Southeast Fishing Report: November 2026 to February 2027
This page always shows the current edition. A new one publishes four times a year, on the last Thursday before the months it covers begin. Permanent link to this edition. For the region's species, its key waters and a month-by-month calendar, see the Southeast fishing guide.
Red drum rules have changed in three Southeast states, and Georgia's changes on New Year's Day
Three of the six coastal states have new red drum rules this winter. South Carolina cut its limit on July 1 to one fish a person and two a boat, from 18 to 25 inches, and now requires a non-offset, non-stainless circle hook for natural bait on a hook of 4/0 or larger. Maryland raised its limit in August to three a day and lowered the top of the slot to 26 inches. Georgia changes in the middle of the quarter: five a day from 14 to 23 inches through December 31, then three a day from 15 to 24 inches from January 1. North Carolina stays at one a day from 18 to 27 inches and Virginia at three from 18 to 26.
In the Chesapeake, keeping a striped bass ends early in the winter: Maryland's Bay and tidal rivers close after December 5, and Virginia's Bay and the District's stretch of the Potomac after December 31, all until May. On the ocean side Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and North Carolina keep one fish of 28 to 31 inches open inside three miles, and North Carolina's sounds and coastal rivers stay closed. Inland, the lake fish carry the season: Santee Cooper's striped bass are open all winter, Georgia opens the lower Flint and Chattahoochee on November 1, and Tennessee puts a 36-inch minimum on Norris and Watts Bar from the same day.
In the mountains the winter belongs to the Delayed Harvest streams and the tailwaters. Eight of the eleven states run Delayed Harvest water through the cold months, on dates set out in the table below. North Carolina stocks its Delayed Harvest water in November this year, a month later than usual, and is stocking far fewer trout than usual all year. West Virginia stocks none in November or December and starts again in January. Arkansas has no Delayed Harvest water, but its Ozark tailwaters are the trout fishery the state is known for, under limits cut to two fish a day after last year's hatchery losses, and the top of the White below Bull Shoals Dam is shut from November 1 to January 31 while the brown trout spawn.
Licenses run out in midwinter in four places: West Virginia's, Delaware's and the District's on December 31 whatever day they were bought, and Kentucky's on the last day of February. Every state's rules are below under the same headings, written for someone fishing that state for the first time: which license, which bait and gear, the inland limits and the salt water.
January 1 changes the rules in six of the eleven
New Year's Day does more here than any other date. Georgia's red drum limit drops to three a day from 15 to 24 inches. Virginia's Bay striped bass and black sea bass are closed from that morning, and its summer flounder minimum falls to 16 inches, as Delaware's does, while every Delaware license runs out with the old year. West Virginia's fishing regulations run by the calendar year, so the new year's take effect, with a two-line limit on the lakes and ponds it stocks with trout, and every West Virginia license and stamp has to be bought again. Tennessee's gear limits for the walleye runs start on the upper Caney Fork, the Emory and the East Fork of the Obey, and in the District no striped bass may be kept until the spring season. Arkansas, which now changes its fishing rules on July 1, is not among them.
Dates that change what you may keep
7 of these 14 change a season, a bag limit or a legal method. Every day of the week below was checked against a calendar.
| When | What changes | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sun November 1 | Delayed Harvest streams turn catch and release in Georgia, South Carolina and West Virginia, and on Big Soddy Creek in Tennessee; those in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky have been catch and release since October 1. North Carolina stocks its Delayed Harvest water during November this year, a month later than usual. | GA, SC, WV, TN, NC, VA, MD, KY |
| Sun November 1 | Georgia opens striped bass and spearfishing on the lower Flint, the Chattahoochee below Columbia Lock and Dam and Spring Creek, and the marked spring areas of Lake Seminole, until April 30. Tennessee puts a 36-inch minimum on striped bass on Norris and Watts Bar. Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia goes to two striped bass a day, with none from 30 to 40 inches. | GA, TN, VA |
| Sun November 1 | Two stretches of the South Holston below the dam close to all fishing until January 31, and Clear Creek at Norris until March 31. | TN |
| Sun November 1 | The White River from 100 yards below Bull Shoals Dam to the wing dike at the state park trout dock closes to fishing until January 31, and from there to the park's downstream boundary every brown trout must go back, while the brown trout spawn. | AR |
| Mon November 2 | Last day to comment on Maryland's trout proposals: catch and return on the lower Savage River's trophy areas, fly fishing only with catch and return on upper Owens Creek, and two ponds added as put-and-take trout water. | MD |
