North Carolina Piers

North Carolina Fishing Piers

• In 1996, there were 32 public fishing piers in North Carolina.
• In 2001, there were 25 public fishing piers in North Carolina.
• In 2009, there are only 20 piers, only 19 of which are open to anglers.
• The northernmost pier is the Avalon Pier in Kill Devil Hills.
• The southernmost pier is Sunset Pier, just east of Calabash.
• Kure Beach Pier is the oldest, built in 1923.
• As of 2009, there is 15,397 feet of pier access in North Carolina.
• Every pier in North Carolina carries the Blanket Saltwater Fishing License.

Northern Outer Banks Piers

Avalon Fishing Pier
The Avalon Fishing Pier in the heart of Kill Devil Hills was first built in the 1950s on what is now known as the "Beach Road," which is the road that runs parallel to Highway 158, the main route on and off the Outer Banks. The pier is 705 feet long and features a snack bar and tackle shop with bait and rentals, as well as a gift shop with plenty of souvenirs and t-Shirts. The Avalon Pier closes during winter months but has lights for 24-hour fun during the peak season.

Nags Head Pier
One of the Outer Banks' most popular piers, the Nags Head Pier, is located just a few miles south of the Avalon Pier on the Beach Road. Built in 1958, it is slightly longer at 750 feet long, and offers plenty of good fishing. The pier also features a tackle shop with bait and gifts. It is open seasonally from spring to fall and offers well-lit night fishing.

What truly sets the Nags Head Pier apart is that it has an on-premise restaurant. Well-loved by locals for some of the best views and eats on the Outer Banks, the restaurant features classic coastal Carolina fare. For a real treat, spend the day fishing on the pier and then head to the restaurant with your catch - the pier will cook and serve your fresh catch for you with French fries, hush puppies and coleslaw, all for a modest price ($6.95 - $8.95.)

Jennette's Pier
Not far down the Beach Road lies Jennette's Pier in South Nags Head. The oldest on the Outer Banks and originally built by Walton Jennette in 1939, this historic ocean landmark has weathered dozens of hurricanes and nor'easters over the past six decades.

The latest major storm to hit the Outer Banks, Hurricane Isabel, rolled through in September of 2003, taking 540 feet of pier with it. Plans are tentatively in place to begin reconstruction to make it stronger and more tolerant of hurricane force winds.

In the meantime, visitors can seasonally enjoy the pier, the bait shop and the newly added features of the pier house. In partnership with the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island, Jennette's Pier has added an "Ocean Classroom" and the all-new "Giants of the Sea" exhibit, the state's largest collection of life-sized trophy fish mounts.

Outer Banks Fishing Pier
The southernmost fishing pier located in the northern Outer Banks lies in the less populated South Nags Head area on the Beach Road. The 650-foot Outer Banks Fishing Pier is open 24 hours a day and features a tackle shop with bait and equipment rentals. The pier is well known for its family friendly atmosphere and has a nice grill.

With a long history, owner/founder Garry Oliver, along with his staff of recreational fishing professionals, has been helping anglers make the most of their pier fishing experience for over 40 years.

The pier has a well-stocked tackle shop, a separate 300-foot Sound Fishing and Crabbing Pier, and a 600-foot Outer Banks Ocean Pier. The Outer Banks Pier also offers rental boats and charter boats for anglers interested in sound fishing. Open and lighted 24 hours a day, the pier also features an oceanfront grill that is open for breakfast and lunch, as well as video games for the kids.

Southern Outer Banks Fishing Piers

Hatteras Island Fishing Pier
Anglers who drive over the Bonner Bridge to the southern Outer Banks area of Hatteras Island have plenty of pier fishing options as well, beginning with Rodanthe's Hatteras Island Fishing Pier, also called the Rodanthe Pier.

The 850-foot Rodanthe Pier is an excellent stop for any curious Outer Banks traveler. The pier features a snack bar with pool tables and a tackle shop with bait and equipment rentals. The pier is open seasonally from April to December, from 6:00 a.m. through midnight, and occasionally during the off-season on weekends as weather permits. Anglers have been known to land Black Bass, Sea Bass, Red Drum, Tarpon, King Mackerel, Bluefish and Cobia from the end of the pier, depending on the time of year.

The pier is also in its own right an East Coast landmark. Having survived a number of hurricanes and requiring only minor to moderate repairs, the pier was also featured in the 2008 Richard Gere and Diane Lane movie, "Night in Rodanthe," which was based on the book by North Carolina author Nicholas Sparks. In the scene where the pier is featured, the main characters and a town full of extras celebrate well into the night after surviving a hurricane, a very appropriate moment considering the pier's long history of surviving storms.

