[piano intro] - This is a little better fish here.

- [off-camera] Is it, yeah, nice.

- If they stay out of that anchor.

- Now you gonna have to do that on your own.

- Yeah, he's taking a little bit of drag right now.

- [off-camera] You want the net sir?

- Yeah, I'll probably need the net on this.

- [Jim] And that fish, I just lost it, I started reeling it in and he hit it while the shrimp was coming to the boat.

Oh man.

- This one was right on the jetty.

- [Jim] He's a nice one.

- He's coming around back here, we're going to have to move over.

[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.

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We fish from fresh to saltwater.

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

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- Hello and welcome to the Carolina Outdoor Journal, well today's program's going to take us down to Cape Lookout.

- That's right, we're going to be fishing the Cape Lookout rock jetty, which is one of a number of jetties we've got up and down the coast and tend to draw speckled trout, spotted sea trout to them because they hold bait.

They hold shrimp, they hold little bait fish that the trout like to eat.

We actually start the morning using live bait and then transition into artificial D.O.A.

shrimp and never missed a beat, the bite was that good that morning that we just made that transition and caught a lot of fish.

- [Voiceover] And Joe in Geartime today, we're going to get a lot of good information.

- The guys will go over what live bait hey started with, and then the reason they selected the bait they did to make the transition to, so they'll show you that and the tackle they used and again the bite was so good, I think you could probably have thrown anything and caught fish.

- Well, today's recipe also, is going to be spicy crab soup.

- Yeah, this is a new recipe from Donna, if you like crabs and like them in a soup form, pay attention.

- All right, we've got a lot going on here today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- [Voiceover] This is a good place to catch a speckled trout, the rock jetty at Cape Lookout.

- [Voiceover] Yeah, we're throwing over here.

- [Voiceover] Yep, and we're throwing shrimp at them and pin fish and artificials, kind of, they get in here thick you can catch them on just about anything.

I'm going to go with a little plastic there.

They keep eating my shrimp but, it's a great time of the year, we've got a beautiful day, like you said, mid December, early December there.

- Little bit of cloud cover, I like that too.

It's libel to burn off before the day's out and these trout will probably hit good as long as we've got cloud cover.

Well, we've lost two baits standing here talking, it's time to get back out.

- I've got to rebait me too.

Finally got the hook in his mouth.

(background talking) - [Voiceover] You're getting a little drag Andy.

- Yeah, I don't have much drag set so.

Finally got the hook in his mouth.

(mumbles) - [Voiceover] Is he in there?

- [Voiceover] That's a nice fish.

- Yeah, he's a little bigger than that earlier one.

No, that's not a bad fish, might let me to keep him.

- [Voiceover] You want to keep him?

- [Voiceover] Yeah, he's big enough to eat, don't you think Kurt?

If I get the hook out of his mouth.

- [Voiceover] Yeah, we draw the line about 16 inches, anything in that size class, we keep them.

- He's pretty, good job Jim.

- All right.

- [Voiceover] That's a beautiful fish, isn't it.

- It is, look at the colors on him.

- They look pretty good in the frying pan too.

(mumbles) - This is a little better fish here.

- [Voiceover] Is it, good, nice.

- Just stay out of that anchor.

- All right, you're going to have to do that on your own.

- Yeah, he's taking a little bit of drag right on.

- [Voiceover] You need the net sir?

- Yeah, I'll probably need the net on this.

- [Man In Dark Hat] Hey that fish, I just lost it.

I started reeling it in and he hit it while the shrimp was coming to the boat.

- This one was right on the jetty.

- [Man In Dark Hat] He's a nice one.

- He's coming around back here.

We're going to have to move over.

- [Voiceover] You sure that's a trout (mumbles) - Yeah it's trout.

- [Voiceover] That's what we came for.

- I like that.

(talking over each other) No, he's a speckle.

- [Voiceover] Oh man.

- Look at that.

Kevin, you notice a lot of times when these fish start getting big like this, up to two pounds, that their spots, they don't have many spots in the front, they're mostly to the back.

Seems like, you know, a trout can only have so many spots sometimes and this one has just outgrown his.

