[piano intro] - I'm gonna try that one again.

- Just be thorough.

- Yeah.

Like that bite you were talking about a while ago.

I was pop pop pop pop pop.

Felt like a brim - Yeah.

and instead of whacking him quick I let him eat it until he actually solidly swam off with it.

- Right.

- And he was there.

We're fishing on the full moon so it just ain't, there he is, Oh!

Picked it up and put it down.

- Yep.

Dang.

- There he is.

He's got it.

- Jack his jaws.

Yeah, man.

- What do you do for a living?

He's gonna jump!

- Yeah-hay!

- You're a good guide.

- Yeah man!

- I like this stuff.

What are you doing tomorrow?

[light instrumental music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - [Male Announcer] The "Carolina Outdoor Journal" is brought to you by: - [Female Announcer] "Wildlife in North Carolina Magazine."

- [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.

- Hello.

Welcome to the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

Well today's program is all about bass fishing, but Joe, we're gonna do it on structure today.

- That's right, John.

We're gonna join a couple of good friends of ours down off the Chowan River near Edenton for some summertime bass fishing using structure.

Fishing with a good friend of ours, Bryan DeHart, from Manteo, and a good friend of his, who actually is fishing with us for the first time.

His name is Justis Bobbitt from Edenton, and he's come on the bass fishing scene in a big way.

He's one of the top tournament bass fisherman we've got here in North Carolina now.

But they were fishing structure in June when it's pretty warm in areas that he's fished his whole life, and caught some fish.

- Talking about catching fish, now they're gonna give us some details of how they do that with those soft baits in gear time.

- That's right.

We'll go back to the creek and they'll lay 'em out and show us what they used.

Plastic worms are probably the preeminent bait of the day and caught the most fish, but they'll share that with us.

- And Donna's all about biscuits and chicken salad.

- That's right.

A real good recipe from her using a recipe for biscuits she's come up with along with a really tasty chicken salad.

- Well if you like bass fishing get ready because that's where we're headed today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- All right, Justis.

Mid-June.

What do you got on the agenda for the day?

- Well, this time a year the water warms up.

Personally, I like to back off and fish cover.

You know, touch deeper water.

- Uh huh.

So like, bridges?

Well, we're fishing a bridge right now.

- Yeah.

Bridges are perfect.

Plenty of pylons and structure and bait.

You want to be around bait.

- Uh huh.

- Fish this time of year will start to pack up and school.

- I got you.

So we'll be fishing some visible structure like what we got here.

- Right.

- But also you got some plenty of places where we can throw to some submerged stumps and stuff like that.

- That's right.

Yep.

- Cool.

I'm looking forward to that, man.

I don't get to do this much anymore.

- Yep.

- So I'm looking forward to this.

Perfect.

All right.

Put me in the meat.

Pay me back for all them speckled trout trips.

- [laughs] That's exactly right.

I've been thinking about those.

I'm gonna go on the down current side just to see what happens.

- Okay.

- The first few drops here because it gradually goes from three feet to four and a half to six feet down to nine right through there.

- So we just need to figure out the depth the fish are gonna be holding in.

- That's right.

- Here's one.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

I hear you boy.

That was a nice fish, you know.

You just skipped it under there as soon as it got back to that down current side, man.

He nailed it.

Surprised me.

That's my first, it's what?

The end of June.

That's my first bass this year.

- [Bryan] Speckled trout fishing been so good it's been hard to go bass fishing.

Look!

That's a pretty fish.

You probably knew he was there.

Just wanted me to catch the first one.

Yeah man.

I like that.

I mean, we're fishing right down those pylons like that he had to be there.

There's so much bait around.

I mean he just popped it.

Is he two pounds?

- [Justis] A pound and three quarter.

- Yeah that's what I'd say.

- [Justis] Keeper.

He's a keeper.

- Yeah well, not today.

- [Justis] [laughs] In a tournament, I should say.

- Pretty fish.

This water's clear isn't it?

- [Justis] Pretty.

- Yep.

I was thinking there'd be one on every set of pylons down through here, but he couldn't stay in that little shiny shad right there when it come down through there.

Had to have some of that this morning.

