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Chill out! The Pamlico Sound offers great speckled trout fishing

Jeff Burleson

Even though the deep, dark depths of winter arrive this month, fishermen who target speckled trout can keep their rods ready for some fiery inshore action in North Carolina’s Pamlico Sound.

Wintering populations of speckled trout snuggle in the remote hideaways of the Pamlico, staying warm and gobbling up any available forage. Anglers willing to brave January’s winter weather can locate these tasty opponents with little effort.

Fed by two major river systems — the Neuse and Pamlico — the Pamlico Sound is the largest lagoon on the east coast, covering thousands of flooded acres. In fact, it was once mistaken for the Pacific Ocean by Giovanni de Verrazzano, a 16th-century Italian explorer. […]

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Quacks and Timberdoodles — How to make the most of your late-season duck and woodcock hunts

John Gribb

By January, the easy bird hunting is long past, unless a plantation-owning friend invites you for a quail hunt. Aside from plantation or shooting-preserve quail, however, other wild birds are legal game this month.

Duck season is still in full swing, and woodcock season runs all month.

It is an understatement to say that most South Carolina bird hunters do not focus on woodcock, but hunters with dogs — especially transplanted Yankees — love them. Woodcock are a favorite of bird dogs because they are easy. Put your dogs in good woodcock cover, and they will find the birds. Woodcock are easy to smell, easy to point and flush, and easy to carry on a retrieve. […]