- He's starting to gray out a little bit too, he's not as purple smaller fish are.

- That's right, that's a nice two pound trout right there.

- It's a good fish, good job Kurt.

- That's a circle hook so you twist her right on around from there.

(mumbles) That's a pretty fish there, that's what I came for.

- [Voiceover] Nice job there Kurt.

- Let's put him right in the box.

Is this where we're putting him?

- [Voiceover] I think this is a good one.

- Yeah, this one's a little bigger than that last one, I believe.

You just go ahead and give me the net and let me get him on.

- [Voiceover] Have you seen him yet?

- No, he's right here.

I don't think he's as big as that one Kurt just caught.

- [Voiceover] It's running around like it's a trout.

He's a nice fish in there.

(splashing) - All right, thanks for the net you all.

He's got that on in his mouth don't he?

I think I got him, yeah, there we go.

- [Voiceover] That's another pretty fish.

- [Voiceover] That's a good fish.

- [Voiceover] Yep, another nice one.

(talking over each other) - They get about two pounds, they fight a little bit different than those little ones.

(thumping) All right, another shrimp, another trout.

Let me get that net for you.

- [Voiceover] That's a nice fish.

- [Voiceover] Yep, a little bit bigger size there.

(splashing) - [Voiceover] All right.

- Good job.

- Thank you Jim.

- There's a pretty trout there, and right in the corner of the mouth is that server hook.

Just like it's suppose to work, right?

(banging over talking) That's a pretty fish.

- He's not nearly as big as the one you.

- [Voiceover] No, he's not as big.

- [Voiceover] Hasn't grown into them yet has he?

That's a pretty fish, yeah, he's a pretty fish.

Jim, I'd have to say this rock jetty Cape Lookout, probably the most popular trout fishing spot this time of year, wouldn't you?

- Yeah, we always talk about going to the secret trout hole when we come out here.

There's not a day this time of year when you come out here when you're going to be by yourself when these trout get in here.

- [Voiceover] Yeah, it's a producing spot.

- Yeah, and you see boats of all sizes, you see, you know, there you go, you got him, you see boats of all sizes, you know, you see little boats on a pretty day like today.

Oh, lost him.

- Spit it out didn't he.

- I might have to change my hook, that hook's a little old, I think maybe it needs to be a little sharper.

- Yeah, I've been out here and seen more than 100 boats, I bet there's 50 now.

- Grabbed him by the head.

Yeah, and it's a weekday.

I imagine Saturday you probably had to get a parking pass to get out here.

- [Voiceover] This is what we're looking for here.

- [Voiceover] Is it?

- [Voiceover] Ease him right on to me baby.

Yeah, heck yeah.

Oh that's a nice one Kevin.

- Yeah that's a pretty trout right there.

(talking over each other) Pretty trout, that's what we're after.

Look where your line was scrubbing against the side when he was rolling a little bit.

See those marks on him?

They'll get down there and shake their head a lot well then they'll do like, they'll roll and a lot of times you'll get them with a mirror lure the line will be wrapped around them several times.

- That's right.

- Pretty fish though, good job.

(lighthearted music) Jim, what time do these fish normally show up around here in the fall?

- Normally I think they usually show up In mid October, by mid October.

Yeah, they'll stay around and bite pretty good right on into December, it depends on the weather I think, you know, we've had a pretty balmy fall so they're in here pretty good and here we are like almost mid December.

The water temperature's still pretty warm so they'll stay right in here.

Really, out here people coming out here and fishing for them even in January and February, you know you get those real pretty days.

- A bluebird day.

- Yeah, you know you get that good warm sunshine up and you know they'll move in and out and come in here and feed so.

- I think most of these trout in here are migrating trout up and down the coast too aren't they?

- Yeah, I think they're moving, you know, and they come through and they hit this jetty and this jetty just acts like a natural barrier to them and they swim along these rocks and there's a lot of bait in there.

- Good food source.

- Yeah it's a great little piece of structure that concentrates the fish so, it's a good place to fish.

Oh, I got a bite.

Oh yep, got it.

Oh, lost him.

