[piano intro] - [Joe] There he is, yes sir.

- [Johnny] Alright.

- Yes sir, good pull.

- [Johnny] That'll be another mullet, maybe.

- [Joe] He bit just like it, like a runaway freight train.

- [Johnny] Yeah, sometimes they hit just the just, look at him fighting.

Now they can get it right there in that surf.

- [Joe] They do, don't they?

Yes sir.

- [Johnny] Yeah, man, pretty fish.

Uh-oh, here's another one.

- Yes sir, Johnny looks like we're into a few fish.

- [Johnny] I think we found 'em.

- That's right.

I think you found 'em, you're the driver.

[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, if you like going to the beach, you're gonna like today's show 'cause we're gonna be fishing the beach up and down the beach, having a big old time.

- That's right, looking for fish, working our way down the beach, reading the beach.

The sloughs, the sandbars.

Fishing with Johnny Hauser, one of the better surf fishing guys we've got on the coast.

He knows the beach, he knows how to read the beach.

Fishing with a good friend of ours, Joe Malat, who's been with us on a number of shows, who is one of the top surf fishing experts we've got here in North Carolina.

And they're going to teach you a little bit about how to and what to look for on the beach, how to read the beach, catching a variety of fish.

- Now, fresh cut bait, real important.

We'll talk about that in Gear Time.

Right, and both of 'em will stress that.

You need good, fresh bait, and that'll make the difference sometimes in catching fish.

- Now, Donna's in the kitchen with a recipe, Lemon Drop Fish.

- Yeah, that sounds a little different, but it's got a real good taste to it, so pay attention.

- All right, we got a lot coming your way today on the "Carolina Outdoor Journal."

[soft music] [soft music continues] - Johnny.

Looks like a great day today.

We've got a little bit of cloud cover, a little bit of light, northeast wind, but it looks like it's gonna be a great day on the beach.

- I tell you, it's a beautiful day for August.

It's not hot, - Feels great.

- Just about perfect conditions as far as I'm concerned.

The water looks real good.

The tide's out right now in a couple hours to getting little water back in these holes, I think we'll do well.

- That'd be great.

What's our game plan for today?

- Well, you see this, well as we rode up the beach, you saw the little holes and we're just gonna sort of hole hop from from here on back down south.

This storm, recent storms, have really messed up the island, but it helped fishing.

It's got a lot of little pockets in it now.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I think we'll do well.

- That's good, that's good.

Looks like a pretty place to start here.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

- Well, let's see if we can catch a fish or two.

- All right, I'm gonna get, I know I'm fishing on credit- - There you go - [Johnny] So let me get some bait in here.

Get him.

- Oh, there he is, yes sir.

- [Johnny] Alright.

- Yes sir, good pull.

- [Johnny] That'll be another mullet, maybe.

- He bit just like it, like a runaway freight train.

- [Johnny] Yeah sometimes they hit just a, just, well look at him fighting now.

They can get it right there in that surf.

- [Joe] They do, don't they?

Yes sir.

- [Johnny] Yeah, man.

Pretty fish.

Uh-oh, here's another one.

- Yes sir, Johnny, looks like we're into a few fish.

- [Johnny] I think we found 'em.

- That's right.

I think you found 'em, you're the driver.

- I always like somebody else to pick the spots.

- You have to either take the credit or the blame, one of the two.

- That's right, that's right.

There's another pretty little mullet.

- [Joe] Yes, sir, that's a good fish.

- [Johnny] Yes sir.

- [Joe] Excellent fish, excellent fish.

- [Johnny] That tide's just getting enough to uncover these sand fleas- - Well, you said it was- - [Johnny] And they're coming right in.

- It was gonna get right when the tides started come in a little bit.

- [Johnny] He'll be good in the grease, you know it?

- [Joe] Yes, he will.

- [Johnny] That's about as good a fried fish as you can get.

- They're a fine fish to catch, and you said, a terrific table fish.