Avon Pier
About 17 miles south, located in the heart of Avon, lies the Avon Pier. This 600-foot pier is known for some of the best Red Drum fishing in the world. In fact, the World All-Tackle Record for Red Drum weighing in at 94 pounds, 2 ounces, was caught about 200 yards from the pier in 1984. There is a small tackle and gift store located at the pier, as well as an 18-hole natural grass putting green and a restaurant just a few feet away.

The pier is open seasonally from 5:00 a.m. until midnight and is closed during the winter months.

Cape Hatteras Pier
The southernmost pier on Hatteras Island is the Cape Hatteras Pier in Frisco, also called the Frisco Pier. Easily distinguished by its bright yellow pier house, the pier has been featured in a number of local artworks.

Offering great access to Hatteras Island's south-facing beaches, the 600-foot pier is well known for its world-class fishing. The Cape Hatteras Pier is a particularly popular destination for King Mackerel anglers. The Frisco Pier is open seasonally from the week prior to Easter until December 1, from 6:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m., and features a snack shop and tackle shop with live bait and gear rentals.

Crystal Coast Fishing Piers

With the recent demise of the Triple S Pier and the Sportsman's Pier, the Bogue Inlet Pier is Emerald Isle's last fishing pier in existence. The pier is well-lit for night fishing and includes cleaning stations and a tackle shop with bait. At 1,000 feet long, the Bogue Inlet Pier is a great destination for King Mackerel anglers. Emerald Isle, in an effort to rescue its last remaining pier, is currently trying to save the pier from development.

Folks can take a free stroll on the pier and enjoy the elevated observation deck located at the end of the pier. Visitors will find a variety of beach activities, campgrounds and motels located right next to the pier. There is also a bait and tackle shop with snacks and beach supplies. In addition, the locally famous Bushwacker's Restaurant is adjacent to the pier. The pier is open from 6:00 a.m. to midnight and is closed during the winter months.

Visitors to nearby Atlantic Beach can head to the Oceana Pier on Fort Macon Road. The 800-foot Oceana Pier is unique in that it is a pier and a family resort in one, with a motel and huge oceanfront playground for the kids. Also located at Oceana is a private beach where the pier's "beach boys" will set up the free umbrellas, chairs and lounges. Guests can also enjoy the private pool, the oceanfront patio, or a free tropical breakfast. For anglers who want an all-inclusive vacation that revolves around fishing, the Oceana Pier is a very good fit. The pier is open seasonally from spring to fall, and offers discounted rates in the off-season months.

Topsail Island Piers

Visitors to Topsail Island have plenty of pier fishing options, starting with the Surf City Ocean Pier, located on Shore Drive in Surf City. Ideal for King Mackerel anglers, the 937-foot pier is Topsail Island's first ocean pier, originally built in 1948. It has been owned and operated by the Lore family since 1973, and though it has weathered many storms, Hurricane Fran destroyed it in 1996.

It was totally rebuilt and reopened in August of 1997, looking much as it does today. The Surf City Pier offers a large assortment of bait and other fishing gear in their fully stocked tackle shop, a game room, a variety of souvenirs, fresh ground burgers from the grill and a screened-in dining area.

The Surf City Pier also has a unique 40-foot octagon at the end, as well as two large fish cleaning stations with fresh running water. It also hosts several pier fishing competitions annually, including a children's fishing contest. Hours of operation vary seasonally.

On Ocean Road in Topsail Beach, anglers and their families can enjoy the Jolly Rodger Pier. More than just an 850-foot pier, the Jolly Rodger is a veritable complex filled with fun family activities for a vacation. This complex includes a motel, convenience store, bait shop and a small restaurant, so everything you will need to enjoy a few days of fishing is in one convenient location. It is also adjacent to some of Topsail Island's finest beaches. The pier is open seasonally, Sunday to Thursday from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and is open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday.

North Topsail Beach is home to the Seaview Fishing Pier on Fishing Pier Lane. At over 1,000 feet, Seaview Pier is one of the longest in the state of North Carolina. Like other piers that serve the southern beaches, this pier is exceptionally good for King Mackerel fishing.

Anglers can enjoy the well-stocked bait and tackle shop, and dine in the on-premise restaurant. Locals attest that Seaview Pier has the best breakfast, lunch and dinner on Topsail Island, and they offer a "you catch 'em and clean 'em, we will cook 'em" service at the restaurant for a modest price, as well as hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers and their famous chili.

The pier also features on-site beach access, parking available for 150 cars, and restrooms that are available 24 hours a day. The pier is seasonal and is open from March through November. Hours of operation may vary.

