Striped bass are one of the few fish managed by specific bodies of water in North Carolina The Albemarle Sound Management Area begins at the Virginia border in Currituck Sound and runs along the western side of the Outer Banks to Eagles Nest Bay, just south of Oregon Inlet. From there, the area’s border crosses the upper tip of Pamlico Sound to Roanoke Marshes Point, a few miles south of Manns Harbor. Moving inland, it includes all of Albemarle, Croatan, Currituck and Roanoke sounds, plus the Alligator, North, Pasquotank, Little, Perquimans, Yeopim, Scuppernong and Chowan rivers and all the creeks that flow into the sounds and rivers. The western boundary is the mouth of the Roanoke River near Plymouth.
Striper season in the Albemarle Sound Management Area is one of the most liberal in North Carolina coastal waters. It runs from Oct. 1 through April 30. The limit is three fish per day, with a minimum size of 18 inches.
In this large an area, stripers have a diverse habitat from which to choose. They show a definite preference for vertical structure, and bridges throughout the area that fill this bill well. The US 64/264 Business bridge from Manns Harbor to Manteo. Fish have also been caught on the US 64/264 bridge from Manteo to Nags Head, the US 158 bridge from Point Harbor to Kitty Hawk and the NC 32/94 bridge near the western end of the sound.
Several shoal areas in the Albemarle Sound tend to hold schools of menhaden, which are a favorite forage fish for stripers, which can often be found holding around schools of the oily baitfish. The water around the mouth of rivers and creeks always has good potential to hold stripers, especially when wind is pushing water and baitfish into the sounds. Stump fields are scattered in waters shallow and deep throughout the sounds that hold baitfish, and stripers come there to feed.
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