[piano intro] - Oh wow.

- Here comes a baitball right here.

We're gonna hang right here with that baitball, then.

Motor's off, electronics are off.

There he is.

- Hooked up!

- Clear him, clear him, clear him till he doesn't know he's hooked yet.

Look at him jumping.

- I thought he was flying.

- There he goes, there he goes.

Look out, look out.

Get those big feet off the fly line.

Those size 14s get in the way.

Watch out.

Go where you need to go, buddy.

Go where you need to go.

- Alright.

- You want me to back up some for ya?

- Nope, nope, nope.

- Stay under.

- Got to go under, hold on.

- There you go, he back back around.

There you go, there you go.

Pretty work, Tommy.

- [male announcer]: The Carolina Outdoor Journal is brought to you by: - [female announcer]: "Wildlife in North Carolina" magazine has been delivering stunning photography and informative articles for more than 80 years.

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We fish from fresh to saltwater.

We provide fishing supplies and advice to every type of angler.

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[light instrumental music] ♪ ♪ ♪ - Hello, welcome to the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

Well today's program is all about Albacore.

Great spot to fish on a fly rod.

Joe, it was exciting.

- It really was, yeah.

We've done shows in the past with Albacore spinning, and even fly rod.

The difference in those past shows and today was today was one of those days where you go out, it's foggy.

And the fog went fairly quickly, but when it lifted, everywhere you looked there were pods of fish.

Bait jumping, and you'll see.

Just showering bait.

Real healthy Albacore.

We had some Albacore on this day, but fishing with Tommy Bennet from Moorehead City and Chuck Lawridge.

Two accomplished fly fisherman.

They just had a great morning.

- Joe, anything special in your time today?

- No, just when you're fly fishing for any species, but particular saltwater species, you need to know what you're doing with a fly rod in general.

Just that, and in your time they will show you the different flies they use and were effective.

And they were basically matching the bait that these Albacore were feeding on.

Mainly glass minnows.

Just a lot of fish, just an exciting morning.

- And Donna, she's got my number today, because I like crabs, and in the kitchen today it's crab fritter.

- [Joe] Crab fritter recipe from her today, and if you like to eat crab meat, pay attention.

- Well let's take off fishing again here on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- Alright, Tommy we got you out here this morning after the fog lifted up.

We got Albacore busting everywhere on baitballs.

This is great November fishing off the rock jetty.

Mid-November, Hawker's Island.

This is what we've been waiting for all year, and it looks like it's really on right now.

We've got birds as far as you can possible see in this fog, and probably further than that.

We're gonna work in this pod just in front of us in just a sec.

- Yeah, just take your pick.

There's baitballs everywhere, birds everywhere.

The ocean is alive this morning.

- I don't think you're gonna have trouble catching one today.

- No sir, no sir.

- [Chuck] This is the day that you live for in November.

Thanksgiving right around the corner, Albacore everywhere.

It just don't get much better than this.

It's 60 degrees right now.

Gonna be 75 degrees today.

This is what it's all about.

This is why people come to Carter County and Harker's Island in droves, to do this.

We'll have you on 'em in a second, my friend.

Look off to the right, they're everywhere.

There's pods of fish everywhere.

If this doesn't get you excited, you need to go back to the golf course.

Stay up, stay up, stay up, fish.

They'll stay just out of range, Tommy.

They're still a little bit... - I stepped on my line.

- Here comes a baitball right here.

We gonna hang right here with that baitball, then.

Motor's off, electronics are off.

- There he is.

- Hooked up!

- Clear him, clear him, clear him till he doesn't know he's hooked.

Look at him jumping.

There he goes, there he goes, there he goes.

Look out, look out.

Get those big feet off the fly line.

Those size 14's get in the way.

Watch out.

Go where you need to go, buddy.

Go where you need to go.

- Alright.

- [Chuck] You need me to back up some for ya?

- Nope, nope, nope, nope.

- Stay under.

You got to go one way or the other.

- I got to go under.

Hold on.

- There you go, he came back around.

There you go, there you go.

Pretty work, Tommy.