I mean, just often overlooked, but not overlooked by too many people who know what they're missing.

- I was gonna say, surf fishermen are- - That's right.

- They know what to do with it.

- That's exactly right.

- [Johnny] But, that's great, let's get another one.

- [Joe] Let's do it.

- Yeah, we were talking about hole hopping earlier.

When we'd go this time, which, the next one's just a hundred yards there.

But that little structure is, is pretty much what I like to fish on.

You fish, I don't know, I feel like they're coming along that bar and they'll go into these little holes and... - Well, you don't have any real hard structure here in the beach.

You've got the deeper places next to the shallow places and the bars and the little place like that, that's two or three feet or maybe two feet deeper than the spot next to it, can be all it takes to hold a few fish.

- Exactly.

That little ledge if you were swimming or whatever when you go out and you take that one step that you go to your waist.

- Yep.

- Those edges, right there, is what I typically try to fish on.

- Yep, and that edge can be in really close.

- Oh yeah.

- A lot of folks tend to want to throw a long way out and get that, you gotta fish!

- All right!

I believe we do.

Not much to him.

- [Joe] Is he still there?

- Yeah, I believe, but it's just not much to him.

Maybe a small mullet, a little pompano or something.

- [Joe] That's okay, that's all right.

- Hey, he's getting bigger, he's a-comin'.

Look at him right there.

- [Joe] There he is.

- [Johnny] That's a nice mullet.

- [Joe] Looks like a mullet, sea mullet.

- [Johnny] Look at that, man, he doesn't give up.

Right in all the way in that little shallow water.

He just does not give up.

That's a nice mullet.

- [Joe] That's a pretty fish, yes sir.

Boy, that is a nice sea mullet.

- [Johnny] That's pretty mullet.

- [Joe] That is a champion, that's a champion.

- That's supper right there.

- [Joe] Yes sir, that's a good eating-sized fish, too.

- It really is, that's just right.

You come out something good.

- Excellent, excellent.

- Now he's tough but, this black spot- - Yeah- - I don't know, you may know more about him than I do.

There's four or five different varieties.

- Yeah, there's a handful of different varieties.

And I believe that's a Southern king fish.

- Yep.

- We're right on the edge, the Northern, Southern boundary for these two species.

But he's a pretty fish.

- He is pretty.

- He's gonna go in the box I guess.

- Yeah, I think we'll eat that one.

- There you go.

- Well we, we've spotted these little holes as we were coming up at low tide and you could see 'em better.

- Yeah.

- But a lot of times at high water, you'd ride right by here, you can't even tell that there's a hole there.

But this little cliff washed out and a steep place in the beach.

A lot of times that'll be a giveaway that there is a hole there and... - Yeah, well, you know, between high tide and low tide here, what's about two and a half, three feet difference between low tide, high tide?

- I guess, depends- - Two feet, something like that?

- A lot of things play a part in that.

- Yeah, but golly, that's enough water to make a real difference.

But that last bite you had was in real close, wasn't he?

- Oh yeah, he was just right there.

- Yep.

- I mean, I've got that one pole literally right in that wash. - [Joe] Yep.

- But it's, I'm trying to fish, right, there's an edge just like this- - [Joe] Um-hmm.

- Right there.

- Out there in the water.

- And I'm pretty much trying to fish right on that edge.

Really, that's a good description of it, 'cause that's exactly what it'll look like.

It's under the water.

- You're right, it is, that's exactly it.

- Those drum and mullet, they'll come right there and pick stuff out of that edge and they just seem to ride right along it.

It's a good place to fish.

- That's a bite, yep, yeah he's there- - [Johnny] Yeah, man.

- [Joe] He's there.

He was there, I think he's still there.

- [Johnny] He's coming in with it.

- He bit it coming to the beach.

Yeah he's not much, but he's all we got.

- [Johnny] Nah.

