Waterlands

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Little tunnyPeak season

Bay · North Carolina

Core Sound

34.85°N · 76.35°W · Bay · Pamlico Sound

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Best score today · 1 PM · Little tunny

70/100Great
Now
6212 PM EST
Best window
1 PM-12 AMEbb tide
Tide now
Flooding0.1 ft ▲

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

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24-hour conditions

Saturday, Nov 14 · 4 PM

Time4P
Score74Great
Tide0.7 ft ▼Ebbing
Wind4 kn ENEgusts 11 · steady
Air temp66°Mild
WeatherOvercast99% cloud
Water70°FPersisted

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Little tunny is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with NCDMF before you keep a fish.

Source: NCDMF · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Little tunny is best here

Peak season for Little tunny · 4 more weeks at peak

Little tunny season by week of the year. Peak season for Little tunny · 4 more weeks at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • This week

Little tunny in North Carolina →

Spot profile

Core Sound

Depth
1-5 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · flat bottom
Season
Peak seasonLittle tunny

NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 13 on a 3.4 m grid. Depths are feet below NAVD 88, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.

About this spot

Fishing Core Sound

Core Sound is a bay in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. Depth is 1-5 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 25 species here; the best right now are little tunny, weakfish and black sea bass. It is peak season now for little tunny, weakfish, black sea bass and Florida pompano, and shoulder season for spot, Atlantic croaker, summer flounder and black drum. Little tunny peak from October through November. Weakfish peak from October through November. Black sea bass peak from March through April and from October through November.

Tackle & technique

Little tunny
Little tunny travel fast in schools that pin bait against inlets, points, jetties and tide rips, usually within a few miles of shore and often in less than 60 feet. Stay off the school's path, wait for it to surface within range, and cast small metal or epoxy jigs with a fast retrieve. When fish stay down, troll small feathers along bait edges and color changes to find them.
Weakfish
Weakfish hold along channel edges, grass beds, oyster bars and bridge shadows in bays and sounds, usually in 5 to 40 feet of water, and feed hardest at dawn, dusk and after dark. Swim soft plastics or bucktails slowly near the bottom, or drift peeler crab and bloodworms. They have soft mouths, so keep the drag light and the pressure steady.
Black sea bass
Black sea bass hold tight to wrecks, reefs, rock piles and jetties, from 15 feet inshore in late spring to well over 100 feet on offshore wrecks in late fall. Anchor or drift right over the structure and fish a two-hook high-low rig with squid or clam, or bounce a small jig on the bottom. The biggest males sit on the highest relief.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Cross Shoal Channel

    Channel · 2.1 mi

    66
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 66
    • Red drum 65
    • Weakfish 65

    11 kt NEH 5:34 PM · 0.7 ftL 12:28 AM · 0.2 ft

  • Gutter Creek

    Gut · 2.2 mi

    66
    Top: Black sea bassPeak season
    • Black sea bass 66
    • Weakfish 65
    • Red drum 63

    11 kt NEH 5:34 PM · 0.7 ftL 12:28 AM · 0.2 ft

  • Mill Point

    Cape · 1.9 mi

    65
    Top: Red drumPeak season
    • Red drum 65
    • Little tunny 64
    • Spotted seatrout 63

    10 kt NEH 5:34 PM · 0.7 ftL 12:28 AM · 0.2 ft

  • Styron Bay

    Bay · 1.5 mi

    61
    Top: WeakfishPeak season
    • Weakfish 61
    • Little tunny 60
    • Black sea bass 59

    11 kt NEH 5:34 PM · 0.7 ftL 12:28 AM · 0.2 ft

Scores and forecasts are for planning only and can be wrong. Conditions on the water change fast; check the marine forecast before you go. Regulations change during the season, so confirm limits and closures with NCDMF before you keep a fish.