[piano intro] - Yeah we saw him rise several times but you got him!

Putting up a pretty good fight too.

- These are some strong fish in here.

- I'll say!

I just saw a couple more rise -- ooh that's a good fish!

Get that rascal in the net.

- You got my net?

- I got your net right behind you.

- Alright.

- That's a good fight.

Yes sir, alright, another rainbow.

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

Well, today's program is gonna take us all the way almost to the end of the state, maybe just a little bit into Tennessee right, Joe?

- Oh, that's right yeah we're gonna take you fly fishing today on the Watauga River, which actually has its beginning at Grandfather Mountain and goes into Eastern Tennessee.

So we're just over the border and a stretch of the river that's become very well known for its trout fishing, particularly rainbow trout.

That particular day we didn't catch any large fish but we caught a lot of fish and we were, we hit a cast fly hatch just right, the cast flies were coming off.

And anybody that fly fishes this amount will know if you can hit a hatch, if you can duplicate that the real act of their feeding, you can catch a lot of fish.

- What about equipment that we use, Joe?

We'll talk about that in your time?

- We're gonna go back and join the guys around stream-side, and they'll talk about how they rigged up -- again, imagine that hatch which is so critical when you come across something like that, to catch fish, and they'll discuss that for us.

- Now, Donna she continues on with the trout program today because she's got bacon-wrapped trout in the kitchen.

- That's right.

It's a recipe that she can use in the house or actually you can use it right there on the stream.

Whether for lunch or if you're camping that evening, real tasty recipe from her.

- Alright.

It's all about trout today, let's get started on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- Andrew, I've really been looking forward to today, and I know we've been talking about this trip for some time now or we wanted to come catch a good hatch coming off, catch some nice fish, and I know we discussed several different scenarios, and actually we changed strategies two or three times over the last 24 hours but we finally settle on the Watauga River, where I understand you've talked to some fellas that caught a lot of fish over here, there's a good caddis hatch coming off so we're gonna try it over here today and why don't you tell us a little about what kind of strategy we're gonna do today.

- Well, the Watauga River is dam-controlled so right now we're still waiting on the water level to drop.

It's falling out and should continue to drop out over the next half hour or so and the next 30 minutes it should be bottomed out and that's what we want to really get the hatch going and the fish really looking up to the surface.

So we're gonna wait here for a minute and this water to drop out and then we should be in high cotton.

Fish rising, caddisflies all over the water, it should be outstanding.

- We gonna be floatin' all day or are we gonna be float and wait and what kinda combination -- - I think we should float til we get to a spot where we see a lot of fish rising and then we can just get out of the boat and wade.

That way we can really spend some time in there and work the ripples like they need to be worked.

- Great.

I can already see a lot of the bugs flying around in the air here now.

- Yeah.

Yep.

- What do you say let's get into the boat go down here and see if we can find some rising fish?

- It's caddis time.

- Good deal.

- Let's go.

Well Steve, I think this is a good spot to start, I'm startin' to see a few caddisflies on the water, seein' a few fish risin' here and there.

Things should pick up here over the next 20 minutes.

Now that this water is falling out completely.

I see enough fish right here rising that we should be able to catch a few of them.

- Just saw one right there.

The water's cleared up a whole lot, too.

- It looks good now.

I think we're -- - I see other fish poppin' up now.

Okay, good deal.

I say let's catch one of them.

- Yeah, let's definitely go catch one.

Let's catch two.

Or three.

- How 'bout a half dozen?

- Or half a dozen.

There he is, there he is!

Caught him!

[exclaims excitedly] - He came up and got the fly on that one Andrew.

- Nice work.

Here it come.

- I think it's brown.

Yep.

I take that back, it's rainbow.

There we go, that's a good start.

Look what a pretty fish.

That's what I call a rainbow.

- I love when they got a big ole caddisfly in their mouth.

- Oh, he's healthy, too.

He's been eating a lot of caddis.

Nice fish, there you go.

Let him go.

You don't kiss your fish whenever you release them?

- I kiss mine not yours.

[laughs] - I hear ya.

Alright, good deal, good man.

Let's find some fish.

- First of more to come here.

On the Watauga.

- I'm likin' the big black caddis there -- - If you hit that one -- - If you put it over the top of them, they'll take it.

It's been my experience so far.

Let's do it again.

- Yeah.

Now you always wanna put a big mend in that fly line when you're fishing flat water like this.

I like to mend it before you have to mend it.

Especially if you're casting over a particular fish that's risin'.