- He picked up that bait and kind of came right to the beach, went slack for a little bit and then he was there.

I think we'll let him go- - Yeah.

- Since we've got two or three good keepers in the box.

- I was gonna say, we'll keep the pretty ones.

- Yeah, we'll let him grow up.

But he's a fish.

- [Johnny] Hey, that's a fish.

- That's right.

[waves crashing] - [Johnny] Pretty work.

- Yeah, all right.

- Let's, while you're in, let's load up and let's go right down there in that hole.

- [Joe] That sounds good.

- Let's try that one.

- [Joe] Well shoot, I'll just walk down there.

The next little hole?

- Yeah.

that's why I said, you can pretty much walk it.

[soft music] [soft music continues] - Well, Johnny, we got a few fish today, but we've got a really good condition.

What do you think about the way the surf is?

- Well, we were talking about, I like it with a little color to it more so than just perfectly clear.

I don't know, it seems like the fish, they're more apt to come in closer, get into shallower water.

Of course it can get too muddy, but- - Yeah, that's right, that's right.

- This is not really muddy.

This overcast has got a sort of a green color to the water.

- Yes, it does.

And a little bit of breeze.

It's not blowing too hard, but it's just far from slick calm.

It's, I like this fishing, this kind of day.

- Oh, it's a perfect day.

If you didn't have this breeze- - We'd be hot.

- The green heads would be eating you up.

- Carrying us away wouldn't they, that's right.

- It's a, a breeze is a blessing.

- Yeah, that's right.

- Uh-oh, there he goes.

- Catch him.

- Little fish.

- [Joe] All right.

- Now that one there was on the close-in pole, too.

- [Joe] He sure was, he sure was.

- Let's see what we got here.

- [Joe] Well, another hole, another fish.

That's not so bad.

- Oh, not too bad, nice little mullet.

- [Joe] Yes sir, buddy, yes sir.

He's a good fish- - Yeah.

- [Joe] He's a good fish.

- [Johnny] Yeah.

- Yep, we'll take all them we can get.

- Absolutely.

- And that that bait's sand flea again, huh?

That's been consistent right on through today, hadn't it?

- This time of year, I swear it's about the only thing I like to use.

- Yep.

- A lot of times the little ones eat the shrimp off so fast, and you put sand flea out there, you get a good fish.

- Yep, that's right, good deal.

Okay, well there he is.

- [Johnny] Yeah, bring him in, I believe- - [Joe] He was, he was in the wash when he bit.

- [Johnny] Yeah.

- [Joe] That was an easy lob cast, whoa buddy!

- [Johnny] Oh man, that a nice one, too.

- [Joe] Hello buddy.

- [Johnny] That's a nice mullet.

- [Joe] Well.

- [Johnny] You still ain't got the two-pound one but he's getting better anyway.

- [Joe] We're inching up there.

- [Johnny] That's right.

- [Joe] Ounce by ounce, I guess.

- That was, ouch, ouch, ouch, hold on buddy.

That was a little lob cast right in on the beach.

- [Johnny] Yep, I got one on mine.

- Uh-oh, yes you do.

- [Johnny] This one was up close, too.

- Yes you do.

- He was up real close, too, just a real short cast.

- Oh, there he is.

- Yeah, he's a-comin', he's coming.

Alright.

- [Joe] Yes sir, come on in buddy.

- [Johnny] Two per hole.

- [Joe] Yes sir.

These are almost identical twins, I look like it - [Johnny] Are they?

Like you say, that's twins, isn't it?

- [Joe] It's just about twins, yep.

- [Johnny] Really.

- [Joe] Came out of the same hold, just about.

They sure did.

- Well we've been getting two or three per hole, you reckon we should just pack up and go or we're gonna throw it again?

- Quit while we're ahead or make one more cast?

- I think we'll make one more cast.

- One more cast, yes sir, buddy.

- Gotta make one more.

- You don't wanna leave fish to look for fish.

