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Spot
OpenLeiostomus xanthurus
The NC rulebook, translated for the Banks.
The Short Version
North Carolina puts no size floor on Spot; measure nothing, but count everything. The daily creel is 50 per person per day, and the fishery is open through the whole calendar year.
Keep Size
No minimum
Any size is legal to keep
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
50 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.
The Fall Spot Run
Spot show up in the surf and off the piers in numbers in late summer and through the fall, and when they do, the Avalon Pier and the Nags Head piers fill with anglers fishing two hooks and a piece of shrimp on the bottom. The 50-fish creel tells you what the local expectation is — this is a cooler-filling fish, not a trophy fish.
A spot is small, abundant, and excellent fried, which makes it one of the few Outer Banks fisheries where the limit is generous enough to plan a dinner around. Fish the bottom, keep the rig simple, and watch the rod tip.
The Fine Print
- •No size limit — spot are legal to keep at any length.
- •50 per person per day, one of the most generous creels in the NC rulebook.
- •A fall staple off the Avalon and Outer Banks piers and along the surf zone.
- •Bottom-rigged shrimp or squid; keep the bait on the bottom where spot feed.
Updated Oct 30, 2026