The Wrightsville Beach, NC marine forecast covers live wind speed and gusts, tide predictions, wave conditions, and major and minor solunar feeding times, updated continuously from NOAA and Open-Meteo. The strongest fishing windows usually line up with the moving tide and the solunar periods shown below — check current conditions before you head out.
By Steve Wilson, lifelong angler & founder of My Marine Forecast
Last updated: Aug 1, 2026, 8:01 AM
On Saturday, August 1, Wrightsville Beach, NC sees high tide at 9:47 AM (4.0 ft) and 10:09 PM (4.5 ft), low tide at 3:48 AM (0.1 ft) and 3:56 PM (0.3 ft). Winds 8–15 mph from the SE gusting to 23 mph. Air temperatures 78–87°F. Current water temperature is about 82°F. The strongest fishing windows line up with the moving water around each tide change, roughly an hour on either side.
Today's Tides · Wrightsville Beach (Station 8658163)
| Low tide | 3:48 AM | 0.1 ft |
| High tide | 9:47 AM | 4.0 ft |
| Low tide | 3:56 PM | 0.3 ft |
| High tide | 10:09 PM | 4.5 ft |
Wind
8–15 mph SE
Gusts
23 mph
Air Temp
78–87°F
Water Temp
82°F
Tides from NOAA Station 8658163 · wind & temperature from Open-Meteo. Open the live forecast for hourly charts and the 7-day outlook.
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Wrightsville Beach is Wilmington's barrier island community and one of North Carolina's most popular fishing destinations. The Intracoastal Waterway, Banks Channel, and Masonboro Sound surround the island, providing excellent inshore fishing for red drum, flounder, and spotted seatrout. The town's two inlets — Masonboro Inlet and New Topsail Inlet — are productive for snook-like species and tarpon during warm months.
The surf fishing off Wrightsville Beach is excellent during fall and spring runs, with pompano, whiting, and occasionally large red drum taken from the beach. The Masonboro Island Estuarine Research Reserve just to the south provides unspoiled inshore fishing in a protected natural setting, with good wade-fishing access to grass flats holding redfish and trout.
Offshore from Wrightsville Beach, anglers reach productive live-bottom ledges that hold king mackerel and amberjack in fall. The Gulf Stream is accessible for billfish and pelagics during summer. The town's several fishing piers — including the Johnnie Mercer Pier — offer excellent access to nearshore species like Spanish mackerel and bluefish. Check the live forecast above for optimal conditions.
Spring: Redfish schools break apart and spread through the marsh behind the island as water warms into the 60s. Black drum and sheepshead work the bridge and dock pilings. By late April Spanish mackerel and bluefish are crashing glass minnows off the beach, and flounder begin sliding back into the inlet and ICW ledges.
Summer: Spanish mackerel and kings run the beach troughs and nearshore reefs, with pier anglers hooking both. Flounder hold on inlet ledges and dock bottoms. Flood tides put tailing redfish in the spartina behind Masonboro Island, sheepshead pick crabs off the jetty rocks, and offshore trips return with mahi and sailfish releases.
Fall: The mullet run pulls drum, blues and Spanish down the beachfront through September and October. Speckled trout show in force in the ICW creeks and around the jetties by late October, and the trout bite holds into December. Big reds school just off the beach, and false albacore make sporadic passes within casting range.
Winter: Speckled trout winter in the deeper creek holes and canals off the ICW, eating suspending twitchbaits on sunny afternoons. Redfish gather in large, clear-water schools on the flats behind Masonboro, a stealth game on low tide. Black drum and sheepshead keep bottom anglers busy around the bridges and dock pilings.
Johnnie Mercers Pier, the concrete pier at the center of the beach, produces Spanish, kings, pompano and drum in season. The jetties at Masonboro Inlet on the island's south end are the area's best hard structure for sheepshead, reds and trout. Masonboro Island across the inlet offers undeveloped surf and marsh fishing by boat. Mason Inlet at the north end fishes well for drum and flounder on moving tides, and the ICW docks and creek mouths behind the island carry the winter trout and black drum bite.