My daddy told me that.

- [Johnny] Never leave fish to look for fish.

Whatever it is.

I almost believe he is but I can't feel my weight hitting.

He'd run all the way in with it.

- You just never know until you see him.

That's pretty much the deal.

- Aw, it's a little one.

- [Joe] Well, it is, it is.

- [Johnny] It's a little one, he ain't that little.

- No, he is not, relatively speaking, he's not that little.

- I was gonna say, he'll make two, it'd be two good filets on him.

- That's right, he sure would, he sure would.

- He ran, I mean, he hit it and ran in with it.

- I saw a rod tip go and that was it.

And then he just would- - He just, he ran all the way right on into surf, didn't ever pull.

- Well you know, a lot of times folks don't think about that when they get a bite.

Especially if the rod's in the rod holder, they'll think the rod's gonna double over, the line's gonna be going out.

Well it'll go slack.

- That's right.

- And that fish has bit and he's just swimming to the beach.

- Well that's exactly what happened in, and two, you're right, two thirds of the time, especially if you throw far out like we were here, I'm throwing way out on that little bar.

- Yep.

- He'll hit it and, and coming in with it.

And he swam, he really did, he swam all the way right to the beach with it, so.

- Yep, so he hooked himself.

- You got that right!

I, no skill.

- No skill involved.

I'd bet I'd rather be lucky than good anyway, you know?

Well Johnny, we're here about the third week of August and fishing's been pretty good.

What's coming up in the fall and what's going on in the spring before we hit the summertime surf fishing?

- Well, normally the fall is when the most people really love to come fish.

And you got migrations of fish and they're more concentrated.

But drum, sea mullet, pompano, those kind of fish pretty much stick around year-round, as long as the water's above, in the high 50s.

Once it gets to 58, 60 degrees in the spring, they start showing up.

But I would say if anything you'll get more blue fish, more drum.

And it's really, I think it's just more of a concentration of fish in the fall and in the spring.

Traditionally, summertime it's sea mullet, pompano, those kind of fish stay around year-round.

- Just scattered up and down the beach, yeah.

But that magic number in the water temperature, in the surf zone, it seems to be about the mid 50s.

Once it gets below that, things pretty much shut down.

- I think so.

- Yep.

- I think it does, like you say, 54, 55 is the magic number in the spring when it gets to that.

Some years it's April, some years it's March.

- Yeah, you can't watch the calendar.

You have to watch the thermometer.

- You really do.

- That's right, yep.

- Yep.

- [Joe] Well he's giving you a good pull there, Johnny.

- [Johnny] Yeah well that's the good thing about throwing long.

You gotta fight him.

- [Joe] You got got a long way to crank in.

- [Johnny] Got a long way to crank him in.

Another- - [Joe] Well he's okay.

- [Johnny] Another nice mullet.

- [Joe] He's okay, he's got some shoulders to him.

That'll work.

- Yeah, that'll work.

It's not a- - [Joe] Yes sir.

- Not the monster, but he's all right.

- Well I just needed some inspiration.

It's just to show me I have a reason to keep on fishing.

- There you go.

- And I'm there now.

- Thanks guys.

Joe and johnny can read that beach like reading a book.

- That's, that makes a difference.

You can, you can fish a beach till you're blue in the face and not catch fish if you don't know what you're doing.

And knowing what you're looking at and then, like I said earlier in the show, presenting fresh bait will make a difference.

And we caught a good variety of fish today and had a lot of fun.

- Let's learn some of the tricks of the trade.

Let's join the fellas for Gear Time.

[soft music] - Well Johnny, it's been a great day on the beach today.

We had a lot of sea mullet and just fun fishing, every place we stopped.

This little hole-hopping technique of yours seem to pay off today.

- Yep.

- Good catch of sea mullet.

We're using, you're using a revolving spool reel, conventional tackle folks might wanna call it.

I have a spinning rod.

This is about a nine-footer with 14-pound test line on it.

