For the past five years, my family has celebrated Christmas on the South Carolina coast. This is an area that holds a lot of nostalgia for me as i went there each summer as a child. I didn’t really start fly fishing until after I left the area and moved out west so it’s been a dream of mine to catch a redfish on fly diy style. Each year I’ve taken my fly rod to try and hit an area with some dynamic frequently-storm-altered small tidal inlet and marsh creeks for a few hours hoping to get into some redfish or at least some sea trout or flounder. I never had any luck with the fly rod chalking it up to winter-time bad weather, poor timing and my inability to crack the code with limited time. I came this close to leaving my rod at home in Seattle this year, but have fished enough to know that the second I did that, the bite would be on. Well, I’m certainly glad I brought the rod this year as the stars finally aligned with beautiful mild sunny weather, fortuitous tides and some magnificent iridescent spotted tails. A Christmas miracle!