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10-4. My minn kota is probably dead but wasn't sure if you'd be interested in giving it a whirl to try and get going again. It last ran last season before it decided to jump off my boat and go for a swim.

Headed down to Swan Quarter yesterday morning. Left Rickmond at 6:06 a.m., an hour later than planned but I've been an insomniac lately and needed the 3rd hour of sleep I scratched out the night before. Arrived at Swan Quarter at exactly 9:36, a.m. just like the GPS said. My buddy Ryan Tucker was already at the ramp. He lives in Greenville and is the veteran I've taken out for the Cape Lookout Albie Fest for boots on boats day. He's fished the area several times and figured he could help me dissect it. I've been there once before, having made the 16 mile boat run from Cedar Island last November when I only caught dink trout and a nice Flounder. My goal was to find schools of winter redfish in the tanin water, which is clear in the winter. Numerous folks have told me the winter fishing there is en fuego, and I've seen plenty of videos online of giant schools pushing across sand bottoms next to the bank. First thing I did was locate some sand on the map and head that direction. We ended up having a slow day, me landing the only fish, a 28" sight cast drum on fly. It was a much needed fish for me, only the third Red caught this year and first on fly. I was poling us down a sand bar and spotted a school of about 10. Ryan couldn't see them, but I made a hero shot , while fumbling the push pole, from the poling platform and stuck the fish on my 7 weight. That one fish was enough for the whole trip. It had 8 spots and lots of lice. Celebratory Model Zero Especiales ensued. Ryan explained that most of the fishing down there is merely pounding the banks. Everything is a sod bank there. Reds and trout will cruise them and sometimes hang in shallow coves. We ended up seeing 6 rat reds in some tiny coves, but not much else, despite fishing an incredible looking pond and the fishiest sand flat in the area. Needless to say it was worth the day and I learned a lot about the layout and fishing the area. There is nothing in Swan Quarter except for a church, ferry launch to Ocracoke, one mile long road of a hundred shrimp boats in every (mostly dead) condition, and one building formerly a gas station. I followed Ryan to Washington, which is a cool town and we got dinner before I crashed at the local Motel Shithole, went to Mars on a pot gummy and dreamed of schools of Redfish, Christmas trees and a Delta Zeta who I somehow let slip through my fingers.

This morning I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed having actually slept and drove the hour back to Swan Quarter, this time fishing solo. I motored back straight back to the same sand flat and while the wind was blowing in the reverse direction (east vs west), it allowed for a perfect drift in conjunction with my poling down the bar. But not before I noticed my latest boat problem! The steering seals were dispensing steering fluid at a rate similar to the first pee in Lane after holding in all of my pregame beers through the first quarter. Ignoring this potentially problematic situation, I said fuck it and started looking for Reds. Three quarters of the way down the 300 yard long float I spotted another school of ten or so fish. Holding the push pole, steadying the boat in the right position and making a fly cast from 8 eight off of the water is a fucking trapeze style circus act and a fish swirled on my fly and spit it back out while I fumbled the hook set, trying to do 17 things at once. My immediate follow up cast was perfect, as it always is, and another fish turned and ate the fly while I noticed the push pole was wrapped in fly line, which also extended down around my ankle and back up between my legs to the reel. Again, I missed the strip set, but managed to not fall off the platform trying to get my shit together as the fish ate and spit the fly. I reconfigured myself and continued to pole down the bar, re-locating the school a few minutes later. This time it all came together and I landed another drum on fly, 26" this time. Day was made. I ended up fishing this exact same flat for the next 3 hours. With each pass, I saw a school of 10-20 fish and yet again, blew two more shots on fly due to the fact that it's extremely difficult to cast while also poling oneself. The final turn I reached for my fly rod, only to notice the fly had called it quits and gone missing from my tippet, so I picked up my spin rod with 1/8 bucktail jig head that I had custom tied. Another perfectly placed cast, instant eat and I didn't fucking miss that hook set. This fish turned out to be a 27 inch "Buck Naked Bass" or redfish with no spots, which are pretty darn rare and only the 2nd I've ever caught. Before calling it a day I pushed up into a little cove not expecting much, only to blow out another dozen upper 20 inch reds. I didn't stand a chance at getting a cast to them. They spooked instantly.

I'd call it a very successful two day winter trip and would encourage others to go check this area out. And I'm not one to share secrets openly online, but this area is pretty desolate and could be gold mine for anyone that wants to put in the work to get there. I know it fishes well year round but apparently winter is best. Just sucks the days are so short. Rose Bay, Pungo and Pamlico rivers are other areas Ryan raved about and are a little closer to civilization. It seems like the tactic is to slowly use a trolling motor to fish the sod banks / edges and cover a lot of water. I'm glad I switched it up and tried to do it my way, sight fishing, but probably would have had more success with the blind casting method. The water was clear and with some light provided ample visibility. We did see some nice flounder too.

I'll potentially be back before heading to the Rockies for a month or two. Pics on my Instagram below. Thank you for coming to my Red Talk. I'm happy as a clam I got a few of 'em.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSlximpDXX2/?img_index=1

Does he pin him or just go for a sub-60s tech fall?

Fightin Chickens Cocks

ftfy

Fighting Gobbler better than Fightin Chickens

Fighting gobblers all the way, although just realized today as I traveled through South Carolina how similar that looks to the gamecock 🤔

Give me this all day over that mess

There is also a lot of winning the lottery/catching lightning in a bottle. VT did that with Frank & Vick, but absolutely fumbled it in the same way that some lotto winners are broke 10 years later.

The current trend of buying everything, from coaches to players, makes it a lot more of a crapshoot than it ever was. Where I think it is going to be hardest for those that "win the lotto" is that they are typically very underprepared for grand stage that is the CFP. That is where the blue bloods will typically hold strong. It'll be interesting to see where IU's trajectory will head in year 3, if not just in the next couple of weeks.

I kinda like it. probably not enough to buy a $100 1/4-zip with it, but it feels retro, and I like older stuff. (Really have never been a fan of the square root of one or the new hokie bird image representation).

My daughter said that looks like a turkey on meth.

It's the new Hokie Bird logo brought to you by the same people who designed the new VT logo a while back. Wonder if we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on it. Probably not. God, I hope not.

Home of MJ Collins now who is having a season for the ages for them. Shooting like 50% from 3.