New Hanover Beaches Fishing Piers

Visitors to Wrightsville Beach can head over to Salisbury Street and check out the Johnnie Mercer Pier. A family-owned pier since 1969, Johnnie Mercer's Pier is 945 feet long and a shining example of pure brute strength. The pier is the first concrete pier in NC built to withstand sustained 200 mph hurricane winds, all at a height of 25 feet.

Unfortunately, in 1996, the wrath of Hurricanes Bertha and Fran destroyed the old pier, which originally dated back to the 1930s. Rebuilding began in 1999, and the pier now features a restaurant and arcade with both indoor and outdoor seating, and is open seasonally from spring to fall.

In Carolina Beach, a small but popular coastal vacation town, the Carolina Beach Pier can be found on Canal Drive. Owned and operated by the Phelps family for decades, the 700-foot long Carolina Beach Pier features a grill, snack bar, game room and a nice lounge with full ABC permits. The pier also offers a fish cleaning station with a sink and a tackle shop with rentals and bait.

Kure Beach also has its own pier, the Kure Beach Pier on Avenue K. This pier is unique, as it is the oldest fishing pier on the Atlantic Coast. The owner's grandfather, L.C. Kure, first built the pier in 1923. His dream, with his son's help, was to build an entertainment complex for the citizens of Wilmington to visit. Although many ideas were tried, including a pavilion, bars, bathhouse and cottages, the pier was the last idea built and the only to remain.

The first pier was 120 feet long and 22 feet wide. Pine poles were cut from the forest along the river and used as pilings. At this time, very little was known about sea worms or other marine borers, and as a result, the first pier only lasted through the first year of its existence.

The pier was then rebuilt in 1924. This time it was built 240 feet long and 32 feet wide. Cement pilings were used that were built by L. C. Kure. He developed a new method of pouring concrete, which is today known as reinforced concrete. The forms were built in the parking lot in front of the pier and the pilings were poured on site. They were then carried out to the pier by a system of rail cars and practically everything was done by hand. However, these pilings lasted, and some were still in use in 1954 when Hurricane Hazel washed the pier away.

The pier continued to weather a number of storms until 1996, when it was hit by two hurricanes: Bertha in July, which took the entire pier, and Fran in September, which caused some damage to the tackle shop. In rebuilding the pier, the owners raised the pier's elevation to 26 feet above sea level and went back to a 3-piling pier. These ideas were tested in 1998 with Hurricane Bonnie, in which the pier survived the small Class 3 storm rather well. The pier is open each year from April 1 to November 30.

Brunswick Beaches Fishing Piers

Despite its small size, Oak Island boasts two fishing piers. Head over to Beach Drive on the quaint Oak Island, and you will discover the Ocean Crest Pier. The Ocean Crest Pier has always been appreciated by anglers and was voted best in NC in 2005 by "Fisherman's Post." The pier is 1,000 feet long and is a great spot for shore bound King Mackerel anglers, with a shaded "T" at the pier's end and community live wells.

The Ocean Crest Pier also has the distinction of being the last fully operational privately owned fishing pier on Oak Island. It is also one of less than a dozen or so piers in North Carolina in operation at all under private ownership. The Ocean Crest Pier is open seasonally.

The second pier on Oak Island, the Yaupon Beach Fishing Pier, is located on Ocean Drive. This pier was originally built in 1955, rebuilt in 1972 and again in 1992. At 27 feet above sea level, the Yaupon Beach Pier is the tallest in North Carolina. The pier also boasts the record weighing catch for any pier in the state, a 1,150-pound state record Tiger Shark by Walter Maxwell in 1966. In fact, the pier is noted for its excellent saltwater fishing. In the year 2007, over 250 King Mackerel were landed at this pier. The pier is also considered an excellent pier for catching Trout and Flounder.

Fishing starts around April 1 with large Bluefish followed by Whiting, Spanish Mackerel, Trout and Flounder. King Mackerel come in after that, and other species also caught are Cobia, Whiting (Virginia Mullet), Pompano, Spots, Sharks, Tarpon, Amberjack, Jack Crevalle, Sheepshead, Black Drum, Red Drum, Croaker, Grey Trout, Ladyfish, Spadefish, and Pinfish. Meant for the avid anglers, the pier also features an on-site bait shop.

Vacationers at Holden Beach can enjoy the Holden Beach Pier, located on Ocean Boulevard. Set in tranquil southern Brunswick County, the Holden Beach Pier is an excellent destination for families and anglers on a budget, as it has an on-premise campground that is open seasonally. Die-hard anglers love waking up, stepping out of their tent and strolling over to the pier for some early morning fishing. The pier also features a grill and snack bar, a gift shop and live bait. Hours of operation vary seasonally.