- How was that?

- That looks good.

Another big mend.

You can mend it several times if you have to.

But ideally once or twice.

If you're castin' to a particular fish, definitely don't wanna mend it when it's anywhere near 'em.

- Yeah, I hear you on that.

- Put that big mendin' in there.

There you go.

- Alright, come on fish.

- If I can get that ole fella down there that was hittin' a minute ago.

Alright, Andrew.

Another hook-up.

- I love when they come up for that dry fly.

- Oh, this is a little better fish, too.

I think, yeah.

Nice fish.

Yeah that other caddis imitation works pretty well too I'd say, wouldn't you?

- I think if it's got a black body, and some wings on it -- - Oh yeah nice rainbow!

Yeah!

- That's a pretty fish.

- They're gettin' bigger, I like that.

- Gettin' a little bigger.

That's two on your dry fly there.

- Man, he's gorgeous, too.

I tell ya.

Those are pretty rainbows over here.

- It's a Watauga River rainbow.

- Yeah, plenty fat, too.

They're gettin' fat on the caddis today.

- Yeah they're definitely eatin' caddis.

- Let's see if we can't feed them another fly.

- Yes sir.

- Good deal.

- All chewed up there.

- The more chewed up it is, I think the better it is.

[chuckles] - Dry it off a little bit.

- Oh that's good to go.

- Thank you.

- Alright, nice work.

- Oh there we go!

Alright!

Got a jump out of that one!

I tell you these are frisky fish.

- It's that cold water.

Watauga river has...

Very cold water temperatures.

- Okay.

Come on in my man.

- Oh he got off.

- Well, look, I'm havin' so much fun here but I think it's time for you to have a little fun.

- You can twist my arm.

You can twist my arm.

- There you go, you have a net.

And I'll be your netter.

Here you go.

- In the clear water.

You gotta spot me a fish.

I don't think that'll be any problem.

I'm spottin' quite a few up there on the horizon.

- Tell you what, I've got fish risin' right here and it's fixin' to get caught.

- There it is!

Alright, good deal!

[laughs] Good man!

Talkin' bout maybe another rainbow?

We need to catch us a browner, too.

I know that.

But we'll take anything we can catch, right?

- Definitely take 'em anyway, anything, any species that wants to jump on that dry fly, I'll take it.

- Oh another pretty rainbow.

Oh, I like that red streak on him, they are really red in this cold water.

Okay, yeah.

Nice healthy fish.

- Not as big as yours.

- I don't know he's gettin' close.

He's gettin' close.

There we go he's out.

Let him go back, grow a little bit bigger.

- He's only ten inches.

- We'll come back next year whenever he's 15.

[upbeat music] - There's definitely some fish rising down there.

- I saw two rise right there.

Good deal, this looks like the place.

- It's some pretty water right here.

- I see plenty of bugs.

- Lotta bugs.

This could be good.

- Alright.

Good water management there.

- Oh rising down there.

Definitely got a couple fish down there rising.

Alright Steve, I think you should take this rod here.

I've changed the fly on it a little bit but there's four or five different fish right there that are feeding on top.

I think if you get if we walk down just a tiny bit further here we'll get at the right angle we need to get the good presentation.

- Alright.

- If you watch out there -- - I'll take that and I'll take the fly.

- Now watch your back cast here, there's some trees behind us.

And these fish, don't look like they're very far out there at all.

Maybe 15 feet or so.

- Alright, Andrew, I just hooked up on a fish right there.

Caught you be surprise didn't I?

- I got the net here.

- Yeah okay.

- I thought he was bigger than that but anyways he's a decent fish.

He's a decent fish.

Yeah, that's about as good as we've been catching I guess.

We'll take him.

- He's a pretty fish.

Look at the colors on him.

Still eating that black caddis.

- Even though we've been seeing a few of the soft ones out there they seem to be hittin' both of them.

I know that fish went after a soft one right before I threw the fly that caddis imitation over there and he seemed to like it pretty good.

- He's confused.

- You reckon?

Me and him share a common trait.

We're both confused.

- Caddis is definitely on his mind.

- Let's see if we can do that again.

- That was all you.

- He was just right there, I mean, right there, is where the fish came up.

Alright, good hook up there Andrew.

- You stalked that fish didn't you?

Yeah, we saw him rise several times.

You got it.

Puttin' up a pretty big fight, too.

- These are some strong fish in here.

- I'll say.

- Oh I just saw a couple more rise.

