Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
You do not need a boat to fish Topsail. Some of the best fishing on the island is standing in the surf in front of our houses with a rod, a bucket, and low expectations that keep getting exceeded. Here is the honest beginner-to-decent guide.
Paperwork first
North Carolina requires a Coastal Recreational Fishing License for surf fishing. It takes five minutes online through the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and a ten-day license costs less than a sandwich platter. Get it before the trip and the whole family is legal all week.
Seasons and what is biting
Spring and fall are the show: red drum, bluefish, and Spanish mackerel moving along the beach, with the fall mullet run (September into November) the single best window of the year. Summer is steadier but smaller: sea mullet (whiting), spot, croaker, pompano near the sandbars, flounder in the sloughs. All of those but the flounder are exactly what a kid wants on the end of a line, and most are exactly what you want in a frying pan.
Where to stand
Fish structure. On our stretch that means the sloughs (the deeper troughs between the beach and the sandbar), the edges of the tidal pools as they drain, and, best of all, the posts of the former pier just north of God's Grace: hard structure holds bait, and bait holds everything else. Two hours around high tide, early or late in the day, beats noon every time.
Keep it simple
A medium surf rod, a two-hook bottom rig, fresh shrimp or sand fleas you dug yourself at the waterline (free bait, free entertainment). The tackle shops in Surf City and Sneads Ferry will set a beginner up honestly, and they know what ran yesterday. Clean your catch at the outdoor shower, grill it the same night, and you have completed the oldest supper chain on this island.
The houses by the old pier posts
God's Grace and its sister houses put you a cast away from the best structure on our stretch.