Pretty work.

- Alright, there he goes.

- Alright, babe.

- This is what you want to here, that drag sound like.

- [Chuck] That was pretty.

Let me get this fly rod up and outta the way and I'll be with you, getting that fish on the boat, man.

- Everything is good, at the moment.

- [Chuck] Listen to 'em all around you.

It sound like someone just dropped a Volkswagen in the water behind us.

- Well there goes 100 feet of flyline.

- [Chuck] I see some backing off that thing now.

These are nice November fish.

A lot of these fish are gonna be in the eight, to 12, to maybe 15 pound range.

- You know what I'm trying to do here too, Chuck, is not bend my rod too much.

To keep the maximum pressure on him.

And when he swims one way, try to pull back the other way.

- [Chuck] You're definitely earn an Albacore or any kind of tuna, 'cause they pull away.

The way you tire those fish out is to pull as close as directly behind 'em, if you can.

So they breathe going forward through the water, so if you can slow 'em down on the breathing, you can get 'em to the boat.

- That's why I'm changing directions.

- He's swimming toward the back of the boat.

Well you got 20 pound tipping on that way, so we're in good shape.

Most folks fight this fish too long, so most of these fish ought to be landed in probably five to seven minutes.

If you use an adequate rod, a 10 weight, something like that, you got plenty of backbone to get that fish in the boat before it's in bad shape.

Barb its hooks.

We can get him up, take a quick picture and send him home.

Nice.

Nice Albacore there, babes.

- Alright.

And I'm gonna be prepared if he takes off again.

- These are definitely a much nicer class of fish than what we see in October.

That's a fatty.

- Oh, he ate.

- Yeah he did.

- He ate.

Barb just flies right out.

Lookie there bud, just right.

Is that pretty or what?

- That's some kind of pretty.

Let's go catch another one.

- He's off and gone.

Good man.

Pretty work, Tommy Bennet.

- Thank you sir, thank you.

- Alright, let's go play.

Lord have mercy, these fish are everywhere.

Tommy!

- Six strips, I counted 'em.

- Clear, clear, clear.

You little rascal.

- There you go.

- Oh buddy!

- Six strips at a fly line.

Bang!

- Aww man, couldn't have been a minute since you turned one loose.

I got to get back here and let you get a turn at this.

This is something else.

- We're sitting here laughing, and it's just as entertaining as it can be.

It gets sort of silly, it's so funny sometimes.

- Oh man.

- And it's so good.

- This guy didn't know he was hooked for a while.

- Chuck, it's the middle of November.

We're out here in just one sleeved shirt.

It feels great.

It's a little foggy, but it's absolutely beautiful.

Fish are everywhere.

You couldn't ask for-- - Hard to beat.

- You couldn't ask for a better day, this is amazing.

- just hard to beat.

- It is amazing.

Back on that clear tip, that means 30 feet.

That means 30 feet.

As soon as you touch this one, it's your turn buddy.

I got to have a rest.

- Oh man, another nice little fatty.

- Oh, look at him spitting minnows up.

The minnows are just flying out of his mouth.

All the long arm of the law.

Again, Tommy, I think that's 15 pound bite tipping on that, so you got him.

I may have to retire that tutty-fruity.

- And these fish have such a perfect little handle right here on that tail.

You can grab 'em-- - Folks don't realize the fins fold down, they're built for speed.

I mean they can turn on a dime.

- That's the amazing one, to me.

I mean you can't even see it.

- Everything is down, everything is sleek.

Let me get out the tip of that rod.

I mean you can hear the fish busting all around us.

He's out, gone, ready, good shape.

Oh man.

We gonna catch him again.

Look at that backcast.

Man, right at one o'clock.

One o'clock.

Drop it in the water!

- [Tommy] Oh!

Come on baby, you got it.

Just stay calm, stay calm.

The baitball's a half an acre big.

Just stay calm.

Out in front of you more.

Fish are down, but they'll be back.

- There we go.

- Right in front of 'em.

Right in front of ya.

Basic forward cast.

- Let me get those feet off that line again.

