If you want to enjoy freshwater versatility like this, then North Carolina has something to offer.......

Lots of southern hospitality in small towns across North Carolina.......Many public boat launches free of charge and other shore fishing piers equipped with handicap access and parking......I enjoy living in an outdoor friendly state......

North Carolina is home to the nation's second largest body of freshwater, the Albemarle Sound and it's hundreds of tributaries only trail the Great Lakes in size.........Most of which offer great brackish water fishing for both freshwater and saltwater species......I have personally caught big bluegill in over ten of the associated river systems.....Great flexibility with all these destinations.........

Just a taste of the gills available in this region of the state.........

If you live in North Carolina or you will visit during the fourth of July holiday.....take advantage of the FREE FISHING day which is the fourth of July every year which was approved by North Carolina legislators back in the 1990s.......Effort designed to promote fishing......Got to like that!

Coppernose gills have adapted to most North Carolina waters and fish averaging a pound are common place in many lakes and rivers across the state...................

Everything place i fish is just over run on free fishing day.so i usually stay home. or go to private ponds

Thanks for joining Derrick...look forward to your inputs.....I agree and we normally hit the pool and have a big fish fry on the fourth of July, but if just a handful of kids get to go that wouldn't be able to because of unlicensed parents, then I'm all for it!

My mother is a twin so I consider it good luck to take picture pairs!

North Carolina gets hot and humid but great gill action is still out there for the hunting....The heat index was in triple digits on this Summer day last year!

Fish and Chips Carolina Style! Bluegill, Peanut Oil and new Potatoes........

July is one of the hottest months in Carolina for gills............Awesome fishing on so many fronts but it is a toss up between June and July for Peak fishing.........I go as often as I can during this 61 day period every year!

Several Eastern North Carolina rivers had significant Largemouth Bass kills from Hurricane Irene in 2011.....but the state still offers great bass fishing for those folks that pursue the "bucket mouths"............

Welcome Carlton.....just a place to share a little of what North Carolina has to offer....Look forward to any additions you may offer... 

This beautiful island in the upper Pasquotank river offers remote tent camping on man-made wooden structures with a pier to access these areas.....Pack your deet and put moth balls in your bags to take care of unwanted visitors........Got a few gators protecting the surrounding waters so there should be no sneak attacks.....LOL.........I see alot of folks taking kayak trips and sleeping over on their Dismal Swamp travel......

Glad to have you Steve...I'm going to post as much information as I can about my region in this group......Water starting to warm up a little here.....saw 54 degrees today which is directly responsible for the gills I caught today.............Welcome again Steve!

Thanks Jeff. I always enjoy reading your post and all of your photos. Hopefully I can get that way this summer. The Democratic National Convention will be here in September and that is really keeping us busy at my work. Wife's work also. Maybe we can get a break for a long weekend and visit out your way. 

You bet Steve.....I'm going to try and keep this page interesting! I love the site but I wanted to do North Carolina justice with all the great fishing state wide......

First Gill of the year in Carolina!

Jeff, I caught my first gill Saturday morning before all the wind came in. He a small one but he was in less than 2ft of water so I thought to be very hopeful in the upcoming days as they are going to get warmer.

HEY JEFFREY,

  JUST JOINED YOUR GROUP and am enjoying what I'm seeing already. GREAT IDEA AND GLAD YOU DID IT. You mentioned one time to me you did'nt want another job, remember I suggested a  spokesman for tourism for your great state with all the great pics you take!!!!!!!!! YOU MADE IT BUDDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  TOOTY

Thanks Tooty.....I'll be adding alot of things here......Just keep checking Carlton....they never travel alone so where you catch one you can be assured there is more there or will be....The eleven I caught yesterday afternoon were all females and transitioning to shallow....I find that when they are in this staging pattern they will move deep at night and morning and return to the shallow water areas in full sun until the water temperature stabilizes...it will change three or four degrees with cold nights and mild days....

Don't forget the Blue Crabs while you're visiting North Carolina.....We have great recreational crabbing with a bushel a day per person limit. The giant males are the most sought after Blue!

Hope I don't scare anybody with this...but a large portion of my family are from the Elizabeth City, Tarboro and nearby areas in N.E. North Carolina.

