Elizabeth City, NC. Fresh water? Brackish? Crappie???

I live in Virginia Beach but will be installing an x-ray room at the Coast Guard Air Station in Elizabeth City and driving down there I see a lot of water. Anyone know if this is mostly fresh water or brackish? And more importantly, how is the crappie fishing in this area? It's just over an hour drive for me and I have two fishing boats that are not getting enough water time. And are there any big crappie in these waters, over 2lbs? I fish the North Landing River in Virginia Beach and the Northwest River in Chesapeake but you will not find crappie anywhere near 2lbs in either of those rivers. I love to fish Kerr Reservoir (aka Buggs) but it's a 2.5 hour drive just to get there.

There is a crappie tournament trail in that area. I'm sure one of the guys will share some advice. There is good fishing in that area.

George, good to hear from you. We use to fish in the Pasquotank River a lot for crappie. Never caught a lot but some. It is brackish very similar to NW River. The river goes thru Elizabeth City but we found better fishing way up the river. There is a ramp just north of Eliz city just off Rt 158 on Rt 343 (Sawyers Creek) that we always used which will take you out to the Pasquotank. Caught a few in Sawyers but never a lot. That area is Crappie Farmer's stomping grounds but haven't heard from him in quite a while. Also the mouth of the Pasquotank is a hot spot for Rock when they are running. Here is a couple links that might help. BTW, NC has much better ramps than Va.


Google Maps
Waterfront Park Boat Ramp - Pasquotank River | Paddling.com

You can catch all the eating size crappie in that Coast Guard canal that you want. As far as 2lb crappie go, there's not a river in North Carolina that you're going to consistently catch 2LB crappie, and I've been tournament fishing them for 30 years. You can catch them occasionally for sure, but a 1.5 to 1.75 is a real quality fish in most of them.

There a fellow that works on that base named Joel Moreland, if you run across him he can definitely help you.Also, check with John at River City Bait and Tackle. He has everything you need to fish with and can help you too.