[gentle orchestral fanfare] - [John] We are today.

This is just a great day.

Especially when the fish are bitin'.

- That's a nice one you've got there, Cameron.

- Cameron, holy smokes.

Cameron you keep this pace up, you might get [mumbles].

- I have a feelin' we're gonna catch Old Moe today.

- Cameron, that's a [mumbles]-sized fish.

You can go ahead and toss him back.

The weather today compared to 'bout 15 years ago when you guys were young children here then.

A little bit hotter but fishin' off a full moon last night, got a little bit of rain.

The conditions here are perfect for what we're here to do when the fish are biting.

I gotta tell you somethin', the excitement level you guys had back then.

Hunter if I remember correctly, you said we caught a bluegill.

It weighed 1,000 pounds.

- [Announcer] The production of Carolina Outdoor Journal is made possible in part by: - [Female Announcer] Wildlife in North Carolina Magazine.

ncwildlife.org/winc.

- [Male Announcer] And by EZ Bait and Tackle, family owned and operated.

We've been fishing since 2003.

Come see the crew in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and we can hook you up for all your fishing needs.

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

Well today's program's about fishing with worms and crickets.

But Joe, it's a trip down memory lane.

- It sure is.

We're gonna take you back in time with our sons when they were youngsters and fishing a pond for bluegill; trophy-sized bluegill using fiberglass fishing poles.

We're gonna bring you up to present day, this past spring when we took 'em back to same pond using a little different fishing gear.

We graduated up to spinning tackle this year, but still caught a lotta fish.

- We'll talk about that in good time.

But Donna's got a recipe today, Fish Tostados?

- That's right.

A Mexican recipe from her today.

Again, a little somethin' different but she always comes to our show with different recipes.

Tune in.

- Well it was an easy day of fishing for me.

Let's catch up with our young men and a walk down memory lane here on the Outdoor Carolina Journal.

Well 15 years ago, I be all excited now, but now I can just sit back.

Watch you grown men fish still in search for Old Moe after all these years.

Cam just like before, looks like you caught the first one.

You fish with crickets.

Hunter, you're gonna try the worm today and see how we do it.

- Try 'em out.

- I don't think that's Old Moe but that's a nice-sized fish.

That is a very nice [mumbles]; how 'bout that?

15 years ago you woulda said that fish weighed 'bout 50 to 100 pounds.

What do you think that fish weighs now?

A pound, pound and 1/2 maybe?

- Maybe.

Maybe a pound.

- The older you get, the more they shrink.

How do you got a fish on?

- I do.

- Boy, you put it right in his mouth there.

That's gonna be about the same size as Cameron.

That's a nice-sized fish too.

- It sure is.

- Very nice.

- There we go.

Almost 15 years ago, you would say you wanna kiss a fish?

I don't think so.

We'll just catch 'em and continue to throw 'em back.

Of course today, you guys think we'll catch Old Moe today?

'Cause when you were younger, that's what you wanted to do all day was just catch Old Moe.

- I think so.

You sure you don't wanna kiss him?

- No I don't kiss fish.

[mumbles] not today.

- There he goes.

- Easy.

Stay with him.

- This one's [mumbles].

- You got him.

Oh man, you got him.

Bring him.

- That's Old Moe.

- Woo hoo, look it here.

- That's Old Moe, daddy.

- You think that's Old Moe?

- Yup, it's Old Moe.

I can tell.

- How can you tell?

- Oh, big.

- He is a large one.

- I think it only [mumbles].

- [John] Cameron, we got another fish on.

- It's a little bit outta there though.

- [John] [mumbles] spot you been fishin' and hittin' today.

- Yeah, it's my little pot of gold out there.

- I think these fish are really likin' those crickets.

- I believe so.

- I think we'll have to move you a little bit to the left there.

Get you to move over just a little bit.

They hittin' the crickets.

We're gonna get you off the worms and get you on crickets.

How 'bout that?

[muffled crosstalk] - Pretty soon we're gon' change you up a little bit.

This is just a great day.

Especially when the fish are bitin'.

- A nice one you got there, Cameron.

- Holy smokes.

Cameron you keep this pace up, you might Old Moe.

- I have a feelin' we're gonna catch Old Moe today.

- Cam, that's a [mumbles]-sized fish.

You can go ahead and toss him back.

The weather today compared to 'bout 15 years ago when you guys were young children here then.

A little bit hotter, but fishin' off a full moon last night, got a little bit of rain.

The conditions here are perfect for what we're here to do and the fish are biting.