Bluegill fishing...it's just in the blood!

Thanks for joining Jim....no fear here......it's not a bad addiction especially if you're in the fertile fields!

Jeff, where is the best place to catch those crabs? My wife enjoys crabbing as much as i do so it's something that I have to do every year at least once.

Now I'm getting hungry. Seafood for lunch!

They move around Carlton....Peak is late Summer so when I locate them this year and get other leads I will provide updates...Figuring out the Blue Crabs can be similar to fishing...They don't always appear in the same locations at the same times but often there is historic numbers in different places....Stay tuned, but July through September is Peak here in North Carolina.......

Lake Mattamuskeet is legendary for it's giant Blue Crabs....But if you go be prepared to fish bluegill, catfish or largemouth too because the Crab limit is one dozen per person in this refuge....

Mattamuskeet is full of willing catfish with the best bite in the Summer.....I always take a rig with me so I can catch some cats while I'm catching some blue crabs.............

No matter how hot it gets in August here in North Carolina.....the gills can be found under the Carolina Blue skies.......Get after them just take extra care with sun screen and plenty fluids to drink.........

We had a significant drought and forest fires in the surrounding swamps that burned for months and all the forecasts predicted that the panfish fishery would suffer.....My determination and confidence in North Carolina's coastal rivers made for a great Summer on Bluegills despite all the adverse conditions......Here are just a few pictures from the Summer of 08'

Great pictures Jeffrey. The areas you fish are very attractive. Look foward to getting there this spring/summer. I agree, bluegill can be caught in the most hot and humid times of the day. Last summer proved to be one of the best summers for catching fish all day long. There were days when around 3:00PM produced the best fishing of the day. I've learned to wear light weight, long sleeve shirts and light long pants to prevent sun damage. That alone has made summer fishing more enjoyable.   

Had a short but sweet afternoon at a local lake here in North Carolina.....Air Temperatures hit 83 degrees and I saw water temperature as high as 56 degrees........The warmer air sent thousands of insects into a frenzy and the Gills were on the attack.......I fished a 1 inch Berkley Gulp minnow in Chartreuse tipped with a live cricket near dead grass beds from 2011 and it didn't take long to develop a successful pattern.......What a great early season afternoon.....

If asked, many people would guess Louisiana, Maryland or Virginia for the nation's largest Blue Crab harvest......but it's right here in North Carolina and that was music to this Louisiana Native's ears! Love me some good Blue Crabs boiled In Zatarains Seafood Pro Boil! Here's some of our North Carolina Feasts.....Crawfish although not native to North Carolina, are available May through August at several farms in the eastern section of the state.

Jeff, you have stop. This looks just too good to wait for. I normally wait until about June to really get crabs. The earlier harvest are kins of sandy.

You're right Carlton...I do the same but I always Purge my blue crabs with table salt before cooking and that helps some. But early season they will have grit in the meat from being buried up..These were some jumbos I ran into late last Summer..They were piled in an area and we worked on them for a couple weeks.....

Glad to see your enjoying the fine east coast of North Carlina Jeffrey. Looks like you are really having fun down there. Woke up to thunder and lighting this morning. Will have to wait until another day to go fishing. 

I here that Steve, it's suppose to go down hill overnight here and tomorrow is a wash out.....Social outing tonight and hopefully back on the fish Sunday if the cold front doesn't sit on us....The fish I caught yesterday could have been taken on a surface fly, the insect activity was intense and the fish frenzy followed....

Been looking at the weather forcast all morning Jeffrey. Sunday maybe, but the winds again....

Saturday looks like a BBG.com day and Sunday will require evaluation early in the morning to see.....Little drizzle is one thing, t-storms and heavy winds...no thanks!

Historically we count down to Good Friday/Easter in the Albemarle section of North Carolina for the beginning of productive bluegill fishing......Ponds and little lakes will warm up faster than the rivers, reservoirs and sounds but it appears by the current trend that fish will cooperate sooner, most likely mid to late March......Right now it takes great patience and knowledge of water temperatures and depths in your body of water...With the day to night swings in air temperatures right now....fish will be in different depths during a particular day......Slow presentations will work better in water temperatures below 60 degress.....Example given, the fish I caught in the final days of February on a crank bait struck the bait on a slow fall........In my opinion, we will not see many Coppernose until water temperatures are holding above 58 degrees........In summary.....it will not be long now in Eastern North Carolina..........