That was funny 'cause I'm so used to calling it Justis - Yeah.

- When people fishing with me.

There's a bite.

I saw him when he ate yours.

- Yep.

He's on there.

- I can see it.

Your rod's still jumping.

Is he in that stump down there?

- Yeah he's in some cover out here.

This is a tournament day nightmare.

- Tournament day nightmare?

Can I help you do anything?

- Watch my pole.

- I saw it a while ago.

- Yep.

See if I can.

- [Bryan] Want me to back you up or anything?

- Yeah.

Back me up.

Let's see here.

He came out.

- [Bryan] Get him out?

- He's all out of whack.

- [Bryan] He's all out of whack, but it is a large mouth.

He's lassoed isn't he?

There you go.

There's a little jump out of him.

He's like, "What in the world just happened?"

Boy he was giving you a fit wasn't he?

- If you feel my line, you'd understand.

All for that little thing.

But, he bit my hook and that's all that matters.

- [Bryan] Yes sir.

Now you're at least one for four.

- [laughs] Yeah.

There he goes.

- [Bryan] See you little bass.

- Little 14 inch-er.

Bryan you should feel my line.

- [Bryan] Yeah.

He had you wrapped up from the get-go.

- Feels like a, uh... - [Bryan] Immediately.

- A weed eater had me.

- Pretty work.

- Thank you sir.

Do you see that, thunk thunk?

- Yeah.

I could see it.

- You called it.

- Plain as day.

I knew it.

- I said come on out of there buddy.

Oh yeah!

- That's not a bad little fish.

- Oh yeah.

- He ate it way out here.

- [Justis] That's one we just saw, I'm sure.

- [Bryan] You think it was?

- [Justis] Yeah.

- [Bryan] Saw that fish blow up a while ago?

- [Justis] There he is.

- I let him eat it for a second.

Pop, pop, pop.

It felt like a brim.

- Look at my fish compared to his fish.

[laughs] Well there's a pack of 'em right here.

- Yeah man.

- I'm gonna back off.

- Back off and we'll get us another bite here.

- Pretty catch.

- Justis he's got a little parasite in his mouth.

You see any of those things in here?

- [Justis] Give him a kiss.

- I don't think so.

- [laughs] No I haven't to be honest.

But hot weather like this is so tough on fish, especially after the spawn.

- Yeah.

- A post-spawn bass is struggled anyway.

- Yep.

- But he's pretty.

- And look.

He's got some abrasions or something on his side there.

But, he ate my worm.

He probably wishes now he hadn't of done that.

They are pretty little fish.

This is the first time I've ever fished up here before in my life.

- And you're wearing me out.

I don't like that.

- It sounds like you need a new bass partner.

It sounds like me, and Mike and Bobby.

- You need to get my partner.

- We oughta fish with them.

Where are they at today?

- That's right.

- I need some help.

- I saw it done on TV one time.

I stayed at Holiday Inn Express last night.

- Well sit down there and run the trolling motor and watch.

- I'll just keep you in the honey hole.

What's aggravating is I lost one - Yeah.

- Right here.

There's a pack of 'em.

I think we'll get a bite.

- Well they came up schoolin' while ago.

- Yeah.

- They blew up a time or two.

I'm gonna try that one again.

- Just be thorough.

- Yeah.

And like that bite you were talking about a while ago, it was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.

It felt like a brim, and instead of whacking him quick I let him eat it until he actually solidly swam off with it.

- Right.

- And he was there.

We're fishing on the full moon, so it just ain't... - There he is.

- Oh!

Picked it up and put it down.

- Yep.

Dang.

- There he is.

He's got it.

- Jack his jaws.

Yeah man.

- What do you do for a living?

He's gonna jump!

- [Bryan] You're a good guide.

- [Justis] Yeah man.

- [Bryan] I like this though.

What are you doing tomorrow?

- [Justis] [laughs] Back to back cast.

- They all gonna be the same size?

- Schoolin' bass typically are.

You know, birds of feather flock together.

- Sure.

Dang.

Don't have to worry about him going anywhere.

- You know in deep water, or deeper structure I should say, I mean it easily could be a four plus pounder.

- I'm telling you what, it's just the angle of that hook.