I gotta tell you somethin', the excitement level you guys had back then.

Hunter if I remember correctly, you said we caught a bluegill.

It weighed 1,000 pounds.

- He was.

- That brought over a lotta conversation with a lotta folks back then.

As I said then and I'll say it today.

If you catch fish that big, you'll have no trouble havin' folks wanna call and take you fishin', especially when they grow a little bit like that.

He's a big one.

- Yep, it's a boy.

That's a boy.

- How much do you reckon it weigh?

- I think 1,000.

- You think?

What d'you think, Cam?

- Just a few pounds.

- A few pounds.

- I think it's 1,000.

- Think so?

- Or 100 yeah, 100.

- Let's go with 100, I like 100.

'Cause I don't think I can hold 1,000 pounds, what you think?

Hunter I'll tell you what, man.

I thought you gon' start sweatin' gettin' that one in here.

- Get some of that worm.

[John laughing] - He is throwin' my cork off that too.

Look at that.

This might even be Old Moe.

- You think?

You think?

- That's a nice one.

- We've had a couple of hit today, a hit and run that we missed but we got that one.

- Yeah.

- [John] Didn't qualify as Old Moe this time.

- [Cameron] No.

- He's got some nice striping on him.

We've never seen what Old Moe looks like.

But I think once we catch him, we'll know.

- Probably so.

[laughs] - There we go.

- Got a pretty big turtle out there.

Nice fish, Hunter.

- Thanks, man.

- Yeah, not a problem.

- Put some more worm on the hook.

Let's get it back out there.

- It's fightin' a little bit harder than the rest of these other guys.

- Could it be Old Moe?

- It could be.

I don't think Old Moe will pull like a little fish like this guy's pullin'.

- I have a feelin'.

- There's a little fight in this one.

- That's the beauty of fishin' with light tackle.

They all feel like Old Moe.

That's the beauty of it.

- I have a feelin' we're gon' see Old Moe today.

Woke up this mornin'.

There he is, nice fish.

- Very nice, Cam.

Not Old Moe but it's a nice one.

You guys forgot to make a bet of who catches the first fish has to buy the Pepsis durin' the day.

You guys just missed that.

- You're just sayin' that 'cause I got the first one.

- No, the deal is both of you gotta buy me a Pepsi now.

That's just the way it is.

Y'always gotta have a first fish bet.

- A second ago, he just wanted to give up.

- Which is more fun, today or years ago?

'Bout the same.

- About the same.

- I'll tell you what though.

Me and Cameron we're disappointed to hear that we won't gonna be fishin' with those cane poles today.

- [laughs] I can see that.

Those poles they would bend almost double and the smallest fish would feel like it was gonna be so big.

- I got a big one.

I got a big one!

I got one, I got one!

- Alright, hold on a minute.

Can you hold him a minute, Hunter?

- Yeah.

- Stay with him.

- Hunter, bring it over here.

- You sit down.

[Hunter grunting] - Somebody get me a-- - Come on!

- Bring me a cold drink.

Some ice water or somethin'.

Woohoo, look at him!

Look at him.

Sit down in the boat.

Sit down.

My gracious.

Look at that, Hunter.

Sit down, Cameron.

- I think that's 1,000.

- Hunter, sit down.

Cameron, sit down.

Time out.

- A 50.

- Look, them boats on the release on outer banks don't even work this [mumbles].

But you know what?

That's the way to take a kid fishin' because it's not high tech.

You get out there.

You can have fun and the smallest fish, it feels like this is just a great event.

- It's low maintenance.

- Low maintenance.

Exactly right, low maintenance.

High speed but low drag, there you go.

- That is right.

There he is.

- I don't know but he's havin' a time down there.

- There he is, good size one.

- Good fish, Cam!

- Nice.

- Look at that, nice one.

I don't think the competition's on this biggest [mumbles] had today.

- That is.

That's a good-size fish.

- I wouldn't take that if I was you.

- I'm 'bout to go out and catch one.

- Nice fish, Cameron.

- It's about a pound maybe.

- Good-size fish.

- Very good size.

- Real big fish.

- Good fish.

- Catch a few more like that, we'll be set.

- We might have to cook one.

- Alright.

- You 'bout ready to cast one out, dad?

- Won't be long.

Wanna show you how the old timers do it here.

I'm waitin' for everything to get just right and I'm gonna show you how to do it.

- We not havin' a war for the smallest fish.

- Somebody gonna buy me a Pepsi.

If I buy one, you gonna believe that?

