What would you recommend to anglers fishing in Manteo, North Carolina for the first time?

I recently had the pleasure of going out on a fishing trip with Backin' Up Sportfishing Charter, and it was a fantastic experience! Captain Jeremy was incredibly welcoming and friendly, making sure everyone on board was comfortable and ready for a great day on the water. One of the highlights was that Captain Jeremy let us bring our French Bulldog along, and it was a delight to see our pup enjoying the day as much as we did. Our dog was thrilled to watch our son catch fish, and it added a special touch to the experience. We had a great catch overall and were impressed with the number of fish we brought in. Although high winds forced us to cut the trip a bit short and we didn’t manage to land a really big one, it didn't dampen our spirits. Captain Jeremy’s expertise and positive attitude made the trip enjoyable and memorable. After our adventure, we took our catch to a local restaurant where they prepared it for us. Eating the fresh fish we had just caught was a delicious end to a fantastic day! We’re already looking forward to booking with Backin' Up Sportfishing Charter again next summer. If you’re looking for a charter with a great captain and a friendly atmosphere, I highly recommend giving them a try!

For offshore limit the group to 2-3 fisher people to give a better chance that all will reel in a billfish. Avg was 2-4 per boat. Plan for white marlin and Mahi. Too many sharks for Tuna this time of year and wrong habitat for Wahoo.

Plan your trip a couple days before the end of your visit in case weather hits and you have to reschedule. Pop up storms can definitely change your plans . Bring cash . The credit card app charges a pretty hefty processing fee. Be positive and enjoy the fresh air and time on the water if you don’t hook one. This time of year is definitely geared more towards a morning or late evening time frame if you have kids that aren’t accustomed to the heat.

Would recommend without reservation. We had just missed trout season, but had a great fishing expedition which was entirely due to Captain Chris who knows the area and has been fishing OBX his whole life.

Take motion sickness pills few days ahead like twice to acclimate body and day of even if 4am eat something light take another pill. If feel stomach turning close eyes and just breath and think of happy memory. The mind loves to torture you. You do not want be sick at start of an all day offshore fishing trip as were not coming back until 12hr later. HA

We've fished with Capt Bud of Mott Ridge Charters for 4 years now. Every trip has been great even in tough fishing conditions. Great boat and Capt Bud knows where the fish are. Friendly and personable, he will see to it that your trip is a success. 5 stars isn't enough. Looking forward to 2026

As for fishing in June it is okay. There was a few people that caught a couple but wasn't in season like flounder.not sure if the stripped bass the guy caught was legal he was on the other side of the boat. I'm not sure if he kept it or not.i just heard he caught one. Just riding around on the boat was cool for me and the wife. We still had a good time.

This was our first time fishing in Manteo, we caught a quantity of small fish that will be perfect for dinner, which was our goal. We also took and hour to go for another type after we had the quantity that we were looking for. It was a great experience, a little different than we expected, but a good time was had by all. We know it is early in the season so we did anticipate to have less options as far as what was biting.

I heard the slight wind was a factor in our low-volume (but high-variety) catch. But definitely wasn't hopping.... Still highly recommend due to low price, short trip, and friendly crew plus great view of the surrounding islands.

Book a smaller charter. This was a great day on the boat but they didn’t restock bathrooms with toilet paper after being asked to do so. Fishing was boring and hot because there were only small fish caught. Most were thrown back.

The best time to fish Manteo is April May and June. You might need to dodge high winds and hurricanes after July through November. Good news though, Manteo has inshore opportunities in the sound for anglers who love to bring home tasty catches. Speckled Trout and Red Drum are GREAT eating fish. So are sheepshead and Striped Bass.

It’s hot but there are fish biting. Just be clear about what species you want since you may be redirected to more easy to catch options like ribbon fish. Also might mean a longer slog with no fish for the species you want. But hey that’s fishing!

Research the charter captains and their boats. Keep an eye on their catches and trip summaries and review. Talk to the captains- be honest, if u don’t fish much, tell them that- explain your expectations. The captains will let you know what they can deliver.

If you are there as early in the season as we are, note that you can get some action but less with the listed fish. We landed 25 2-4lb blue catfish in the 3+ hours on the water at the spot he guided us to. That was plenty of action to keep my 10 year old engaged and happy.

Trust the captain and mate will do everything in their power to give you the best experience.

I just thought it would have been better bad weather and small fish witch is not the captain’s fault

Due to the weather the sound wasn't as clear as normal and with the water temperature high the fish were a bit lazy to bite, but not horrible. Still an amazing day on the water.

Not much biting, but captain was upfront about it at the start. We ended up lucking out at catching a croaker, pinfish and pigfish.

Due to the heat advisory, the clear ocean fish were just not biting as well as we would’ve liked, but there’s nothing you can do about it

Check that your expectations for fishing are suitable to the season and location. Boats from this area go to the sound or deep sea.

You can bring a small cooler with drinks and snacks. It was windy so check the weather in case you need a long sleeve or sweat shirt.. it can be chilly

Windy and we really wanted to catch drum or cobia but they are not in abundance in April. We had fun catching blues and cow nose skates.

Book later in the year if you want to catch a variety of fish. We only caught Tuna and could only take one home.

offshore deep sea trips can go out of pirates cove or anywhere, the nearshore and inshore trips I would stick to the guys at Oregon inlet

I don’t have any idea if the location or weather or what had an impact on whether or not we caught any fish. I am the wrong person to ask :)

I recommend live bait, and had success with that. Depending on the weather and water artificial bait may work better.

This was our first time, we just showed up and fished! We have experience with river n lake fishing but nothing to this nature and we killed it, with the guidance of our captain

Finding the right captain with knowledge and experience in the area is definitely the number one goal anyone should follow

Not sure. Booking a trip like this is expensive. The boys have been super excited for the day. It ended like kids waiting for Christmas, coming down looking under the tree and there were no presents.

Expect changing fishing conditions. Weather conditions can be great, but tide flow will ultimately determine fishing success.