North Carolina has some of the best variety of fishing in the country. And here are few of those “bests.”

January
Striper Bass
Outer Banks
One North Carolina fishery that is truly fantastic is the winter striped bass run off the Outer Banks. Fish can show up anywhere from the Virginia-North Carolina border south to Ocracoke and even to Cape Lookout.

But the biggest concentration of stripers in January is north of Cape Hatteras — within reach of the huge charter fleet that runs out of Oregon Inlet, but often also within reach of surf-fishermen flinging fish-finder or bottom rigs with fresh cut baits. When stripers are in the surf, bucktails or spoons are the ticket.

Most of the stripers are caught a few miles off the beach. A key to finding them and tracking their movements is locating the huge flocks of sea birds that dog them.

The “mojo rig” is a basic tool for fishermen trolling for stripers. Despite the name, it’s basically just a huge jighead — often weighing 2 pounds — dressed with a Mylar skirt, often with a baitfish trailer.

But many fishermen also do well trolling long, slender plugs or drifting live eels. Casting to fish feeding at the surface is also very common.

A great source of information on surf-fishing is Frank Folb at Frank & Fran’s tackle shop in Avon (252/995-4171). A large number of charter boats work out of marinas in the Manteo/Nags Head area, with Devin Cage (252/473-6108) on The Poacher out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center (252/441-6301), the acknowledged master of striper fishing.

February
Largemouth Bass
Badin Lake
Badin Lake, which covers more than 5,600 acres on the Yadkin River near the town of Denton, gets plenty of notice for its fine stripers, but it’s also probably one of the best lakes in North Carolina for cold-weather bass fishing.

“I’ve lived here nearly all of my life, and you can go and talk to just about anybody, and they’ll tell you the same thing,” said guide Kevin Chandler of New London (704/704-463-7265). “Badin is better than just about any other lake when the weather is cold. I mean, it can be real cold — you don’t even have to have a warming trend.”

One factor is Badin is a fairly deep lake, and it’s extremely clear. Second, the lake is full of shad.

“There are a lot of places where you can sit in 30 feet of water and cast to the bank,” Chandler said. “There are a lot of rocks on the banks, and the bass will get close to those rocks. You can catch ’em on a Speed Trap or a Shad Rap, but a jerkbait has almost dominated the fishing down here over the past couple of years.”

March
Crappie
Buggs Island Lake
Sprawling Buggs Island Lake (49,500 acres) is better known for its fantastic late-spring bass fishing, but it’s no slouch as a crappie fishery, as many anglers will attest.

It’s especially good in March, as slabs are preparing to make their big rush into the shallows to spawn. That’s when fishing jigs or minnows around brushpiles near the mouth of main-lake or main-creek pockets becomes extremely effective.

And it’s not difficult to find good brush. Just idle around the mouth of pockets, covering water from 6 to 12 feet deep, and wait for your depthfinder to light up.

Fishermen who have a handful of favorite brushpiles can quickly gauge the mood of springtime crappie by the locations and depths where they catch them.

On the upper end of the lake, guide Bud Haynes of Clarksville, Virginia (434-374-0348), is a top-notch slab hunter. Buggs Island Bait & Tackle (434/374-8934) is also a good source for up-to-date fishing information.