[soft acoustic music] - [Hunter] Feels like a good-size fish here.

- Does it?

- What ya got there?

Lemme see.

- Lemme see.

I'll see if I can get him-- - I'm workin' a whole lot.

- That's a nice one.

- There he is.

- That's a nice-size fish.

- He's a jumper, oh oh.

There we go.

Go around our marker here.

There he is.

- Pretty fish.

- Get him in the boat.

He's a good-size fish there.

- Now when you guys were younger, you would have known exactly how many fish you caught at this point.

I guarantee you would've been countin' just as hard as you could go because y'all both were so competitive back in the day.

- You're exactly right.

[John laughing] - Stay in your seat.

Stay with him, play him.

Give him some line.

Stay with him, woo!

Look at him.

Stay with him.

- A big one.

- Stay in your seat, bring him around.

- Big one.

- Pull your bow this way.

Pull your line this way.

Stay with him, stay with him.

- Lemme see.

- Bring him on up here.

- I gotta see this.

- Woo!

- Woo!

- Girl, definitely a girl.

99.

- There he is.

- But you know what he didn't do?

- What's that?

- [John] He did not get your worm.

You're the luckiest man I've ever seen.

- Alright.

- Nice time you go to the bait shop and say can I have two worms for goin' fishin'?

They'll believe ya.

- [chuckles] Alright, let's catch another one.

- Let's catch a few more.

- Take the bait.

There he is.

- [mumbles] Cameron.

[mumbled crosstalk] This looks a little bit different.

I tell ya, lookin' back-- - Ooh, he has a different fish.

- Look it here.

- This little bass here.

- A good pound, 2 1/2 pound bass.

- How about that?

See that, you guys should've been on the first pass of the day.

- You're right.

- Cam you might've got maybe a pound, pound and 1/2 there.

What do ya think?

- I think he's about a pound and 1/2 maybe.

- A good size.

Those are the fun catchin' fish, Mr John.

- It was.

- It's always fun but what are we gonna do?

Send him back and let him grow.

- Yes sir.

- Good job, Cam.

That's first Bass of the day.

- It is.

- Good job, Cameron.

- That was a little more fun than catchin' that little brown.

He fought a little bit more.

- Fish is a fish when you're out here like this.

- That's true.

- Fish is a fish.

- Get back out there and see if I can catch one.

- Yup, Cameron's got another fish on.

Hunter, a lot of things we talk about on Carolina Outdoor Journal is catch and release.

But if you wanna keep a fish like Cameron's got on line, I think that's a good size.

These fish are good on the table.

I tell ya, I'm partial to fried fish and there's nothin' better than fresh fish like this cooked.

It's great on the table.

That brings me to my next question.

You can catch 'em, can you cook 'em?

- Yes sir.

- I know Cameron can.

Can you cook 'em Cameron?

- Oh, I can cook 'em.

- I know Cameron can cook 'em.

Let's see what we go on line here.

- There he is.

Nice little fish there.

I believe this guy's been caught before.

- That fish got some good coloration to him too.

- He does.

- Nice-size fish.

- There you go.

- Send him back.

- I think I'm gonna have to put the honey over there.

- You change worms, you catch three fish on one worm.

You change worms and you just sit there.

What's up with that?

Do you lost your touch?

- I must have.

- [laughs] I'll tell you what it is.

We got talkin' about fried.

The whole atmosphere has changed here.

Catch and release is one thing.

When you start talking about keepin' 'em and fryin' 'em, the attitude changes.

- They have scattered out.

- Fishin' got a little slow here.

Y'all have bored me 'cause you didn't catch as fast as I wanted you to.

I wanna show you how to do it.

- We're tryin' now, we're tryin'.

- [mumbles] how the old folks do it.

I'm gonna try this.

- Gonna show us the old-fashioned way?

- Now I don't know if it's old-fashioned way.

Not everything I do is old-fashioned 'cause I'm old.

But I'm gonna see.

I like the way these worms have been workin' for Hunter today, so I'm gon' try that.

That way I won't have to spend as much time baitin' up as they start hittin' again.

- That'll work.

- I bet you the only thing he catch is that turtle that keeps [mumbles].

- [mumbles] I'm gonna show you boys how to get 'er done.

- We'll see 'bout that one now.

- Think about that for a second.

Let's see what I can do.

Lemme see where the spot is.

Where's the spot, Hunter?

- Right to the left of me.

- Let's see what we got out there.

- Got us another one on the line.

[mumbled crosstalk] Tough little guy.