| Sun November 15 | The Hiwassee Refuge on Chickamauga and the Chota unit on Tellico Lake close until the end of February; fishing goes on in the Hiwassee's main channel. | TN |
| Mon November 30 | Last day of Delaware's fall trout stamp season on its designated trout streams. | DE |
| Tue December 1 | South Carolina closes gigging for speckled trout and red drum until the end of February. Gatlinburg's streams and Acorn Lake at Montgomery Bell State Park in Tennessee turn catch and release until March 31. | SC, TN |
| Thu 3 and Fri December 4 | The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission holds its last meeting of the year, the one to watch for next season's fishing regulation proposals. | TN |
| Sat December 5 | Last day to keep a striped bass in Maryland's part of the Chesapeake and its tidal rivers until May. | MD |
| Thu December 31 | Last day of Virginia's fall striped bass season in the Bay and of its black sea bass season. Last day of the District's striped bass season. Last day of North Carolina's cobia season. Every West Virginia, Delaware and District of Columbia license expires at midnight. | VA, DC, NC, WV, DE |
| Fri January 1 | Georgia's red drum limit becomes three a day from 15 to 24 inches. Summer flounder must be at least 16 inches in Virginia and Delaware. West Virginia's regulations for the new year take effect, with a two-line limit on trout-stocked lakes. Tennessee's walleye-run gear limits begin. | GA, VA, DE, WV, TN |
| Sun January 31 | Buffalo Creek's Delayed Harvest season ends, and the two closed stretches of the South Holston reopen. In Arkansas the Bull Shoals Dam closed area and the seasonal brown trout area end, and the catch-and-release water below the dam reopens on February 1. | TN, AR |
| Sun February 28 | Last day of North Carolina's Hatchery Supported trout season, closed from March 1 to the first Saturday in April, and of Georgia's bluefish season. In Tennessee, last day of the Delayed Harvest season on the Hiwassee, the Tellico, Paint Creek, the Doe and Big Soddy Creek. In Virginia, last day of the muskellunge slot on the New River below Claytor Dam. Every Kentucky license and trout permit expires at midnight. | NC, GA, TN, VA, KY |
Striped bass in tidal water, state by state
Where a striped bass may be kept this winter, and the size it must be. In the Chesapeake the season ends in December, on the ocean it stays open, and in North Carolina's sounds it never opens.
| Where | November and December | January and February |
|---|---|---|
| Maryland, Bay and tidal rivers | Open to December 5, 1 a day from 19 to 24 in | Closed until May |
| Maryland, ocean and coastal bays | 1 a day from 28 to 31 in | 1 a day from 28 to 31 in |
| Delaware | 1 a day from 28 to 31 in | 1 a day from 28 to 31 in |
| District of Columbia | Open to December 31, 1 a day from 19 to 24 in | Closed until the spring season |
| Virginia, Bay and tidal rivers | Open to December 31, 1 a day from 19 to 24 in | Closed until May 16 |
| Virginia, seaside and ocean to 3 miles | 1 a day from 28 to 31 in | Open to March 31, 1 a day from 28 to 31 in |
| North Carolina, sounds and coastal rivers | Closed | Closed |
| North Carolina, ocean to 3 miles | 1 a day from 28 to 31 in | 1 a day from 28 to 31 in |
| South Carolina, Santee Cooper and coastal rivers | Open, 3 a day | Open, 3 a day, to June 15 |
| Georgia, salt water | 2 a day of at least 22 in | 2 a day of at least 22 in |
Maryland's ocean side, Delaware and North Carolina's ocean water run the same rule all winter, one fish from 28 to 31 inches. Federal water beyond three miles is closed to striped bass everywhere. South Carolina sets different lengths for the Santee system and the coastal rivers, and Georgia allows 2 of at least 27 inches in the Savannah River. Every cell is in that state's section below.
Delayed Harvest trout, state by state
The stocked streams most winter trout fishing here depends on. Each one bars bait and sends every trout back, but the seasons start and end on different dates.
| State | Catch and release | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia | November 1 to May 14 | Five streams, the Chattooga, Smith Creek and the Toccoa among them |
| South Carolina | November 1 to May 14 | The Chattooga, the Chauga and Eastatoe Creek among them |
| North Carolina | October 1 until the first Saturday in June | Every Delayed Harvest water, stocked in November this year |
| Tennessee | From October 1 or November 1 to the end of January or February | The Hiwassee, the Tellico, Paint Creek, the Doe, Buffalo Creek and Big Soddy Creek |
| Virginia | October 1 to May 31 | Every Delayed Harvest water |
| West Virginia | November 1 to May 15 | Five streams, Shavers Fork and the Williams River among them |
| Maryland | October 1 to May 31, or to June 15 on the Casselman, the North Branch Potomac and the Youghiogheny | Town Creek and the South Branch Patapsco among them |
| Kentucky | October 1 to March 31 | The seasonal catch-and-release streams |
Tennessee's Acorn Lake runs from December 1 to March 31, and Gatlinburg's streams turn catch and release on the same dates. Arkansas, Delaware and the District have no Delayed Harvest water; Arkansas's tailwaters keep catch-and-release areas instead. Every row is in that state's section below.
