Red drum (channel bass, puppy drum) size limit in North Carolina

A slot means the fish must fall between those two numbers. Shorter than 18 inches goes back, and so does longer than 27.

A true slot: nothing under 18 inches and nothing over 27 may be kept. DMF also makes it unlawful to gig, spear or gaff red drum. Since December 1, 2025 every red drum kept must be reported at deq.nc.gov/report-my-fish.

NC DMF source page

What we left out on purpose

• Cobia and the whole snapper, grouper, porgy, triggerfish, jack, tilefish, grunt, spadefish, wrasse and sea bass complex are set by DMF proclamation rather than by this table. Only cobia is carried here, and it is carried as unsettled; the complex is left out entirely rather than reproduced in part.
• Tuna (bluefin, bigeye and yellowfin) and the billfish group (blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish) are left out. DMF's own footnote for these species reads 'For seasons, bag limits, size limits or closures... contact NMFS Highly Migratory Species Division' — the same defer-to-federal marker as sharks and the snapper/grouper complex — and the table itself is incomplete for tuna (a size for bigeye and yellowfin, a bag for yellowfin only, nothing at all for bluefin). Wahoo, dolphin and spiny dogfish do not carry that marker and are published normally.
• The table prints the spotted seatrout allowance as "1 greater than 26' TL" — a foot mark where an inch mark belongs. It is read here as 26 inches, which is what every other figure in the row implies, but the typo is in the agency source.
• Bluefish shows the clearest gap between table and footnote: 5 a day in the row, 3 a day for private anglers in footnote (M). The 3 is published here. Anyone fishing from a charter or head boat gets the 5.
• American shad, hickory shad and sharks are set by proclamation and are not carried. Tarpon, alewife and blueback herring are unlawful to possess and are left out rather than listed as a zero.
• Shellfish and crustaceans — blue crab, stone crab, spiny lobster, hard clam, oyster, bay scallop, conch, mussels, shrimp — are a second table with their own measurements and closures. None of it is carried here; this silo is finfish.
• The table itself carries the disclaimer that it "IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES AND HAS NO LEGAL FORCE OR EFFECT" and that rules are subject to change. The binding text is the rule and the current proclamation.