Roanoke Island is surrounded by the Roanoke, Croatan, Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and fishing sounds is different than fishing rivers or other coastal bodies of water.
Roanoke Sound is on the east side and separates Roanoke Island from the Outer Banks. Croatan Sound is on the west side and separates Roanoke Island from the Dare County mainland. Albemarle Sound tapers down on the north side, and Pamlico Sound comes up from the south. A few creeks drain Roanoke Island, the mainland and through the marshes on the Outer Banks side of the island, and there’s a broken marsh at the south end of the island, but there are no rivers with regular, sustained flow patterns.
The lack of consistent water flow and current is significant, because even though Manteo is only a handful of miles north of Oregon Inlet, there is no regular tidal flow. If there is no wind to push it or a severe rain event up the Albemarle Sound to push water down, the water level may remain within inches of the same level for days at a time.
Guide Bryan DeHart believes that all fish, not just speckled trout, feed better when the water is moving, pushing shrimp and baitfish along with the current. He sees the lack of tidal changes as a challenge to finding good fishing, and he really studies the wind, inland rain patterns and moon phases. The Outer Banks are known to be windy, and wind moves water. DeHart believes that because Manteo is an island with four major bodies of water around it, some water movement should always be present in one of the sounds or between two of them, and it is the fisherman’s challenge to find that moving water and better fishing.
The other plus the island’s position is there should always be a lee from any wind. DeHart is a native and knows his way around all the Roanoke Island backwaters; the wind has to be very strong, before he can’t find reasonably calm water that has some movement and should hold feeding fish.
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