, and also boasts a full service grill and full ABC permits when you work up an appetite  — not to mention restrooms. A nominal fee is charged for fishing off the pier, and king mackerel three-rod fishing is extra.

The Cape Fear River side of this narrow island abounds with large mouth bass, sunfish, catfish, herring and shad. Catfish are considered non-game fish, so there's no size or creel limits. The Cape Fear River hosts the three largest members of the catfish family: channel, blue and flathead. The cats run best in April, May, September and October. In the spring, the bluegill run is plentiful with catches up to three-quarter pound, and largemouth bass typically range between one and a half to three pounds: quite a fight! With public docks (even a handicapped accessible one) available you can angle comfortably for a few hours or all day. If fly fishing is your aim, further north you'll find plenty of inlets, creeks and marshes chock full of speckled trout and bass.

Trailering your boat at Carolina Beach....