They're liking my watermelon worm aren't they boss?

- Yes sir.

- See if we can make it three in a row.

- Yeah, show me one.

- I'm ready for one of these.

Oh!

I pulled him.

Can you believe that?

He was swimming right to the boat.

Get ready 'cause he was right there.

Look what he did to my worm.

Dang.

Now - My teaching of bad tricks.

- I'm taking after you now.

Let's see how quick I can put out.

I'm surprised he spit it out, but he was swimming right at me with it just as fast as he could come and I couldn't ever catch up with him.

- You remind me of, rigging that worm, when I used to mate on a charter boat, the white marlins would come in, and man they'd be eatin' you up.

I'd be trying to rig and shaking.

Just shaking like a leaf man.

- I wouldn't have been a good charter, you know, offshore mate.

I don't think quick enough.

There's something going on out there in that cockpit, isn't it?

- Yes.

It's adrenaline pumping.

= That's a trip.

I cannot believe that.

Taking after you.

- He's running at us.

- [Bryan] Yes sir.

- [Justis] Come on baby.

Come show yourself.

- [Bryan] Go ahead and give us another little jump.

- [Justis] Here comes a little jump, maybe.

- There's that same deal.

Cookie cutter.

- Yep.

Yep.

- Well at least we know he ate that worm too.

- I think mine's a little bigger than yours.

- Not even a chance.

Not even a chance.

I tell people all the time on the boat, you know, on guide trips, I was like, "Well heck, you're paying the bill.

"Certainly yours is bigger than mine."

- Yep.

- What is that on his tail?

- You can see this bass was on the bed.

That's just a sore, but she has been on the bed.

Look at her tail has fanned out.

- Of course she's concave belly so she's obviously spawned out.

- Definitely done.

Post-spawn bass.

- Yep.

- Man, on a game day you'd love to have a limit of those just to start off with.

- I bet.

I ain't gonna give you a chance to cast back out there.

Hey man, but that' four, five, six bites right here in 10 or 15 minutes so I'm happy with this.

We'll stay right here as long as you want to.

- As long as they're bitin' we'll stay.

- Good gracious, son.

We were talking about those little fish I was catching?

It's a good thing I wasn't standing any closer you would've knocked my hat off.

- You were talking about that hook set.

My little boy gets on me.

"Dad, why do you set the hook so hard?"

He just doesn't understand these deep bass you got to power drive 'em.

- That was funny.

- It's part of it.

I about knocked your head off.

- Yeah.

I got quick reflexes.

Charter fishing, as you well know.

Look at him.

- Look at him.

- You got to have quick reflexes and good peripheral vision 'cause there's no telling what's coming or when.

- Buck shot and quarter half buck shots.

- Yeah.

Most definitely.

Man this little point right here is stacked with fish, stacked with 'em.

Most people can't do this.

I would've been going already.

- Right.

- I mean, is this a patience deal or what?

- Well, there's a lot of cover out there and with current like we've had this morning and cover, you just have to be patient and hit, I mean any stump.

One little stump or little piece of brush or cover, or whatever is liable to hold the fish of your life, you know?

You never know.

And that's no exaggeration when I say that.

- Right.

But this deep water fishing is a patience game.

- That's exactly right.

It kind of... - That's wild.

- [Justis] It's fun to me.

- [Bryan] I don't think most people probably can't do this.

Not very long.

- [Justis] Right.

- [Bryan] Everybody wants to fan cast and go.

Looking for aggressive fish.

- Right.

And if I were practicing for a tournament, I probably would go over this spot.

If they didn't bit for the first couple rounds, I'd roll and wouldn't never come back.

And could've easily passed up, you know, - Yeah?

you're starting spot or whatever in a tournament.

- It's just a slow game, but it's obvious there's fish out here.

- JB!

- Talk to me!

- Man!

- Got me in the pits and you're catching fish.

- Lifted my rod up over your head 'cause - He's coming at us.

- [Bryan] You're trying to mess me up with the trolling motor.

There's a little jump.

I thought that was gonna be the man.

He's got a little more - [Justis] Spunk to him.

- [Bryan] A bit more spunk.

Yeah.

It's like athletes.

People.

