Eben, I'm not an expert on the surf scene down in the OBX. I fish it whenever and however I can.
Needless to say, it's a sand sissy heaven, and there is a LOT of beach (miles and miles and miles!) you can sink your teeth into.
An easy way to fish the beach there is around the famous inlets (Oregon, Ocracoke). Given the short amount of time and the long drive down, that's a pretty good place to start.
Stripers and drum are the quarry.
Naturally, your chances at getting a moose of a striper are better on an inshore charter boat (since migrating bass tend to winter about 10 miles offshore). Most of the famous and colorful charter captains are booked two seasons ahead of time, though.
There is a year-round offshore fishery for yellowfin and bluefin tunas as well as wahoo and ... my favorite, mahi-mahi. Some months are better than others - so check with the skippers.
I also have to recommend without reservation a nice headboat - The Miss Hatteras (Oden's Dock in Hatteras Village). This is an offshore party boat that targets bottom critters - sea bass, trigger fish, and snapper as well as the occasional grouper. Capt. Spurgeon Stowe knows his stuff and I just have a silly time bailing fish. I don't know what it is but most of the fares on that boat are tourists or spend a lot of time w8 and bait on the shore and don't have a lot of experience bottom fishing, so the odds are stacked in your favor if you are good at it. Also, on the way in and out of the offshore grounds, you can do a high speed troll for wahoo. The last two times I was out on this boat, I had a thresher shark jump out of the water and nearly bean me on the head while we were anchored up. It chewed one of my seabass in half.
OBX is a blast. The place haunts me, as it has fish on our off season up here.
You could ask Thumb Buner for more details when he's up in Rhody this weekend - he's from NC.
-WW
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