Those are beautiful beds..You fish the beds ill fish about 7-10 feet away and catch the Bass waiting to eat your bluegill

You've got a deal Derrick....can you get out today or weather a factor...We're socked in all day......I'm hopeful for a few hours tomorrow.....Good luck when you get back out there!

Its raining here. and its a cold rain. moved my bass out of my holes.

Glad i didnt waist the 400 dollars for the tournament today. all the patterns would have been out the window today.

Storms, wind and rain. Not looking good  for the "home team" today. Maybe cooling off tonight. Will be watching tomorrows forecast all day.

Got a little break in the weather so I headed down to a creek that's pretty sheltered because the wind was still gusting to 25 mph.....Water temperature was 52 degrees and the creek was stained a little from overnight run off so I adjusted my presentation to suit.....I downsized my hook and added a Berkley maggot to the hook shaft for the white coloring...Threaded a Live Cricket in addition to the maggot and fished a slow fall presentation with no split shot.....Wound up with 16 Gills in which most were hens and 1 Largemouth.....Still no Coppernose gills in this mess......Still releasing all gills right now because I'm more interested in catching right now than eating but that will change soon when business picks up a little more.....I'm just very happy things are getting started earlier this year....I may live to regret scheduling a fishing trip out of town in March....Jury still out on that!

I stated before that my mom is a twin, thus I always prefer pictures of two...All fishermen have tactics and superstitions and this is just one of mine.....These pairs are all from the month of May last year and all caught in coastal Carolina.....This is when the honeysuckles bloom and the red winged blackbirds are filling the marsh with excitement....Sometimes you must deal with some left over showers and temperatures are approaching the 90 degree mark, but Bluegill are well underway producing the future gills.......

I'm not going to dwell on bad weather in North Carolina because so many people are facing the devastation from Friday's tornado outbreak.....We received over two additional inches of rain overnight and through noon today....I had planned to get out on the Pasquotank River today, eager to see what the rising water temperatures would deliver in my seasoned staging areas.....That wasn't meant to be so I met a couple fishing buddies at the local IHOP for a tall stack and morning caffeine as I waited it out...All these guys are retired and will go when Mother Nature cooperates.....Came home and watched some of the highlights from the 2012 Bassmasters Classic held last weekend on the Red River near Shreveport, Louisiana....So the rain finally slowed at noon and I visited the creek I was at Saturday and found it stained a bit more and water temperature was @ 56 degrees....We should stay in the low 50s until later this week when the next warming trend arrives.....Having used the little white maggot successfully yesterday, I decided to up the annie a bit color wise and went with attaching  the 1" chartreuse minnow on the hook shaft and tipping the rig with a live cricket......No weight attached to the line because I wanted a slow fall again because of unstable conditions.....Fished for about two hours and wound up with 14 gills and a small largemouth....The best Surprise today was the fact that I caught a couple solid Coppernose Gills, the first ones of 2012.....I had to show the little largemouth bass to keep our friend Derrick interested...LOL ...Things are improving and this was a difficult weekend for fishing, but in the big scheme of things not bad considering what thousands of people are facing....Maybe some of those folks can look at bluegill fishing soon as a release from the stresses they are facing...

Nice looking pictures Jeffrey. Interesting combination you got going there. Looks like a real bluegill catching lure!

Thanks again Steve...sometimes you have to use your imagination to figure things out....It worked the last two times I tried it...

Fall is great fishing for gills in North Carolina also...After the Spring and Summer rush...don't hang up the rods until water temperatures fall below 55 degrees....The month of October can make for some pleasant views and very comfortable fishing after working to beat the heat all Summer.......

Spring through September is awesome in Coastal Carolina's brackish waters....Miles and miles of river systems loaded with coves and creeks supply anglers with shelter and the quiet settings that big bluegills look for....Just remember a healthy population of Channel Catsfish will be spawning shallow late summer and the abundant blue crabs will migrate north from the Albemarle sound and pack in to our back waters making for great recreational crabbing....Endless outdoor enjoyment slowed only by the visit of a named tropical system but many years we dodge hurricanes all together....