Good grief!

- Slow down, slow down.

Everything's off.

Your baitball's under us.

The water is just absolutely turning brown underneath us.

- Oh man, look at the fish.

- Look at that.

- [Tommy] Another swing and a miss.

- [Chuck] Alright, stay calm.

- [Tommy] I'm just gonna let it sit there and let's see what happens.

- Drop it down.

We are right in the middle of this baitball.

Must be quarter of an acre.

Think most of the bait's off to your right.

Off to your right behind you.

Drop it, drop it.

There you go, nice backcast.

Nice backcast.

There's so much bait in the water, it's almost hard to hook a fish, if you can believe that.

How about that!?

- Well it ain't hard to hook one.

- Look at him, look at him.

- Did you see that!?

- He came on up the roll cast and tried to hit it.

- Look, he's still on it!

- He's on it now.

- Didn't even have to cast.

- You were getting ready to make a cast-- - I was getting ready to make a cast, and he ate it the first time.

- Hold on, when you get ready to clear... You're good, you're good, you're good.

You can clear 'em out.

Pretty work, Tommy.

- Just waiting for him to take off here.

So that was a fish.

When I was getting ready to pick it off the water, and I missed him, and he came back and got it again with the fly just sitting there in the water.

- [Chuck] That was no more than a rod linked off the boat.

I saw It when you dropped the fly back down.

It hit it as it was sinking.

That's amazing.

- He came after it.

- This is literally, Tommy...

It's like watching something on the Discovery Channel.

This is like an African migration or whatever.

This is outstanding.

- This is incredible.

- Outrageous, amazing.

You just can't describe this.

If you're not here to see it, you just can't believe it.

- Just incredible.

- Alright, I got cover.

- His tail wrapped.

That's fine, that's fine.

It happens too.

Let's move on, he's in good shape.

Again, that's another reason to fight 'em fast and hard and get 'em to the boat.

Actually, he's caught.

The fly was in his tail.

I just dropped him right down.

- How about that?

- Send the meat.

That's in the meat.

Look it up, Tommy.

Three strips!

- Three strips!

How many?

- Two, maybe three.

- That was three.

- Maybe three.

- That was three strips.

- Go, go, go little darling, go.

You don't even know you're hooked.

- He doesn't know he's hooked.

He's having a big time feeding.

- Doesn't even know he's hooked.

Get him on the reel.

Now I feel better.

I feel better now.

Three strips!

I can't get you to give me two and a half.

[Tommy laughs] Oh me.

- It's three and I'm sticking to it.

- I gotcha.

I gotcha.

They are pushing that bait so hard, Tommy, I think we're gonna be on the beach this afternoon.

They are pushing it right up against Shackle.

- Yes they are.

- You just can't hardly concentrate on catching the fish, 'cause you want to look.

There're fish everywhere you look!

This is out-- - We gonna end up on a beach this afternoon with bait.

It'll look like an oil slick up there.

- I want to change this fly, but I can't.

I haven't had time to change it.

This fly look like I've drug it around a truck just about from Campston to the coast.

Well when they're eating, they're eating.

Oh, we close now.

Close now.

Tommy, this fish looks like-- - That is a nice fish.

- This is the longest fish we've caught today.

- He must've just seen your face, your pretty face.

Is that right?

- I tell ya, he was a lot nice than I gave him credit for to begin with.

- This fish took a while to clear too, didn't he?

- He did.

He didn't know he was hooked for a long time, so I'd like to put my hands on this one.

This is a nice chump, here.

- Big boy.

- This is a nice chunk.

- Come here, darlin'.

- Hold on, Tommy, hold on.

- My arms aren't quite long enough for that.

Alright, I think this is-- - He is potential.

- That fish is fat, fat, fat.

- This is a pig.

- That's a 15-16 pounder right there.

- He's plenty of spunk too, Chuck.

Look at that girth on that fish.

I'm glad you're fighting him now.

- Won't you get that head outta the water?

- Ho, buddy!

Now that is Albacore.

- That's a Harker's Island pig right there.

