Every North Carolina State Fishing Record

Articles on Premier Angler may contain affiliate links. Please see our Affiliate Disclosure for more information.

While North Carolina may not be the largest state or have the most lakes — Ohio, for example has over 50,000 lakes and ponds — the Tar Heel State offers some of the best freshwater fishing destinations on the east coast.

From world-class fisheries like Lake Norman to highly-regarded regional spots like Lake Gaston, Kerr Lake, and Lake Wylie, there are plenty of opportunities for anglers in North Carolina to pull impressive, trophy-sized fish.

In 2020, the state has also become a hotbed for catfish. In early July, the state record blue catfish was broken on Lake Gaston. Roughly two weeks later, North Carolina also saw a new state record flathead catfish pulled from Neuse River.

Earlier in the year, 7-year-old Amarion Stockton hauled in a whooper four-pound crappie. While not a state record, it shows that North Carolina is still producing more than just massive bass and catfish.

While the state has seen numerous record changes in recent years — including two blue catfish records in 18 hours back in late 2015 — several have withstood the test of time. The longest-standing current North Carolina state record is the smallmouth bass — a 10 pound, 2 oz whopper caught by Archie Lampkin on the Hiwassee Reservoir in 1951!

List of Every North Carolina State Fishing Record

Species	Weight	Location	Date	Angler	Bait Used
warmouth	1 lb 13 oz	Richmond Co. McLeods Pond	1976-05-07	Emma Sears	Minnow
rock bass	1 lb 14 oz	Deep River, Carbonton	1998-04-29	Robert W. Lytton	Crappie Jig
flier	1 lb 5 oz	Private pond	1990-03-17	Douglas N. McCall	Cricket
pumpkinseed	1 lb 6 oz	Trent River	2003-05-21	John Koonce	Eel
green sunfish	1 lb, 15 oz	Private pond	2014-07-12	Victoria Navaroli	Worm
Smallmouth Bass	10 lbs 2 oz	Hiwassee Reservoir	1951-06-01	Archie Lampkin	Unknown
northern pike	11 lbs 13 oz	Lake James	1978-08-26	Keith Gilliam	Storm Wiggle Wart
blue catfish	121 lbs 9 oz	Lake Gaston	2020-07-06	Joey Baird	Unknown
white catfish	13 lbs	Lake James	1990-05-21	Jerry Wayne Bentley	Night crawler
walleye	13 lbs 8 oz	Lake Chatuge (Shooting Cr.)	1986-08-16	Lamar L. Cofer	Old faithful spoon
largemouth bass	15 lbs 14 oz	Farm Pond, Union County	1991-03-29	William H. Wofford	Crankbait
bowfin	17 lbs 15 oz	Black River	1997-06-21	Gregory A. Demery, Sr.	Cut bait bream
bodie bass (hybrid striped bass)	17 lbs 7oz	Lake Chatuge	1996-03-15	Michael R. Hogsed	Rebel Jointed Plug
redbreast	2 lb 1oz	Lumber River	2019-06-10	Alphonso Jackson	Cricket
Roanoke bass	2 lbs 11oz	Nash County Fishing Creek	1994-04-27	Richard Elijah Evans	Spinner bait
white perch	2 lbs 15 oz	Falls of the Neuse Reservoir	2001-12-16	Bob G. Williams, Jr	Strata Spoon
redfin pickerel	2 lbs 4 oz	Gallberry Swamp	1997-06-23	Edward C. Davis	Minnow
yellow perch	2 lbs 9 oz	Indiantown Creek	1990-02-08	Evelyn G. Ethridge	Minnow
rainbow trout	20 lbs 3 oz	Horsepasture River, Jackson Co.	2006-01-28	Leah Johnson	Rapala
channel catfish	23 lbs 4 oz	City Lake in Rocky Mount	1970-09-01	E.J. Bowden	Shrimp
freshwater drum	23 lbs 8oz	Kerr Reservoir	2013-03-20	Jonathan Wilkerson	plastic fluke
brown trout	24 lbs 10 oz	Nantahala River	1998-04-17	Robert Lee Dyer	#11 Rapala
longnose gar	25 lbs	Intracoastal Waterway near Coinjock	2009-01-30	Kelly WIlliams	tube jig
white crappie	3 lbs 15 oz	private lake in Wake County	2013-04-01	Joey Boretti	Storm WildEye® Swim Shad lure
tiger muskellunge	33 lbs 8 oz	Lake James	1988-04-03	Gary Dean Nanney	Buzzbait
hickory shad	4 lbs 1 oz	Pitchkettle Creek	2004-02-22	Trey Maroules	Spoon
redear (shellcracker)	4 lbs 15 oz	Edgecombe County	2008-05-19	Travis Jackson	worm
black crappie	4 lbs 15 oz	Asheboro City Lake #4	1980-04-27	Dean Dixon	Minnow
brown bullhead	4 pounds	Greenfield Lake, New Hanover County	2016-03-14	Mitchell McConnell	Cut bait
kokanee salmon	4 pounds, 1 ounce	Nantahala Lake	2014-06-11	Jeffery Todd Smith	Dodgers and flashers as lures
muskellunge	41 lbs 8 oz	Lake Adger	2001-01-23	Richard W. Dodd	Big Mack
carp	48 lbs	Mecklenburg Co. pond	1986-03-11	William Houston, Jr.	Unknown
bluegill	4lbs 5 oz	Henderson County	1967-07-27	Danny Case	Catalpa worm
white bass	5 lbs 14 oz	Kerr Reservoir	1986-03-15	Jim King	Bucktail
sauger	5 lbs 15 oz	Norman Lake	1971-07-25	David Shook	Topwater Rapala
spotted bass	6 lbs 5 oz	Lake Norman	2003-12-26	Eric M. Weir	Zoom Finesse Worm
striped bass	66 lbs	Hiwassee Reservoir	2012-03-31	Tyler Shields	black zoom trick worm
grass carp	68 lbs 12 oz	Summerlins Pond, Leland	1998-06-08	David W. Stowell	Rebel Pop R
American shad	7 lbs 15 oz	Tar River	1974-04-10	R.S. Proctor	Shad dart
brook trout	7 lbs 7 oz	Raven Fork River	1980-05-15	G.L. Marshall, Jr.	Rooster tail
Spotted sunfish	7.7 oz	Big Swamp, Robeson County	2016-06-25	Elijah Crabtree	Green beetle spin
flathead catfish	78.8 lbs	Neuse River	2020-07-19	Tyler Barnes	Unknown
chain pickerel	8 lbs	Gaston Reservoir	1968-02-13	John H. Leonard	Minnow
smallmouth buffalo	88 lbs	Lake Wylie	1993-11-14	Tony Crawford	Pack bait

Premier Angler aims to keep all state records up to date. We check with state resource departments several times throughout the year for any updates. If you notice any errors or inaccuracies, however, please let us know in the comments below and we will make the appropriate corrections.