Country Girl is the Outer Banks charter to book when you have a big group and want to reach the Gulf Stream together. It is a 57 foot Buddy Cannady custom out of Pirate’s Cove in Manteo, and it is the rare boat here licensed and equipped to carry up to 27 anglers offshore, where almost every other charter is a six pack that takes six. Run by Captain Charles Foreman, who grew up in the Outer Banks fishing business, it runs a private full day offshore for up to 8 and a head boat style Gulf Stream bottom fishing trip for the big crowd, and it draws a deep, consistent review record for handling families and large parties well.
The verdict and where it ranks
At 8.3 Country Girl is a strong choice and second in the port, and it is the obvious call for one job no other ranked boat does as well: getting a large group to the Gulf Stream on one boat. A standard six pack means a party of eight or twelve has to split across two charters or leave people behind. Country Girl takes up to 8 on the private offshore trip and up to 27 on its bottom fishing run, so the group stays together. The trade is transparency. The private offshore price is posted, but the per person bottom fishing rate, the trip most big groups want, is not, so you book partly blind and confirm the number by phone. For a small group set on pelagic trolling, a dedicated six pack like Speechless or Carly A fishes leaner; for the cheapest way to put a crowd offshore, the Miss Hatteras head boat sells by the seat. Compare them on the Outer Banks ranking.
The boat
The Country Girl is a 57 foot Carolina custom built in 1990 by Buddy Cannady, one of the Outer Banks names in boatbuilding, and restored in 2019 with twin 1430 horsepower Caterpillars under it. It is the biggest hull in our ranked field and the most forgiving in a chop, with the deck space and the Coast Guard inspection to carry a real crowd, not just six. That size is the whole case for the boat. The honest mark against it is age: a 1990 hull, even a well kept and re-powered one, is an older boat, and the head boat style bottom trips can mean a hot, busy deck on a calm summer day, a recurring note in the reviews. For a small group chasing billfish on light tackle, a tighter, faster six pack is the better tool.
The fishing and what you target
Country Girl fishes two ways. The full day private offshore trip trolls the Gulf Stream for yellowfin tuna, mahi mahi, wahoo, and blue and white marlin and sailfish, released under the boat’s federal HMS permit, with a winter shot at giant bluefin. The distinctive trip is the Gulf Stream bottom fishing run for up to 27, which works the deeper structure for black sea bass, triggerfish, grouper, amberjack, and gray tilefish, with dolphin and king mackerel in the mix. That bottom trip is the accessible, big group way to fish the Outer Banks offshore without booking a whole sportfisher. Black sea bass and the snapper and grouper complex run on seasons and aggregate limits set by NOAA Fisheries and the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, so confirm what is open before a bottom trip.
Trips and prices
The full day offshore Gulf Stream trip is $3,000 for the boat, for a party of up to 8, an 11 hour day that leaves at 5 a.m., with bait, tackle, and the license furnished. That price is higher than most Outer Banks six packs, but it covers two more anglers, so per head it can work out even. The up to 27 angler Gulf Stream bottom fishing trip is priced per person, and here is the page’s one real gap: Country Girl does not post that per person rate, so you ask when you book. Fish cleaning and the mate gratuity are extra. Our cost guide and the head boat versus private guide lay out the formats and what each buys.
The crew
Captain Charles Foreman is a homegrown Outer Banks captain who mated on the boat alongside his father before taking it over, and the crew’s strength shows in who keeps booking it: families and large groups. Reviewers describe a crew that is good with kids and big parties, a clean and roomy boat, and high catch counts on the bottom trips. The booking platform record sits at a strong 4.9 across about thirty trips, and a Google following backs it up. One caution on reading the reviews: the TripAdvisor listing combines Country Girl with the Crystal Dawn head boat under one page, so the sentiment there is mixed between two different boats and is harder to pin to this one.
Booking and what to know
Book through the operator’s site, FishingBooker, or the Pirate’s Cove desk, and for the bottom fishing trip call to confirm the per person rate and the head count. Arrive 30 to 45 minutes before the 5 a.m. offshore departure to load and check in. Bring food, drinks, sunscreen, and a cooler for your catch; bait, tackle, and the license are covered. For a big group, this is the boat that keeps everyone on the same deck.
How we scored it
Country Girl earns its 8.3 on unmatched trip access for a large group, a big well kept hull, and an experienced homegrown captain, held below the leaders by an unposted per person bottom price and an older boat. Trips and access is its top factor. See how we scored this boat and the Outer Banks ranking for the field.