Need Intel on Morehead City

Hey All. We decided to relocate back to NC from our tenure in CO. The wife wants to get to the coast and we recently did a video tour of a home near Morehead City. I'm a freshwater guy, but would be willing to convert. Question is, how is the fishing out in this area? How big of boat is needed? How is surf fishing? Thanks.
 
Yeah I guess so. We lived near Southern Pines for a stint, relocated to CO. Now we are ISO a place back east (hopefully to stay).
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
you can do it all from MC. From Marlin to trout. Just depends on your level of pain for boats.
If you are freshwater oriented you may want to imitate every used to be freshwater angler from raleigh east and start in the rivers and sounds before diving into the deep.
Drum, Trout, Flounder galore.
 

DuckyDave

Eight Pointer
Contributor
MHC is really nice, lived there part time for 10 years then full time for 5 years. Very convenient small town with Jacksonville, New Bern, Greenville not that far away. Picked my days carefully to catch kings, cobia even mahi in my 18ft center console but as I met other fishing buddies who also had boats (mostly bigger) I sold mine and used kayak when I wanted to fish solo. Plenty of places to catch trout, puppy drum, flounder and other panfish from kayak or small inshore boat. Surf fishing is mostly slow, pretty much quit that except blow toads at Radio Island couple weeks each year or when blues run in the spring. Big surprise was how good the freshwater fishing was in Winter around New Bern, perfect offset when Winter saltwater bite became slow. Good luck.
 

23mako

Ten Pointer
Great fishing opportunities for just about any species. As duckydave said, you go inland towards New Bern and you are in some great freshwater fishing as well. Surf fishing isn't going to be like the outer banks but you can always go to shackleford or cape lookout and get your fix. If it were me, I'd have a larger boat to go off the beach and a small tiller skiff to fish inshore and freshwater. The smallest you prob want to comfortably go out of the inlet would be something like an 18 ft parker and that is only if the wind isn't blowing against the tide. 20 foot would be ideal. Good luck on your search. That is my favorite part of the world.
 

venom17

Six Pointer
I live 10min from MHC and you can fish for salt and fresh in the same creeks if ya want to. Went Thurs last week and caught reds, trout, flounder, bass, pickeral, and bowfin in a 200yd stretch. Mighty Neuse has some of the best fishing on the coast. If ya push out the inlet, I would say at least a 20ft. Wind will stack the waves up to 8ft at the break.
 

JSM1986

Button Buck
The fishing is amazing out here. If you want to go offshore you need a big boat but honestly i like inshore fishing more. I have a 14ft jon boat and it serves me well in the creeks. You can catch drum, flounder, striper, trout and depending on the salinity of the water you can even catch blues and spanish. The further you go up the creeks the fresher the water is so you'll catch all the stuff your used to. Its the best of both worlds!
 
All things encouraging!

I know this is the fishing forum, but is hunting in this area also good? I hunted quite a bit in Montgomery County previously.
 

JSM1986

Button Buck
Yes, the hunting is good. The deer tend to be smaller in this area than alot of other places in the country but there are plenty of them. Finding private lands to hunt is rather difficult unless you join a hunting club but there is alot of public land to hunt. We also have some of the best black bear hunting in the country.
 
Everyone upstream has pretty much summed up the options for MHC. There are so many options it can get overwhelming trying to make sure you have the right gear and tackle. Since you are a fresh water angler, I suggest starting out with the inlets, rivers, and creeks. Catching reds, trout, and flounder has some similarities with freshwater fishing. This will give you time to learn the area and get to know the locals who fish all the time. This will save you a fortune in the long run. Of course this is just my IMHO. Good luck and post up some pictures once youā€™re here catching some fish!
 
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