- Look at the girth on that fish.

That fish is huge.

- I can feel the softness in his belly.

He just slam full.

- I give him 15 pounds.

I dunno if I can go more than that, but he's every bit of 15.

- That is what people come everywhere to Harker's Island for right there.

- Let's go do it again!

- Joe, that was exciting morning of fishing.

Tell me about the drag on reels.

- Albacore fishing, and really any saltwater fishing, but particularly Albacore, they're speedsters.

I mean they will just flat take some line out.

You have to have really good, heavy duty fly wheel with a good, substantial drag system on it.

Lot of backing, and a nice rod too.

They just require that, but other than that, if you come prepared, have the right tackle, you're gonna have your hands full and just remember that day.

- I want to find out more about that.

Let's go to Geartime.

- Tommy, it's great to get you out here at Cape Lookout to get you out here for some of the Crystal Coast's top fishing in the fall for false Albacore.

We've had 'em all morning long.

We started out in the fog on baitballs.

We finished off in the sunshine on baitballs.

I can't think of a better day to spend than to spend it down here with you, catching Albacore.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

It was a great day.

Started off a little foggy this morning.

I know we ran out following the GPS in the fog, but it's a beautiful day.

The fish have been very cooperative.

Lots of baitballs, pelicans sitting on 'em.

Easy to find, easy to catch.

Great day, great day.

- I can't think of any better way than to be down here on the coast with a fly rod down.

The good Lord invented Albacore for fly fishing, that's for sure.

Well we caught 'em on a bunch of different baits today, a bunch of different fly rods.

But you got a 10 weight with a floating line on it.

- That's right, that's right.

A real good quality reel with a nice drag is really important as well, and this one'll hold 150 yards of backing, and we saw about 175 yards come off of it already.

I know you use a sink tip a lot, and that's a great line right there.

It's got a clear head on it, so it makes it about a 30 foot long leader.

Now that the fish were leader shy today, but some days that really comes in handy.

- This a little intermediate 30 foot of intermediate line.

It sinks about an inch of a half a second.

So it keeps that fly just under the surface, and works out very well.

- [Tommy] Speaking of flies, what have we got there?

- Well we used this morning Serabull.

We got everything from small clouds of minnows on both ends.

We've got a large deceiver type fly, 'cause some of this fish want a lot larger bait.

We even had some vice on crease flies, or top water poppers.

So they were there, and I think one of the most amazing things was watching how these flies would react in the water, and watching those fish under those pelicans.

'cause we'd throw those pelicans off of a baitball and it was just like watching a water column rise up about six inches.

The pelicans were forcing the bait down, the Albacore forcing them up, and when the pelicans took off, they came right to the surface and ate every fly we put in front of 'em.

And you can see they come in all different kinds of colors, and sometimes when you've got so much bait, it helps to have something that really stands out, and this is a really funny color combination, but it just stands out when it's in all that bait.

Here's big with a lot of flash, again it stands out and that's what might draw that one strike when you have that lots, and lots, and lots of bait in the water.

- The other thing is when you get into a baitball situation like that, it's really interesting that you can really slow your fly down.

You really don't have to strip that fly really fast.

Let it sit there.

Keep it in the strike zone, keep it in the water.

- You hear that strip very fast, but when it's in that baitball, you need to keep it in the strike zone.

- I tell ya, it's been a beautiful day.

We're down here at the Crystal Coast, we're gonna head back out this afternoon and spend the rest of the day chasing Albacore, but I can't think of a better person to have on a boat with me on the Crystal Coast.

So let's go catch two more.

- I appreciate it.

Great day.

- Great morning.

- Tommy, Chuck, we do appreciate that valuable information.

And now let's catch up with Donna.

She's in the kitchen with a recipe for crab fritters.

This is one you're gonna like.

- Hey, today in the kitchen we're gonna be making some ricotta crab fritters.

And this is a great recipe, 'cause you can use it as an entree, or you can make 'em smaller and use 'em as a great little appetizer.

So let's go ahead and get started.