State by state
Season dates, local reports, stocking and the engine outlook for each state, with its sub-regions. Everything above this point is what crosses state lines.
Georgia
6 sub-regionsDelayed Harvest trout carry the mountains from November 1, stocked every month through the winter, and the big lakes turn to spotted bass, striped bass and crappie as they cool. On the coast red drum and speckled trout stay open all winter, and the red drum limit changes on January 1. Below the fall line the lower Flint and Chattahoochee open to striped bass on November 1, and the blackwater rivers fish between fronts.
Read the Georgia report
North Carolina
7 sub-regionsIn the mountains the Delayed Harvest water has been catch and release since October 1 and is stocked in November this year, and the Hatchery Supported streams stay open with bait through February. On the coast speckled trout hold in the creeks, canals and deep bends, and a hard freeze can close them; striped bass may be kept only in the ocean, and cobia close after December 31.
Read the North Carolina report
Virginia
7 sub-regionsThe Bay's fall striped bass season and the black sea bass season both end on December 31, while the coast stays open to striped bass until the end of March, and summer flounder drop to a 16-inch minimum on New Year's Day. A long freeze can kill the fish wintering in the southern creeks, and the Commission has closed speckled trout after one before. Delayed Harvest trout water is catch and release from October 1, and the Department keeps stocking until May.
Read the Virginia report
West Virginia
4 sub-regionsWest Virginia's winter is mostly trout. Delayed Harvest streams turn catch and release on November 1, the fall stocking is over by then, and the stocking trucks are back in January; the catch-and-release and fly-only streams fish whenever the water clears. Walleye and sauger below the Ohio and Kanawha locks carry the rest, and every license and stamp runs out on December 31.
Read the West Virginia report
Tennessee
4 sub-regionsSeveral waters close or change for the season. A wildlife refuge on Chickamauga and two spawning stretches below South Holston Dam close in November, Norris and Watts Bar take a 36-inch striped bass minimum from November 1, Gatlinburg's streams turn catch and release in December, and the walleye runs carry gear limits from January 1. Most Delayed Harvest seasons end with February, and last winter TWRA started its winter trout program in late November.
Read the Tennessee report
South Carolina
7 sub-regionsStriped bass feed hard in Santee Cooper and the Savannah River lakes, crappie stay on brush in Marion and the border lakes, and on the coast the water clears until redfish school on the flats at low tide. Red drum are under the new limit of one a person, gigging closes for the season on December 1, and the Delayed Harvest streams turn catch and release on November 1, with the Lower Saluda stocked from December.
Read the South Carolina report
Maryland
6 sub-regionsRockfish may be kept in the Bay and its tidal rivers only until December 5, and after that the Bay winter belongs to catfish and yellow perch in the tidal rivers, tautog off Ocean City and, on the ocean side, striped bass of 28 to 31 inches. Western Maryland's Delayed Harvest water is catch and release from October 1, the spring trout stocking starts in February in the milder counties, and Deep Creek Lake gives walleye through the ice in a cold year.
Read the Maryland report
Kentucky
5 sub-regionsThe license year ends with February, so every annual license and trout permit runs out inside this quarter, whenever it was bought, and a new one is needed from March 1. The border agreements with six neighbors are back for this license year, the October-to-March trout waters stay catch and release until spring, and prices now move with inflation every two years.
Read the Kentucky report
Delaware
2 sub-regionsTautog are open all winter on the Indian River Inlet rock and the reef sites, striped bass of 28 to 31 inches pass the beaches early in the season, and yellow perch run up the tidal streams at the end of February. Every license expires on December 31, and the summer flounder minimum drops to 16 inches on January 1. In a cold winter the ponds and the back bays freeze, and the shops go weeks without seeing a fish.
Read the Delaware report
District of Columbia
1 sub-regionThe striped bass season ends on December 31, and so does every license, whenever it was bought. After New Year nothing in the District's rules changes until March 1, when the 15-inch bass minimum returns.
Read the District of Columbia report
Arkansas
5 sub-regionsNothing changes on New Year's Day: Arkansas now sets its fishing rules each July 1, and this year's made the trout limits on the four big tailwaters lasting, two fish a day and mostly small ones. The top of the White below Bull Shoals Dam is shut from November 1 to January 31 for the brown trout spawn. Licenses run a year from purchase, and the Commission's own fishing report comes every two weeks from December.
Read the Arkansas report
The weather and the water from November to February, most years
This part does not change from year to year, which is why it is worth reading before the forecast rather than after it.