What pound test you got on that one?

- I think this is 20 actually.

- Uh-huh.

- I use these because of the possibility of drum, sometimes that I- - Of a big fish, that's right.

- I think this is a seven-foot.

- Yep.

- It works great in this conditions.

If you were fishing these small fish, it works really good.

- Yeah, with enough backbone to throw three to four or five ounces of lead, if you need to.

- Yeah, but that's a five actually, right there.

- Yeah, yeah.

- 'Cause in high tide situation you need something to make it stick.

It does a good job.

- Yeah.

- It's a little overkill for the mullet, but like I said- - But that's okay, you never know when that big one's gonna come along.

You wanna be ready for it.

- You got that right.

- That's right.

- But- - And that rig you're using, what's all about that?

- Well, it's just something we'd make ourselves.

It's 40-pound mono, couple of stainless hooks.

I think that's about a number two.

That might be a number three.

It's a little bit bigger, but, five ounces, four, whatever it takes to hold out there.

- Pyramid sinker, which is your standard surf sinker.

- Right, if you want to keep the bait stationary, you pretty much gotta go to it.

- Yep.

- We've been using, I noticed you using a little shorter shank hook, but they're both about the same size.

- Um-hmm.

- Like I say, just right for these mullet.

- Yep.

- We've been using dinner for bait.

- That's a pretty shrimp, that's for sure.

- Isn't that pretty.

They're starting to really get nice here in Pamlico Sound.

We also have some finger mullet or that's really a little bigger than a finger mullet, but that's a pretty drum bait if we- - Yes, it is.

- If we'd have found a drum- - But the hot bait today with those sand fleas.

- That has been the hot bait, these little eggs.

I don't know if you can get in there, that that's what they're after.

- Yep, that's right.

- And typically that's what, this time of year, that's what these surf fish are in here feeding on.

And as they say, match the hatch.

If that's what they're biting- - Exactly right.

- That's what you use.

- [Joe] And we were fishing, a lot of these fish we caught were in really close, not a very long distance off the beach.

Right where the waves are breaking right on the shore, where all that activity is in the surf zone.

- [Johnny] Yep, well then I really think mostly that's because this is the main thing they're feeding on- - [Joe] Yep.

- [Johnny] That's the reason we're catching fish on 'em.

- [Joe] Yep, I think that's right.

- The crabs have been after the shrimp so bad that you can't hardly keep your bait in the water.

- Yeah.

- So these little sand seem to be working better.

- Yep, well there's no substitute for local knowledge, that's for sure.

And I learned a lot about fishing on this stretch of beach from you today.

It's just been a real pleasure.

I've enjoyed every minute of it.

- Well good, I'm glad you did.

I'm glad you could come.

We've, like I say, we've had a beautiful day for it.

It could have been a lot worse this time in August.

That's right, that's right.

These little things I keep slapping here are, they're kind of tough.

[Joe laughing] - The only thing that's biting better than the fish is the green heads, that's- - You got that right.

- Thanks fellas.

Reading the beach and fresh cut baiting just about get it done.

- That's right, and, exactly right.

I mean that's, and hoping the fish are there.

Tide movement, moon phase, there's so much that goes into catching fish that people don't realize.

And the more you know about it, the better chance you'll have catching fish.

- All right, speaking of catching fish, let's cook some.

Donna's got a recipe for Lemon Drop Fish as we continue on with the "Carolina Outdoor Journal."

[soft music] [soft music continues] - Hi, today in the kitchen we're going to be making a Lemon Drop Fish.

It's a great recipe and it's a little different.

It's similar to a cream puff, but it's more of a savory cream puff.

So we're gonna go ahead and start with our butter.

We're gonna melt one tablespoon of butter in our pan and we're gonna add about two tablespoons of chopped onion.

So we're just going to mix that together and kind of saute that until your onions become a little bit tender.

But due to time we're just gonna go ahead on with our recipe.