Some are better athletes than others.

It's what I tell people all the time about why some fish pull harder than other ones.

- That's a two pounder, isn't it?

- Yeah man.

Now that's a chunk there.

- Fat, girthy fish, yep.

- Yes sir.

Yep.

That was fun.

That was no joke.

What was getting ready to happen right there.

- He knew what the deal was.

- Yeah.

- Look how fat his tail is.

- I know.

- He's just a meaty, healthy fish.

- Healthy looking.

Healthy, healthy.

Yeah.

Come back and see us again.

Just don't tell anybody we're here yet.

Sweet.

- Pretty work.

Pretty work.

- But he was coming at me so.

- Yeah they've been - There we go.

Hey!

We changed the angle.

You just told me that.

Watch what happens when we change our angle here.

I was coming right down off of that edge.

Come here, little dude.

Look how gold or orange colored.

What is up with that?

Is that just tannic acid water?

- Yeah.

- That's the first one we've caught that had that much.

That's almost the same color as my shirt.

We're color coordinated bass fishing.

- He's hooked up with a drum.

Been rubbin' off on a red drum.

- As salty as the water is, I'm surprised we haven't caught one.

Yeah.

Go tell your mama to come see me.

- That's right.

- Hey man, pretty work.

Keep me in the shade.

Keep me in the fish.

You're a pretty good guide.

- Well you did manage to catch some fish that day.

- We did.

And for that time of year, in June when it start warming up, water temperature starts warming up, the bass start seeking shelter to get away from the direct sunlight and the heat of the day.

And Justis has been fishing up there long enough to know that he knows where that underwater structure and some of the above structure with fish, like the bridge, he knows where the fish hang out and he showed us that day.

- Well we're gonna find out more.

Let's find out about those soft baits.

Let's go to gear time.

[relaxing music] - Justis that worked out pretty good this morning.

I was worried to death when I come across the sound bridge it was lightening all over here and coming, Windsor had severe thunderstorm warnings and everything else.

But by the time I got here, we waited a few extra minutes and were able to put the boat in.

The winds falling out.

It's nice.

It turned into a really pretty day.

- Yep.

It was one of those, we need the rain, but I didn't want it today.

- I know.

I know for what you like doing on this deep water structure fishing - Sun is our friend.

- Yeah.

Sun comes out, puts the fish on the stumps.

And we caught some fish.

We picked at them all day.

We never, we had one spot that worked out pretty well.

Spot, to spot, to spot which was nice.

You tournament fish.

You're familiar with a lot of spots in here.

You do your homework.

We were able to bounce from one to the other, and mainly, we threw plastics all day.

- Right.

- I used a spinner rod for a little bit this morning throwing these fluke-style baits and a little shiny shad here.

I know you throw yours in a bait caster, but most of the time we were throwing heavier bait casters, bigger worms, a couple different colors, and I'll let you talk about that.

It just worked out well.

I had a good time doing this.

- Yeah.

When we started this morning you caught one or two on a fluke, and we lost one.

And that's a top of the water column type bait you know when fish are schoolin' or workin' on bait fish this works really well.

You got around a piece of cover under the bridge I believe and caught one.

- That's right.

- It just works out good.

Imitates fists, darts, and - Little bait fish.

- Suspenders - Skippin' all up through the surface.

Plenty of bait up here right now.

It's insane.

- Right.

Then when the sun came out we started beating stumps and some cover.

And I like to throw it on a bait caster.

Seven foot, medium heavy rod with at least about 15 pound test and I believe that's a quarter ounce head with a four or five alt hook.

- Yep.

And basically the colors we fished was a watermelon, here.

You fished a grape most of the day or grape and black.

We caught a ton of fish.

I had a ball.

- Yeah man.

- I'm ready to go eat some lunch now.

- Yes sir.

About that time.

- All right, man.

- Thank you.

Enjoyed it.

- Thank you for the trip.

- Any time.

- We thank you for that valuable information now let's catch up with Donna in the kitchen.

Here's one of those recipes you're gonna wanna follow close.

She's got a recipe for biscuits and also for chicken salad.

So let's join Donna, she's in the kitchen on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

[relaxing music] ♪ Hi.