- The weather
- Winter here is a contest between Arctic air pouring southeast behind cold fronts and mild, damp air coming back from the Gulf and the Atlantic. A front comes through every few days: rain, then a gusty northwest wind, then clear, cold, still mornings, with the mountains and the northern half of the region taking the hardest freezes and the Carolina and Georgia coast often warm again within days. Storms that form off the Carolinas bring spells of northeast wind, and snow and ice reach the Piedmont in some winters and the mountains in most.
- The water
- Shallow water swings with the weather. Marsh creeks, tidal flats and small ponds chill fast behind a front and warm on the still afternoons after it, while the big reservoirs and the deep channels cool slowly and steadily through the quarter. The reservoirs sit at winter pool, the mountain streams run low and clear between rains and high and cold after them, and the tailwaters below deep dams change temperature far less than the air does. On the coast a hard north wind pushes water out of the sounds and leaves the lowest tides of the season.
- How the quarter breaks
- It opens on the end of the fall run, with striped bass and bluefish moving south along the beaches, flounder leaving the sounds for the ocean, and the reservoirs turning over. Through December and January the fish settle into their wintering water, deep holes in the rivers, creek channels in the lakes and the mildest corners of the marsh, and a severe cold snap can stun speckled trout in the shallow sounds. It closes with the first spawning runs starting from the south: walleye and yellow perch up the rivers, and the earliest shad pushing toward the fall line.
The moon from November to February
| Month | New moon | Full moon |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Mon, Nov 9 | Tue, Nov 24 |
| December 2026 | Tue, Dec 8 | Wed, Dec 23 |
| January 2027 | Thu, Jan 7 | Fri, Jan 22 |
| February 2027 | Sat, Feb 6 | Sat, Feb 20 |
The U.S. Naval Observatory's dates, on local time.
What our engine expects on the lakes, the rivers and the coast
Everything above this point either happened or happens every winter. This part is a forecast for the two weeks from the date stamped below, scored by the same engine that runs the rest of this site: water temperature, wind, tides or river flow, rain, pressure, cloud, air temperature, UV, humidity and solunar, weighted by species and by season.
A two-week stretch of Southeast winter is a run of cold fronts: rain, then a day or two of northwest wind, then clear, still mornings and a warming spell before the next one. The big reservoirs and the tailwaters below deep dams hardly notice, while the marsh creeks and the small ponds chill fast and warm fast. Our engine sees a front coming through its wind, pressure and rain. It scores every day of the two weeks on the river flow measured the day the outlook was generated, so it cannot see a river rise after rain, and it reads predicted tides, so it cannot see the low water a hard north wind leaves in the sounds. Good hours counts the hours at or above a B-plus, which says how long a day holds, and the water temperature column says whether a thermometer measured the figure or a model produced it.
This is a weather forecast, so it covers two weeks and not the season, and the further out a date sits the less it is worth. The engine knows nothing about a cold-stun closure, a closed ramp, a dam release changed at short notice or ice on a pond, so check the agency before you go. We publish a grade, not a promise.
Engine outlook generated November 3, 2026, covering 49 waters.
What this report does not cover
- This is a seasonal guide, not a continuously updated field report. Its engine outlook covers only the dated two-week window. A water temperature quoted in October would be wrong by December, so for current conditions use the publishers named in each state section.
- Federal water beyond three miles runs on its own rules, for striped bass, black sea bass, cobia and the offshore species, and they can change during the winter. This edition prints the state rules published by October 19; check NOAA Fisheries before a trip offshore.
- A cold stun is not a closure until a state says so. North Carolina closed speckled trout after last winter's stuns and Virginia closed them in the spring, each by its own rule, so the agency's page on the day is the only answer.
- License prices are printed where the agency publishes them plainly, and Tennessee's are due to rise if a legislative committee approves the new fees; check the price when you buy.
Waters we are not grading in this outlook
Some waters that would otherwise appear in the outlook are left out of it, because the nearest water-temperature station sits on a different water, and water temperature is between a fifth and a third of the score. The ones held back are listed below, each with the station it was offered instead.
- Potomac River at Little Falls (DC): nearest station is DEAD RUN AT WHANN AVENUE NEAR MCLEAN, VA
- Indian River Inlet (DE): nearest station is MASSEY DITCH AT MASSEY LANDING, DE
- St. Simons Sound (GA): nearest station is Offshore Fernandina Beach
- Currituck Sound (NC): nearest station is CONVEYANCE CHAN AT RAMSGATE LN NR GREAT BRIDGE, VA
- James River at Hopewell (VA): nearest station is APPOMATTOX RIVER AT MATOACA, VA
- South Fork Shenandoah River at Front Royal (VA): nearest station is N F SHENANDOAH RIVER NEAR STRASBURG, VA
- Kanawha River at Charleston (WV): nearest station is ELK RIVER AT CHARLESTON, WV