Let's see what comes up outta the water here.

- Mr Jonathan, we're sittin' in a honey hole.

- I hope we are 'cause I'm 'bout ready to show you boys somethin' here in a minute.

'Bout time I start talkin' about y'all not catchin' anything.

Here you go again.

You guys have the-- - Ooh, man.

- Did you lose him?

- He got off right when he got to the-- - [mumbles] was Old Moe.

- No, that wasn't no Moe.

- You talk about the one that got away.

- That's the one that got away.

- He was here.

- But the good thing about it, we can catch him again another day.

- We can.

- There he is.

- I bet you catch Old Moe before I do.

- I don't know now.

- Tell ya one thing, that's a nice-size fish you got there.

- He sure is.

- Good-size fish.

- Bring him on up here.

Mr John, he's got some good coloration.

We'll put him in the sun there.

- That's a nice fish.

- Let's see here.

- And he still didn't get your worm.

- He still didn't.

Lucky worm.

- [chuckles] Good job.

- Look at that.

- Good job.

Don't move for a moment.

- I thought I did.

He was fightin' good.

Take a little drag out.

- I don't really think I've had a bite.

What was that I used to teach you guys, patience?

- Patience.

[John laughing] Gotta have patience.

- I might need a refresher course today.

- You're sittin' in the honey hole.

- This is the one.

- There he is.

- You might need a net for this one.

- Alright.

- You think?

[mumbled crosstalk] Why don't you get him in the boat for me there?

Oh yeah, nice fish.

- There he is.

- Nice fish.

That is a nice fish.

But you can't catch Old Moe.

- That's right.

- Because an elusive fish, the legend is just incredible.

But I think we all need to agree on one thing, that that is the biggest fish of the day.

Y'all agree or not?

Lemme rephrase that.

You guys wanna ride home with me today.

- Yes sir.

- That's a big fish.

- Is that the biggest fish of the day?

- Yes sir, it is.

- I thought it was.

- Can I let him go?

My arms gettin' tired.

- [mumbles] get in the truck.

Joe, that particular day we rigged one with a cricket, one with a worm and turns out, either/or.

They were hittin' everything.

- That's right.

That bluegill for all [mumbles].

This is in May, full moon.

They were all and of course the guys... Like you said, the mixed bag got to 'em and they really didn't make any difference.

- It was a good day of fishin'.

I wanna talk about the equipment we used.

Gonna catch up with Cliff now in gear time.

[soft acoustic music] Cliff I think the hard part of fishin' today was the realization that our boys had grown up to be men and we were here in this same area about 15 years ago when they were young men fishin'.

Now they've grown up.

But we started out fishin' back then with usin' a pole like you got in your hand.

Now this is 100% graphite.

They make it fiberglass too, but tell me about this, it's just so simple.

It makes fishin' fun.

- It's a version of a cane pole.

It's very light and it's basically inexpensive.

It's easy, anybody can use it.

You can use crickets, fishin' worms, even minnows on these poles.

You can break it down into just like a three piece.

Goin' to about three foot long.

When you put it behind your seat or in the trunk and you have it right there available, all you do is add the bait in the pond.

- You talk about bait.

Let's talk about the bait we used, real simple again.

- Okay, yup.

Crickets obviously, right here and fishin' worms.

They're inexpensive also and very easy to get in most places.

- When you got a child fishin' and you get a fish on with this, it is like holy smoke.

It's gotta be the biggest fish in the world at that particular time.

It's good play.

- Absolutely, it's like a fly rod in a sense.

It gives you really good play on a hard fight of any kind of fish.

- Well today I had it easy.

I didn't have to bait hooks and I didn't have to all that because they had upgraded a little bit to the rod and reel.

- [Cliff] Absolutely, they worked too hard last time.

- [laughs] But it was a lot of fun.

- It was a lot of fun.

- You know another thing too Cliff, is we would never leave without our flotation device.

That is so important.

But another thing too is knowing that you're goin' to a pond that's got some fish.

Because what we did today in the boat, we could've very easily accomplished by bein' on the bank of the pond.

- Absolutely, you can walk around most ponds.

Most ponds are clean enough.

If people just take care of 'em and they do any management at all, they'd have really good fishin'.

- And managin' a pond is like managin' a garden.

You gotta do it.

- Absolutely, you sure do.

- Well we had a good time today.

I hope we can come back one day and say I got the grandboys out here or the granddaughters out here.

We're here to fish again.

Can ya get out those graphite poles for us?

