Can you keep a spotted seatrout (speckled trout) in North Carolina?

A slot means the fish must fall between those two numbers. Shorter than 14 inches goes back, and so does longer than 20.

A slot of 14 to 20 inches, with one fish greater than 26 inches allowed inside the three-fish limit. Every fish kept must be reported at deq.nc.gov/report-my-fish since December 1, 2025.

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.
• 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.