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Yellowfin Tuna
OpenThunnus albacares
The NC rulebook, translated for the Banks.
The Short Version
North Carolina sets the keep floor at 27" curved fork length — measure carefully, short fish go back. The daily creel is none (check federal regulations), and the fishery is open through the whole calendar year.
Keep Size
27" curved fork length
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
None (check federal regulations)
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.
Yellowfin out of Oregon Inlet
The Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet fleets run to the 100-fathom curve for yellowfin, and the yellowfin that come back over the Hatteras Marina and Oregon Inlet Fishing Center scales are the Outer Banks' signature offshore catch. Winter through spring is the prime push; summer fish mix with blackfin on the same edges.
Green-machine spreads, spreader bars, and ballyhoo rigged behind islander lures are the local standard. A yellowfin limit is federal business — the HMS Angling permit and federal size rules govern the box, not NC.
The Fine Print
- •27" curved fork length minimum in federal water — measure over the curve of the body.
- •No NC bag limit; the federal HMS rules govern this fishery.
- •A federal HMS Angling permit is required for recreational harvest outside three miles.
- •Yellowfin are the backbone of the Oregon Inlet and Hatteras offshore charter fleet year-round.