Oh that's a good fish.

Get that rascal in the net!

- You got my net?

- I got your net right behind you.

That's a good fight.

Yes sir.

Another rainbow.

There you go.

Good fish.

I like the way, you see the white tips on their fins?

I wonder what causes that?

- That means he grew up in the river as opposed to a stocked fish.

The white tips on the fins indicate he's spent a lot of time in the river here.

- Boy, he sure has colored up very nice.

I love those rainbow colors.

Let him back?

- Absolutely.

- Alright go on.

Alright get you another one.

- Like it when a playin' comes together.

I'll leave the bugs out there now.

Yeah, they're really startin' to pop off.

- Alright Andrew, I think you've got the fish of the day out there.

- I don't know about that.

It was the cast of the day.

- He's puttin' up a pretty good fight I'd say.

Oh yeah.

That's definitely the fish of the day.

Reckon I oughta get the net?

- I haven't really seen him yet.

Let' see where he is -- oh yeah there he is!

- He's got some wings on him.

He's a little better fish than what we been catchin'.

Maybe I better go get that net.

- You see that net?

- I think I can wrestle him.

- You think so?

- I think so.

If you help me.

If you hold the rod when we get him close.

I think he's got a little -- I don't think he's quite ready yet.

Ah, he's off, he's off.

Son of a gun.

Maybe we shoulda gotten that net.

- I'd better go get the net.

[laughs] - Why don't you go get that net, Steve?

By the time you get back, I'll catch another one.

Alright?

- Come on.

That's right.

There he is.

- There you go.

Okay, woo!

Good jumper!

Nice, jumping fish.

I think he's got some shoulders on him too doesn't he?

Yeah.

Yeah, he's a little bigger than the last one.

Another rainbow.

Yeah, he's got some shoulders right there!

- Alright, this is fun.

- It is.

- This is fun.

- Nice fish.

- That's just a beauty mark.

- I believe that might be the fish of the day.

- Don't lose this one.

- He's not, that's quality.

He's got some good pull.

I'll be able to bend that rod.

You pull as hard as you want.

- Yeah, that's a good fish.

Very nice fish.

Alright, come on buddy.

Time to give up and get that fly out of your mouth.

- Okay!

- Alright, thanks!

- I'll tell you what, Andrew, that's a good fish to end the day, right there.

Very typical rainbow trout from the Watauga River.

- We caught a bunch of them like that didn't we?

- Joe, that was some fun fishing, Andrew put you right on the fish though.

- He did, he runs Asheville Drifter, that's the name of his fly fishing service, and he's one of the better guys we work with through the year.

He's up there.

And he fishes up straight to the Watauga and you saw the boat that he uses.

That particular day, what we were doing, he fishes out of the boat but what we were doing, he fishes the river up, he knew where, some good concentrations of fish were.

And so what we did was float the river got out and waded particular stretches of the river.

As you saw, havin' lunch on the river too was part of the package.

Just a great day.

We hit the hatch just right and if you've never done that, try it.

It's a lot of fun.

- Well, what makes it a great day is usually the right equipment.

Let's find out more on GearTime.

- Well, Andrew, I tell ya it's been a wonderful day out there.

I think you captured it best when you said this is just like waiting for Christmas for the water to come down.

It was just like Christmas.

It was a lot of fun out there and we caught a lot of fish.

Tell us a little about some of the gear and the flies we used today.

- I'll tell you our strategy today was to wait for the water to drop all the way out before we started fishing.

I don't even think we made a catch til that water dropped out.

And once that water dropped out, that enables you to fish with just one dry fly by itself as long as you like.

The fish are rising out there, they're still hittin' on top right now.

There's no need for a nip or a strike indicator.

One dry fly, to me, that's as good as it gets in the world of fly fishing.

- You know how much I love the dry fly fish.

- You like to dry fly fish, I figured this was right up your alley.

- What kind of hatch, I guess is the main thing, and what kind of flies did we use to match it?

- I got a number of flies in this box here but it seemed like just any sort of caddis with a dark body on it was definitely the ticket.

That little fly right there seemed to work.

I think you had a different fly, a slightly different variation of a caddisfly.

- The non-winged version of it.

- Yours had a black body, this one's got a green body.

I think between the black ones and the green ones, and the cinnamon, if you've got one of the three of those, that's all you need out there right now, just a one dry fly.

Size is probably irrelevant in the way those fish are eating out there just now.

- Yeah, no I tell ya -- I'd sure hate to leave here today but everything good must come to an end so we're gonna have to head on back to the house.

