Pamlico/Neuse September: old reds from the ferry line into the sound

September on the Pamlico and Neuse is an old-drum month. Fisherman’s Post’s 2026 river-guide roundup puts the big reds from the ferry line out into the sound — edges of flats, oyster reefs, and ledges from a couple of feet into the mid-teens — on large soft plastics (jig head or popping cork), topwater, hard baits around bait and ledges, and cut bait soaked on channel edges. Daytime bite is often inside 10 feet; nights slide shallower.

Slot reds are scattered in the river shallows — grass banks, docks, stumps — with the occasional speckled trout mixed in. Striped bass stay relatively consistent from the ferry line up past New Bern if you stay on bait plus structure. Flounder is picking up on sandy bottoms near docks and points; a 5-inch Gulp swimming mullet and finger mullet on a jig head keep coming up.

Bluefish are in the rivers, some of them 5–10-plus pounds blowing up on bait in the sound. A few tarpon are still roaming both rivers. Spanish mackerel are around the river mouth. Sheepshead and black drum are staged on bridges, channel markers, deeper oyster, and some ARs in the lower river.

Photo: Kaydon Evans of Wilson’s Mills, N.C., with a 31-inch Neuse River red drum on a Z-Man DieZel Minnow (Beer Run) under a popping cork, fishing with Capt. Josh Sutton of Pamlico Point Guide Service / Fisherman’s Post.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Fisherman’s Post — Pamlico/Neuse River, September 2026.