Heck, don't know what it is today, I can't get a hook in his mouth.

Had him by the head.

Carried him off but didn't get the hook in his mouth.

- [Voiceover] Kurt, you got him on?

- Got a little nicer class fish here, I believe.

- [Voiceover] You need the net?

- Not much, no, I don't need the net.

I'm hoping with you all fishing over there in the nursery that I'll catch one a little bigger over on this side.

They like it when it gets chewed up a little bit.

- [Voiceover] (mumbles) left you alone over there.

- Well these little ones over here.

I got tangled up so I just put my artificial right straight on and left the cork on.

He's a little bit bigger there, than those little ones we've been catching.

- [Voiceover] That's a nice fish Jim.

- [Voiceover] Yes, he's a little nicer.

He's good enough to feed the pelican.

- That pelican, he's had enough for today.

Yeah I think I might put this one in the box.

- I'm going to come over on this side for a few minutes.

- Nice little fish, we'll keep him for dinner.

Here we go.

Oh, I got a double hit on that.

The little trout are just tearing us up now.

The big ones were biting earlier this morning.

- [Voiceover] We're in a school all right, it's just kindergarten isn't it.

- Yeah, boy, you know that's not a bad fish.

They're fun to catch.

They're just out there thick.

Bros. - Just about.

- I think I got you by an inch.

(laughing) - [Voiceover] They're right here under the boat.

- [Voiceover] All right Kevin.

- He's coming to the boat.

- [Voiceover] All right, let me get in here.

- [Voiceover] Oh, I love the looks of that.

(splashing) - [Voiceover] Nice fish.

- [Voiceover] Thank you sir.

- [Voiceover] Here, you have to take it, I've got one on mine.

Missed him.

- [Voiceover] That's a pretty fish there Kevin, (talking over each other) that's two in a row for you.

- [Voiceover] That is a pretty fish.

- [Voiceover] I'll tell you what, when we're catching fish this size right here you're libel to catch a big old sow with them, five to eight pounds, ain't no telling.

- He's no whopper but he's a nice fish.

Carry him home.

(splashing) - [Voiceover] You need the net?

- [Voiceover] Yeah, I'll try and lift him, we probably ought to net him.

He's probably a 17, 18 inch fish.

- [Voiceover] We'll go a pound and a half anyway.

- Yeah, that's, hung up there a little bit.

Yeah, that's a pretty trout, we'll take him.

I'll tell you what seldom can you catch them on artificial baits like we've been today after catching them all live shrimp, but they've been fooled.

- There he is.

- [Voiceover] You got one.

- Hey Kurt, we caught them little ones for a long time but now they're getting a little bigger again.

This one's not giant, but he's all right.

- [Voiceover] Slide him over here.

- I caught him on that live pin fish.

- [Voiceover] Yeah, nice fish.

Keep that net on board we'll probably need that.

- See he had that line in his mouth, the hook was in the corner of his mouth but, a little bit of heavier leader really keeps him from chaffing up.

(talking over each other) - [Voiceover] He's a pretty fish.

- He is, look how he's got his dorsals up.

- [Voiceover] Got a lot of spots on him.

- That one will cook up good too.

Pop that box open for me there Kurt.

(thumping) What you got there Kevin?

Got one a little size or something?

Oh yeah, let me get the net for you.

- [Voiceover] Oh yeah.

(talking over each other) - [Voiceover] After that storm cloud passed.

- [Voiceover] Yeah, you know that rain, it rained pretty, watch it, yeah, it rained pretty hard there for a little while and then it's calmed down and the big fish have started biting.

It's nice, nice trout there.

- [Voiceover] Nice fish, yeah, I got cut off at the wrong time.

- [Voiceover] Did you get cut off Kurt?

- [Voiceover] Yeah he's pretty.

- [Voiceover] Yeah, so I mean, we started catching, we've caught four or five fish like that in a row here now.

He's bigger than those little 12 and 13 inch ones we were catching before it rained.

(background talking) - Well we've used up a lot of our live bait and we went to those artificials and it really, they're really tearing that artificial shrimp up.

- Joe, as they say, we caught a mess of fish that day.