- The river will be here next time for you.

- I really appreciate you having me out here today and thanks again for a great day of fishin'.

- It's always a pleasure.

Yes sir, thank you for comin'.

- Fellas, we appreciate that valuable information.

Now the show today is all about trout so let's catch up with Donna.

She's in the kitchen with a recipe for bacon-wrapped trout.

- Hi!

Today in the kitchen, we're going outside to cook but not really.

We're going to show you how to prep your food to go cook on the grill or the campfire.

We're going to do some trout.

So we're gonna start out with our trout.

And this has been butterflied.

You can cook it with the whole trout if you want.

If you're out camping or you're out hiking, and fishing and you just wanna do it whole, you can do that, but I'm gonna use mine that's been butterflied.

These are really beautiful rainbow trout, you can see they're just gorgeous.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna fill the inside of this.

Then we're going to put some skewers in it, wrap it in some foil, and then we can put it on your grill, your fire pit, or over your campfire if you'd like.

Here we go, We're gonna drizzle it with just a little bit of olive oil, and you don't have to do this if you don't want.

You don't have to use the olive oil.

So we're gonna spread that out, then we're going to put some black pepper on it.

And if you want you can put a little bit of salt, but we're going to use lemon in here so I don't really think you'll need the salt.

Then we're going to layer it with some lemons, some fresh-sliced lemons, and if you want -- if you're going camping or you want to do this over a fire and you're not at home, you can go ahead and make these up ahead of time and put 'em in your cooler and then you're ready to go once you get to your campsite.

So then we're going to fill it with some fresh sage, and some fresh flat parsley.

And I was watching something the other day, and they were saying parsley, people mostly think of it as a garnish but it really does have great flavor.

So use that parsley.

Then we're going to fold it over, make like a little sandwich.

Then you're going to wrap it with some bacon.

It's kinda messy but it's kinda fun at the same time.

Then we'll take our little wooden skewers, and then are just like long toothpicks, but you can buy them at the grocery.

And we're just going to skewer this through so that our bacon stays and that our trout stays together.

And all of the yummies inside will stay there.

Then we're going to wrap this with foil, or wrap it in foil, we're going to use some non-stick foil, and we're just going to wrap this up.

And then we're ready to put it on a campfire.

Or if you want, you can put this in your oven.

Or if you'd like you can put it in a cast-iron skillet with some oil.

You can pan fry this as well.

If you don't have the whole trout butterflied, you can use some trout filets and roll them up.

That's what I've done over here.

I just made some little trout bundles, I guess you would say, where I fold them, I put all my ingredients in the middle, folded it over, wrapped it with the bacon, and then I'm going to serve these with some bacon cornbread muffins that I'm going to cook on the grill as well.

So we're cooking all of our whole meal out there on your grill or on your campfire.

It's a great combination and I hope you enjoy the great taste of the outdoors.

You can pop it in and cook it out.

So have a great day and I look forward to seeing you next time here on Simple Cooking.

- Thanks Donna for another delicious recipe.

Joe, tell me more about the caddis hatch.

- Well, again, as we said on previous shows when we've done fly fishing shows, you need to have an assortment of flies, because you never know sometime what's gonna come out.

We had a caddis hatch and the fish were active.

When you hit one like that, your opportunity is a lot more.

You have a lot more fish, opportunities.

He fishes up-river a lot so he was up to what was going on talked to him the week before he was on several caddis hatches.

So we had a pretty good idea we were gonna be successful but working with a guy like that who stays on the water will increase your chances of being successful catching fish.

And so, give him a call, if you've never done that before, that part of the country, give him a call.

- You drew us out part of the total package with the lunch and the whole nine yards.

- Yeah and the drifting part too that's real special.

So it's a fun day in the river.

- No doubt about that.

For Joe Albea, I'm John Moore, thanks for joining us today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

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

- [male announcer]: The production of Carolina Outdoor Journal is made possible in part by: - [female announcer]: The North Carolina Wildlife Rescources Commission.

A fishing license goes a long way towards wildlife conservation in North Carolina.

Over 38,000 miles of managed streams and rivers, and 250,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs.

- [male announcer]: And by EZ Bait and Tackle, family owned and operated.

We fish from fresh to saltwater.

We provide fishing supplies and ad vice to every type of angler.

For all your fishing needs, EZ Bait and Tackle.

And by contributions from PBS NC vi ewers like you.

[light instrumental music] ♪