Great story and nice pics. Congratulations on your retirement! I know that feeling, been retired now for 4+ years. Retirement + fishing = great life.

Wow! Never heard of a cusk. Reminds me of the snakeheads we catch in Virginia's Potomac River.

Top water presentations for stripers work great in low light conditions when they're feeding. When stripers are feeding on the surface they have a distinct tale slap when they strike. When you hear that the game is on!

I had one. I thought the lure's action was really great and I had a lot of confidence in it. I'm sure I casted that lure around 1000 times in my local lake that has some decent largemouth as well as the Potomac River in Northern Virginia. I lost the lure on a snag about 4 months after I got it. I'm still shocked that I never caught fish on it...never did pick another one up. I do still believe it would be a great lure on the right day it just never panned out for me.

Happy New Year folks! I recently bought a new boat and it has Lowrance Elite 9 TI2 electronics and the former owner did not pass on any navigation card. My boat electronics knowledge level is quite low. I was wondering if some knowledgeable folks could point me in the right direction to obtain a good quality chart card that will contain the best navigational information for the in-shore areas of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds? On my old boat I had a Navionics card but I noticed that many of the in-shore areas were not accurately reflected on this card. I've heard of C-Map Reveal but I do not know if this would be a good choice for me. Again, my knowledge level is low so any guidance will be most appreciated. Thank you!

I've been a firm believer in the Solunar for roughly 20 years applying them to fishing and hunting. They are not 100% spot on but one thing that I can tell you from both a fishing and hunting perspective, during my best days afield and on the water the charts indicated high activity. I have caught some fish on the lower rated days but I've never had a great day when the charts called for low activity. I moved to the Outer Banks NC about two years ago and it seems to me that wind a tide are stronger factors here than the moon phase but, I've still got a lot to learn about this fishery.....

Thanks for your response! Hoping to check out some channels soon. Would you suggest channels close to the Inlet or further back around bridges maybe??

Thanks! I've heard that but I thought that was more of a summertime pattern. Going to hit some of those today... Thanks again!

Looking for some tips on the basics for locating red drum and trout on the Albemarle Sound this time of year. I'm new here and have had some limited success but I'm not doing so well lately. What are some of the basics for locating where these fishing are holding this time of year? Should I be concentrating my efforts on the flats near deeper water? Deep holes? Somewhere else? Saw some reds in a small school the other day on a flat but they were not interested in my paddletales. Been fishing around Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head and Oregon Inlet. Thanks!

I live in KDH NC and we drink beer on the beach all the time and have no issues with law enforcement...