The Ocean Isle Beach Pier, located on Seashell Lane in Ocean Isle Beach, is another great retreat for anglers and their families. The pier features a well-stocked tackle shop with gear rentals, as well as a game room for the kids and a small grill that serves a good breakfast and a great hamburger.

The pier is also one of the oldest fishing piers along the North Carolina coast. Construction of the Ocean Isle Beach Pier began in 1956 by Odell and Virginia Williamson, and was completed in 1957. The Williamson's have been a vital part of the pier's success through the years. The pier is open seasonally.

The southernmost pier in North Carolina is the Sunset Beach Fishing Pier, located on Main Street in the small vacation island community of Sunset Beach. A great destination for King Mackerel fishermen, the Sunset Beach Pier is 900 feet long and has great amenities including multiple cleaning sinks, a bait shop and rod rentals. The pier also features a grill, game room and an ATM. The pier is an excellent choice for elderly or disabled anglers as well, as free electric scooters are provided for those who need them. Closed during the winter months, the pier is a perfect sightseeing excursion for families visiting this coastal town.

Lost Piers

It might seem that North Carolina has more than its fair share of fishing piers up and down the beach, serving all areas of the hundreds of miles of North Carolina coastline. Unfortunately, however, the number of piers on North Carolina's coast has dropped from 32 piers in 1996 to just 20 in 2009. Storms have played a huge role in their disappearance, but there are several sad stories of piers that stood for decades that were lost to additional development of beach communities.

The Long Beach Pier in Oak Island closed permanently on New Year's Eve of 2005. The pier, bait and tackle shop, bar and motel nearby were subsequently torn down in February. At the time, the pier was the latest in a string of nine total piers that were taken down over the previous 10 years.

Built in 1955, the Long Beach Pier has withstood saltwater corrosion, hurricane damage and the high cost of insurance. Two things led to its end: the skyrocketing price of real estate and a divorce. Owner Tommy Thomes, a developer who has built homes on Oak Island for decades, would have preferred to keep the pier open a few more years, but a settlement with his former wife meant he had to divide his assets. Once the structures were taken down, the land was divided into 10 lots. In the white-hot real estate market on Oak Island, each sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Similar math has led other pier owners to make the same decision in recent years. In the Bogue Banks, Kinston entrepreneur Gerald Barfield was first seen as the savior of the historic Iron Steamer fishing pier, which was abandoned after being damaged by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. In 2002, Barfield bought the pier and rebuilt it. But, early in 2004, he realized the profits just didn't add up, and the pier was torn down, later replaced by 10 single-family homes built on the site.

Several hundred feet of the landmark Kitty Hawk Pier were torn away by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Sterling Webster, one of a group of owners, said insurance on the pier would have been as much as $100,000 a year, roughly the same as its profits. The pier was sold and a 180-room Hilton Garden Inn took its place.

In 2006, the Sportsman Pier faced a similar fate and was torn down on November 1. The Emerald Isle Pier, Triple S Pier, and New River Inlet Pier all faced similar fates.

Trying to preserve North Carolina's remaining 20 fishing piers is The North Carolina Fishing Pier Society (NCFPS.) The NCFPS is an organization that is dedicated to preserving and enjoying one of North Carolina's most treasured landmarks, the fishing pier.

The NCFPS is a very active non-profit organization with a mission to promote the fun and excitement of pier fishing, and to encourage people to go and take their families and have the time of their lives, in hopes that this movement might reverse the trend of tearing down piers to build new residential developments.

Currently, the NCFPS is undergoing efforts to save the Yaupon Beach Fishing Pier in Oak Island. The Town of Oak Island is trying to secure the Yaupon Pier and ensure that it will be there for future generations to enjoy. The North Carolina Public Access Foundation is assisting the mission by helping to raise money to purchase the pier, and hosted a surf fishing tournament on August 23, 2008 to raise funds. The pier re-opened in May of 2009, and the fight to preserve the pier continues to this day.

Despite the trend of removing piers to make room for more profitable development projects, and damage done by past and future storms, North Carolina will always be home to a number of fishing piers that visitors and locals can enjoy for generations. With low costs for a day's worth of fishing (almost all of North Carolina's piers charge less than $10.00 for an entire day of use,) and unbeatable Atlantic views, the fishing piers of the North Carolina coast are a landmark that everyone in the family can enjoy. Nothing beats the experience of a relaxing day on a North Carolina pier.