I hope you'll be around to do that and still put us on some great fishin'.

- Y'all come back and enjoy.

- It has been our pleasure, thank you very much.

- You're welcome.

- I hope you could use that information for you adults that may be takin' a young person fishing.

Now let's catch up with Donna.

She's got a recipe today we call it Fish Tostados.

[soft acoustic music] - Hi, today in the kitchen we're makin' Fish Tostados.

They are so great.

You're gonna have this nice crunchy fish and this fabulous salad underneath a meal in one.

Let's go ahead and get started.

What I've done is I've chosen some flounder today.

I have just cut that into bite-size pieces or two to three inch pieces.

You can use any type of fish you have that your family likes.

You might have in your freezer or something maybe you'd caught that day.

You can also use shrimp or you could use scallops or a combination would be great as well.

We're gonna take our Southern Bake.

The great thing about this is it comes with your bag and your breader altogether.

I'm gonna fold down my bag.

I like to just fold down the top a little bit, then I'm gonna take my breader.

You're gonna get two pouches in your box, so you can have two meals outta this.

We're going to place that into our bag.

Then I'm gonna take my fish, I'm just gonna pop it into my bag and give it a quick toss.

Make sure that it's well-coated.

You wanna make sure there's air in the bag so it moves around.

I just twist my top a little bit and give it a little toss so that's well-coated.

I'm just gonna use these.

Then I'm gonna pull it out and place it on my foil.

I like to line my baking sheet with foil.

You're gonna preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

You're gonna bake this for about five to 10 minutes.

Just until they're nice and golden brown.

It depends on the thickness of your filets how long you cook it.

You might just wanna test it after about five minutes.

While this is baking for our 10 minutes, we're gonna throw together our salad.

We're gonna take... Our salad is gonna consist of some romaine lettuce.

I just bought some in a bag that was already torn up.

You can buy it and chop it yourself if you want.

But you know me, I'm all about some convenience and some quick.

Then I have some purple cabbage that I've shredded on a mandolin or you can use your knife and shred it up real quick.

Or you can buy it, if you can find it on a salad bar or already shredded, even better.

Then we're gonna use these great radishes.

They're beautiful.

They have some nice color, some texture.

Some crunch and a little different look to it.

Instead of shredded, we're gonna have some round.

Then some scallions.

I'm just gonna toss it altogether.

There's no dressing on this.

You can if you want, but we're gonna try to make these a little bit healthier.

So while that's cooking, we're gonna...

It comes out and it looks likes this.

Your fish is nice, golden brown and crunchy on the outside but tender and juicy on the inside.

Great flavor.

Then we're gonna take our tortillas.

These are corn tortillas you just buy in a bag at your grocery.

Then we're gonna build our tostados.

We're gonna have some purple cabbage on here.

We're gonna have some great lettuce.

Some radishes and then we're gonna put a few cherry tomatoes on here.

Then we're gonna top it with our fish and then we're gonna top it with this great sauce that is some low-fat Greek yogurt which is a plain Greek yogurt.

Some chills and a little bit of lime juice.

And you just put it in your blender and mix it up and you're ready to go.

So I hope you enjoyed these fish tostados and I'll look forward to seeing you next time here on Simple Cooking.

- Thank you Donna for that recipe.

Joe, we're gonna go back to the pond.

A few things, first of all they learned how to really judge the size of a fish as they seated in the boat.

They were really good with the equipment.

- Oh really.

They both are accomplished fishermen now.

They really didn't... Back then they were callin' a bluegill of maybe a pound, 50 pounds.

I even heard 1,000 pounds.

But this time I think they finally saw the true weight of these fish.

Anybody that bluegill fishes knows that these are nice fish and Cliff does a great job.

He manages a series of ponds outside of Lewisburg and does a great job with pond management.

He's got a pond management company If you have a pond and you wanna make it a trophy bluegill or bass, give him a call 'cause he can put you in some good fish.

- Joe I think the story here, it goes to show if you take care of the pond, there'll be fishing for generations to come.

- Absolutely.

- For Joe Albea, I'm John Moore.

Thanks for joining us on this special day on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- [Announcer] Make sure to visit our website for more information.

- [Announcer] The production of Carolina Outdoor Journal is made possible in part by: - [Female Announcer] Wildlife in North Carolina Magazine.

ncwildlife.org/winc.

- [Male Announcer] And by EZ Bait and Tackle, family owned and operated.

We've been fishing since 2003.

Come see the crew in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and we can hook you up for all your fishing needs.

[light instrumental music] ♪