North Carolina’s New Spotted Seatrout Regulations Now in Effect

The 2025 Spotted Seatrout harvest season opened on July 1 following a closure prompted by cold stun events. New recreational size and creel limits are now in effect:

A “keeper” slot of 14-20 inches, with one fish over 26 inches allowed
A 3-fish daily limit

These changes were approved by the Marine Fisheries Commission in March during their adoption of Amendment 1 to the Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan. The updated size and creel limits are intended to reduce overall harvest by 27% to meet management targets for the population.

Commercial harvest season changes are also in place and mirror the day-of-week closures recently implemented for Striped Mullet. The majority of Spotted Seatrout harvest occurs in the recreational fishery, with an estimated 1.9 million pounds kept in 2023, compared to 434,610 pounds reported on commercial trip tickets that same year.