North Carolina Best Fishing Times Today

The idea behind these North Carolina times goes back to John Alden Knight’s solunar tables of 1926. A major period runs about 2 hours around the moment the moon crosses overhead or passes underfoot, and a minor period about 1 hour around moonrise or moonset. Treat them as a traditional guide rather than a promise; on North Carolina water a cold front or muddy runoff matters more.

Because the moon runs about 50 minutes later every day, the North Carolina periods drift through the week; the cards make it easy to spot a day when one meets sunrise or sunset.

Traditional tables give their best ratings to days near a new or full moon, so each North Carolina card also carries the phase and how much of the moon is lit.

All 100 counties keep Eastern time. Clock sunrise is not the same across North Carolina: on June 21 it ranges from 5:47 a.m. in Currituck County to 6:23 a.m. in Cherokee County, 36 minutes apart.

Around Raleigh daylight lasts 14 hours 35 minutes on the June solstice and 9 hours 44 minutes on the December solstice, so the same solunar period can fall in daylight in summer and in the dark in winter.