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King Mackerel
OpenScomberomorus cavalla
The NC rulebook, translated for the Banks.
The Short Version
North Carolina sets the keep floor at 24" fork — measure carefully, short fish go back. The daily creel is 2 per person per day, and the fishery is open through the whole calendar year.
Keep Size
24" fork
Size fish must clear to be kept
Run the tape from the snout to the far edge of the tail pressed flat together — a pinched tail adds the half inch that decides a citation.
Daily Creel
2 per person per day
What one angler may take per day
Counts are per person unless the rule says "per boat," and they aggregate across everywhere you fished that day — sound, surf, and ocean all land in the same tally.
Season Window
Year-round
When harvest is legal
Open through the year unless an emergency closure posts.
Where It Stands
Open
Harvest is legal; emergency in-season shutdowns are rare but do happen — glance at the DMF proclamations page anyway.
Fall Kings off Jennette's
Every September the talk on the northern Banks turns to kings: smoker king mackerel that settle in on the live-bottom marks off Nags Head and, famously, along the end of Jennette's Pier. The serious program is live menhaden or mullet slow-trolled off a downrigger or balloon; the pier crowd fishes live bait on the outgoing tide and holds on.
The 24" fork rule is rarely tested — the local kings are usually 8 to 25 pounds, and the fall run produces fish over 30 every season.
The Fine Print
- •24" fork-length minimum.
- •Two fish per angler per day in the aggregate.
- •Kings are the premier fall offshore and pier target along the northern Banks.
- •In water beyond three miles the federal HMS framework picks up where the state rule leaves off.