We're gonna add to that, which will make kind of like a roux, if you've made a roux before.

We're going to add in about two tablespoons of flour and just mix that together till it absorbs all of the butter and coats your onions.

Then to that we're going to add a half a cup of half and half, and this is when we just want to continue to stir this.

As you can see, it kind of is a little bit separated right now, but as you continue to to stir this, it will come together and make a soft dough.

And you want to continue to stir this until it forms a soft ball.

And you can see it comes together pretty quickly.

We'll just go ahead and turn our heat off a little bit.

And you just keep stirring that and see how it comes to a ball?

And then we're going to add about two tablespoons of egg yolk to this.

Oh, that looks perfect.

About two tablespoons of egg yolk to this.

And you wanna stir this in quickly 'cause you don't want it to have little scrambled eggs.

So just mix that together.

It separates, but then it comes right back together, like it would if you were making cream puffs at home.

Okay, perfect.

So once we have done that, we're going to add in about a teaspoon or so of lemon peel.

And again, we wanna make sure that we only get the yellow part and not the white, 'cause then it will be bitter and we don't want our batter to be bitter, now do we?

So there we go.

And we're going to add in some cooked white fish.

And if you want, you can use lump crab with this would be great.

Or if you have another type of, if you just have some leftover fish.

Sometimes you cook too much and you have a little left over, you can just put that in.

Some chopped shrimp would be good.

So it's a very versatile recipe as well.

So once it has come together, we've added all our ingredients in, we're going to put this into the refrigerator and let it cool for about 30 minutes.

I would suggest taking it out of your sauce pan, putting it in a cool bowl.

Flatten it out so it will cool faster.

So once it has cooled, I have some over here, so once it has cooled, you can see, it's just kind of like a soft dough.

And I have some hush puppy mix here on my board.

And I just kind of rub my hands into it.

And we're just gonna form these into balls, little balls.

Just like, just like that.

So with the hush puppy coating, it'll give it a nice crunchy, hard coating, which will be really nice.

And I have some here that I've already done and I have my oil already in my fryer.

I'm just gonna put my basket down.

And this is at about 375 degrees, and we're just gonna drop those in.

And you wanna do this in small batches, you don't want to do 'em all at one time 'cause then your heat of your oil will diminish and then it won't cook properly and you'll have a real heavy, oily fish ball, instead of a nice, light crunchy outside.

So those are just gonna cook for two to three minutes, until they're nice and golden brown.

And let's take a look at what they look like when they're finished.

You can see they have a nice brown, crispy coating on the outside.

You can see some of the cornmeal from the hush puppy mix.

It's just a nice different little appetizer that I think you'll really enjoy.

So enjoy the Lemon Drop Fish, and I look forward to seeing you next time, here on "Simple Cooking."

- Thanks Donna, that sounds like a recipe that you'll want to try at home, Lemon Drop Fish.

Joe, let's go back down to the coast.

Joe and Johnny, they read that beach like a book.

They know what they're doing.

And these guys, they do a good job.

- They really do.

And Johnny's a full-time guide, so if you want to, if you've never surf fished before and you want to give it a try, give him a call.

You can surf fish in the summertime of course, with shorts and just wait out and catch fish.

Or you can fish in in the spring when the water's still cool, in waders.

Same thing in the fall, early winter.

Yeah, that's really, to me the fall was to me, the best time, 'cause you get bigger fish.

And the variety maybe goes up a little bit.

But he's one of the best guides we've got on the coast.

And then Joe actually has fishing schools based out of, he's based out of Nags Head.

In the spring and the fall every year, he gives a couple of fishing schools.

We'll give his telephone number.

And he is also got a book that has really done well.

And for five bucks, he gives you everything you need to know to get started in surf fishing.

So a real popular sport.

We've got beautiful beaches here in North Carolina to fish, and lots of fish.

- And it's always fun.

- It really is.

- 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.

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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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