Striped Bass Fishing Information

NOTE: 2024 Closed Harvest Season for Striped Bass on the Roanoke River - The entire Roanoke River Management Area will be closed for harvest of striped bass. Read the Feb. 9, 2024 press release.


Visit our interactive map page of Commission-owned Roanoke River boating access areas, with detailed directions and pictures.

Striped Bass Catch and Release Guide

You can aid the survival of released striped bass (rockfish) with careful planning, fishing and handling methods. Hooked stripers can die from injury or from the stress of being hooked, fought and landed. Stress-related mortality increases greatly when water temperatures exceed 70F and is also greater in freshwater than in brackish water. Infection and disease can result in mortality of fish whose protective slime coat is removed during handling. The chances that released fish will survive will be increased greatly by following these guidelines. Ideally, fish are landed quickly, handled little, if at all, and kept in the water while the hook is removed using a dehooker.

Learn and practice catch-and-release fishing techniques and teach them to your children and friends.

Tab/Accordion Items

  • Know the fishing regulations and be prepared to release fish.
  • If you are planning a catch-and-release fishing trip for stripers, do so in early spring, late fall or winter when water is less than 70F.
  • Use strong enough tackle and land fish quickly to minimize stress.
  • Use barbless hooks or bend down the barbs on regular hooks to release fish quickly.
  • Use artificial lures instead of live bait to reduce deep hooking.
  • Replace treble hooks with large, single barbless hooks to reduce injury and handling.
  • If legal, keep fish that are bleeding heavily as their chances of survival are poor.

 

  • Keep the amount of handling to a minimum and keep fish in the water if at all possible.
  • Use landing nets only when necessary and these nets should be made of knotless nylon or rubber.
  • Do not allow the fish to thrash around. If you must handle it use wet gloves or a wet rag. Stripers can be calmed down by covering their eyes and/or turning them on their back.
  • A fish that does not swim away can be resuscitated by moving it back and forth to force water through its gills

  • Carefully, but quickly, remove hooks using a dehooker, needlenose pliers or forceps.
  • Whenever possible remove hooks in the throat or gut using a dehooker.
  • Cut the line if you cannot carefully or quickly remove hooks.

Report Tagged Bass

Coastal river anglers who catch a striped bass with a red or yellow tag during their fishing trips can participate in research projects that help fisheries biologists manage North Carolina’s striped bass populations. N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission biologists are cooperating with researchers from N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries on studies to determine striped bass movement throughout North Carolina’s coastal waters and to estimate mortality rates of the state’s striped bass populations. The striped bass collected in these projects are tagged with red or yellow tags, which are printed with a unique number and contact information for the project. Please click here for more information on the NCDMF Tagging Program.

$100 reward for Red Striped Bass Tag

REPORT a RED Tagged Striped Bass

  • Cut the tag for $100 reward and prepare to report tag with related catch information.
  • For red tags with NCDMF in text:
    • Call 1-800-682-2632 or click here to report the tag online.
    • Please leave your name and phone number if you reach a recording.  Your call is very important and will be returned.

REPORT a YELLOW Tagged Striped Bass

  • Cut the tag and prepare to report the tag number and catch information.
  • Call 1-800-682-2632 or click here to report the tag online.
  • Reward: $5, hat, or fishing towel.
  • Please leave your name and phone number if you reach a recording.  Your call is very important and will be returned.

The tags are located in the abdominal area of striped bass, most often behind the left pectoral fin. Check both sides of the fish for tags; cut and report all tags observed.

Report a Tag Video