I'll be vacationing in Nags head NC in about 6 weeks. While I am there, i noticed I am not very far from Lake Mattamuskeet over on the mainland. Does anyone have any familiarity with that area? In particular, I'd like to look for redfin pickerels.

Dean

Those pocosin lakes are neat. I've been to Lake Phelps and Lake Mattamuskeet, but didn't do any fishing. I can't imagine redfins being absent, it looks like a pickerel paradise.

I used to frequent that area on a regular basis to observe both fish and reptiles..It is an amazing place, however, the park rangers and local authorities are extremely strict about enforcing any wildlife violations due to the presence of a few protected species of reptiles...
Just make sure you have your fishing license and dont have anything in the car that looks like in can be used to capture snakes.
That being said... The drainage channels around the lake are usually a really interesting place to sample.. I have netted small bowfin, small longnose gar, some fundulus and a few esox as well.

The western side of the lake seems to be the best location for me...Also if you drive North on 94 to the bridge that crosses the intercoastal waterway, it will be worth the travel time..one more stop just north of the intercoastal waterway there is a bridge that crosses the alligator river with a small semi flooeded pull off... it offers a potential dipnet site along the river and under the bridge..good luck

oh and by the way, be ready for an onslaught of mosquitoes.

I used to frequent that area on a regular basis to observe both fish and reptiles..It is an amazing place, however, the park rangers and local authorities are extremely strict about enforcing any wildlife violations due to the presence of a few protected species of reptiles...
Just make sure you have your fishing license and dont have anything in the car that looks like in can be used to capture snakes.
That being said... The drainage channels around the lake are usually a really interesting place to sample.. I have netted small bowfin, small longnose gar, some fundulus and a few esox as well.

The western side of the lake seems to be the best location for me...Also if you drive North on 94 to the bridge that crosses the intercoastal waterway, it will be worth the travel time..one more stop just north of the intercoastal waterway there is a bridge that crosses the alligator river with a small semi flooeded pull off... it offers a potential dipnet site along the river and under the bridge..good luck

oh and by the way, be ready for an onslaught of mosquitoes.

Thanks for the tips! Umm, did you say snakes?

Gators, too. I saw this guy a few miles away in Alligator River NWR.

snakes indeed...you might very well run across several venomous snakes in that area...copperheads, pygmy and canebrake rattlesnakes and the ever popular cottonmouth... of course the cottonmouth is the most likely to encounter, although you shouldnt have any problems, just look where you are stepping near the waters edge as they like to bask in close proximity to water.