Today in the kitchen we're making some herb biscuits and we're gonna fill 'em with your favorite chicken salad.

This is a great time of year to do it and it is a wonderful herb.

We're gonna use dill today, but you can use other herbs if you like.

Whatever is your favorite.

So I love the smell of dill.

We grow dill in our backyard so that's what I'm using.

We're gonna take our biscuit mix which already has all of our shortening in it which is great, a nice time saver there.

And then we're going to add some fresh dill to this and I just rip mine off and then I just use my scissors and I'm just gonna chop it right in.

And I'm gonna go ahead and do that before I add my water because I want to make sure that it's distributed around my bowl and in my biscuit mix 'cause I don't want it to be all in one lump.

So we're just gonna toss that together until it's mixed well.

And then we're gonna add in our water.

And what you need to make sure that you add the minimum amount of water, stir it up, and then see if you need to add more because it depends on what the weather is outside.

If it's rainy or if it's really humid, you're gonna need less water than if it's dry outside.

So we're gonna add in our water.

And I'm gonna go ahead and give this a stir 'cause you don't want your biscuits to be too runny.

You want it to be just right.

So we're gonna mix this together, and once it's all moist, we're gonna turn it out onto our board, we're gonna roll it out, and then we're gonna use cookie cutters to cut out our circles or I like to use different shapes for mine.

I like to use some heart shapes and maybe whatever is seasonal just 'cause I think it makes it more fun.

I have some frilly ones that I like to use depending on who I'm making biscuits for.

And if you want to serve these as a little appetizer you can use some smaller biscuit cutters as well.

So we have it all ready and it's soft.

And we're just gonna turn this out on our bowl, I mean onto our mat, and then we're just gonna roll it out, and then we're gonna use our cookie cutters.

Cut 'em out into different shapes.

Place them on our baking sheet, and bake those for about 15 minutes.

Just until they're nice and golden brown at about 450 degrees.

So we're using a warm, a pretty hot temperature and we're gonna bake these for about 15 minutes until they're nice and golden brown and cooked throughout.

And then if you'd like, you can bring them out and brush 'em with a little bit of butter if you'd like, which I kind of like to do.

It makes them a little yummy on that top.

So you can see this is what they look like when they come out.

And then we're gonna build our biscuits.

We're gonna slice these in half using a serrated knife.

This is my little round one that I have.

And we're just gonna slice that in half.

Open 'em up, and we're gonna do our heart as well.

And this just makes a nice, interesting display for you and for your friends.

And the herbs in 'em are gonna be so wonderful.

You can use a combination of herbs if you like.

We're gonna use some of our favorite chicken salad.

You can either make your chicken salad if you want.

I like to make mine with lots of fruits.

Apples and oranges and cranberries in it.

You can buy some if you like, if that makes it easier, if you have a brand that you really like.

So we're just gonna fill our biscuit, top it, and you are ready to go.

So let's take a look.

I did a nice little display on a cake stand.

It just makes it a little bit more interesting.

Adds some height if your doing a buffet, it'll add a little height to your buffet.

It'd be great with some fruit salad or a regular salad as well.

So I hope you enjoy these herb biscuits with your favorite chicken salad.

And I look forward to seeing you next time here on Simple Cooking.

- Thanks, Donna.

I told you that was gonna be a tasty recipe.

Joe, let's go back.

Fishing on a structure.

Do it in the summer, do it in the fall.

- That's right.

Well you can do it, yeah exactly.

The summertime when it's hot, wintertime when it gets pretty cool, water temperature starts dropping, structure becomes an important part of a bass's life.

And knowing where that structure is, how to fish it, what lures to present, is key to success.

And of course, being successful on the tournament trail, like Justis has become over the last two or three years, you need to know that.

And he's quite good at it.

We, like I said, it was a pretty warm day that day and we didn't have to do too much moving around.

He had a number of areas that he'd been catching bass on, had been holding fish, so we just spent time, you know at several pieces of underwater structure and caught fish and didn't need to go anywhere else.

- A few tricks of the trade and you're ready to go.

- Just follow the pros.

- There you go.

- For Joe Albea, 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.

- [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.

[light instrumental music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