I'm gonna put my pan on the flame so I can get that nice and warm, and when we're ready to fry these, we'll be all set.

We're gonna take our bowl, and we're gonna put it about eight ounces of ricotta cheese, and you can use the part skim, the low fat, or the regular, if you'd life.

Then we're gonna add in some graded Parmesan cheese.

And this recipe has 70 great ingredients in it.

It has to be great.

So we're gonna mix that together.

Then we're going to add in some lumped crab to this.

We're gonna add in just a handful or so of some dried salami that we've cut into bite sized pieces and mix that.

Then we're going to add two eggs yolks to help bind this, and we're also going to put in, to help bind, we're gonna add about three tablespoons of hush puppy mix with onions.

This will give it some great favor, as well as bind it and make it a little bit cakey in the middle too.

So once this is all mixed together, what I'd like to do is put mine in the fridge just until it's firm.

So you can make this up the night before if you wanted to, and that will also give the hush puppy mix a little time to absorb some of the liquid and puff up a little bit.

So we're gonna put that aside, and I just put mine in a container.

You can put it in the bowl.

You can just put in your fridge, but this is what it looks like when it's all nice and firm.

Then I'm gong to use some breader, and I'm just gonna put this on my wax paper so I don't have to clean it up.

I'm just gonna pour this out.

And then we're gonna form it into our little patties.

These are gonna look like little crab cakes, basically.

So we're gonna spread that out, then I'm gonna take my scooper, because I want to make mine more of an appetizer size.

And that way I can keep them uniformed.

You're just gonna take a scoop and kinda bread your hands, and then roll it into your breader.

And then flatten it out.

Put it back in your breader, because the chicken breader will give it a nice, yummy flavor and a nice crispy outside.

So our oil is about ready.

Turn up that heat.

And then we're gonna drop these in, and they're gonna start to fry.

And we're just gonna fry until they're nice and golden brown.

And then you can serve these with a nice sauce, if you'd like.

You can make 'em big and put 'em on a salad, if you want, and make them more of an entree size.

Or I like to do just little appetizers, because I think they're fun.

You can just pop 'em in your mouth, and you're ready to go.

So we're making these.

Let me show you what they look like when they're all finished, because they're all nice and golden brown.

So you can see they're all nice and golden brown.

Some are a little darker than others, and then you can see the inside here.

You can see the yummy pieces of salami in there, and it's just a great, great thing to serve.

And something a little bit different.

So I hope you enjoy these ricotta crab fritters, and I look forward to seeing you next time here on Simple Cooking.

- That's Donna, I knew I was gonna like that recipe.

Joe, let's go back to talk about the Albacore.

Strong fish and exciting fish.

- Absolutely.

One of the most exciting saltwater fish we got in North Carolina coastal waters, and that particular day was probably one of the most exciting days I've been out with them, just because of the sheer number of fish.

The water conditions were perfect, lots of bait.

Fishing with two guys who really love the sport and know how to work a big fly rod, you can tell these are big sticks.

These are big fly rods with big reels, and even as the fish are right there in front of you, you need to know how to strip it to 'em and duplicate what these fish are feeding on, the glass minnows are doing what they're doing.

We just all came together, and what a great fishery in the fall.

- And as you said, Chuck and Tommy, they do love it.

- They really do, and both of them are very accomplished fly fisherman.

They fish for red fish and everything that we've got with the fly rods.

But that Albacore shows up in the fall.

They're there and it's a great fishery.

- Yeah, and if you're fishing for 'em, you better be ready.

- That's right.

- For Joe Alby, I'm John Moore.

Thanks for joining us today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- [male announcer]: Make sure to visit our website for more information.

- The Carolina Outdoor Journal is brought to you by: - [female announcer]: "Wildlife in North Carolina" magazine has been delivering stunning photography and informative articles for more than 80 years.

- [male announcer]: And by EZ Bait & Tackle.

Family owned and operated.

We fish from fresh to saltwater.

We provide fishing supplies and advice to every type of angler.

For all your fishing needs, EZ Bait & Tackle.

- And by contributions from PBS North Carolina viewers like you.

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