- We really did John, it was a really good bite and a good class of fish.

We had a lot of small ones but a lot of nice 17 and we had a few 20 inch fish, 21 inch fish.

Jetties are that good, you know, the one at Masonboro comes to mind too that hold trout in the fall, it just brings in the smaller bait fish and those trout know it, but I think what really was unusual about that morning was we started with live bait which was, is almost a guarantee on trout if they're in the biting mood, but making that transition to an artificial shrimp, yeah, I couldn't tell any difference and it was just a really good bite.

- With that information in hand let's go to Geartime.

(lighthearted music) - Well Jim, that was a good day of catching wasn't it?

- Yeah man, we wore them out.

- [Voiceover] You hear a lot of people talking about fishing and catching but today we were catching.

- [Voiceover] It's a great day of speckle trout fishing.

- It was, we started out the day good.

Kevin caught us a lot of pin fish with just a live, just live bait called a pin fish with a cast net right at the dock.

This is about the size that I like, he's about two inches long.

You can have them up to four, or you know, whatever you get, but pin fish is a good bait for trout this time of year.

We predominately fished them, I predominately fished them off a Carolina rig, didn't use a cork, I just fished it on the bottom like you would a floating worm or something and that's very effective.

You just kind of keep your line tight, feel your fish take it and go right on.

You had about two dozen, probably four dozen, shrimp that you brought, tell me about fishing them underneath a, one slip cork there.

- Yeah, we use a live shrimp and use a slip cork rig, we have a bobber stopper, us a thread above your bobber and then a couple of small beads in your cork and then a quarter ounce egg sinker, and then a small swivel and 18, 24 inches of 20 to 25 pound fluorocarbon.

A small hook, used J hooks, some people use small treble hooks, we used a little of both today, and there's a lot of different way to hook the shrimp, you know, but we were hooking a lot of them right through the middle of the back.

You can hook them in the tail, you can hook them in the head, and that slip cork allows you to be able to cast it and reel it in and handle it and if you need to fish 10 feet down because you want your bait close to the bottom.

- That's right, you tie the string 10 feet up your line so the weight pulls you down, you can fish then under cork.

- And you can adjust it during the day, you know, if the tide moved on us we could move the bait up or down whatever we needed to do.

Using light spinning tackle, a light casting tackle, six, eight pound tess line, you know, six foot light action rods.

- Drag set real light, and I've got to say that, you know, we were so effective with the live bait, both the pin fish and the live shrimp that we eventually switched to some D.O.A.

shrimp and they were very, very effective.

We probably, we caught a lot of fish and I'll tell you the majority on this just because we'd cast it, get it back there and we'd just throw it, let it on the bottom, keep your line tight, crank it very, very slow.

- Yeah, and that really, really resembles and sits in the water like a real shrimp.

- It certainly does, it looked very good in the water and we also used some little fishies which resembled this bait and they were both very, very effective.

And I'll tell you, we probably didn't keep but one out of four of the trout we caught at least.

- [Voiceover] Oh we caught a bunch of fish and kept a few nice ones, really did.

- I'd say conservatively, we caught 150 trout and it was just a good day of fishing.

A lot of pretty class fish and I really enjoyed it.

It's as good a day of trout fishing I've had in a long time and I'm glad to have an opportunity to come here today - Appreciate it Kurt.

and I hope we can do it again, have another trip as good as this one.

- We that you for that valuable information.

Now, let's get on in the kitchen with Donna.

She's got a recipe today for spicy crab soup.

You're going to like this one.

(lighthearted music) - Hi, today we're making a spicy crab soup in the kitchen and this is a great recipe.

It has quite a few steps, but don't let that throw you off.

They're not hard, it's just a little bit more involved than my recipes usually are.

So, what we're going to do is I have my onions chopped, and if I were you, I'd buy whatever convenience items you can find in the grocery, so I like to buy my onions already chopped, it just helps me out a little bit.

Then we're going to add in some chopped jalapeno and some chopped celery to this and we're going to go ahead and let this go, you know, start sauteing while we move onto another step.

So we're going to leave this on our stove, let this start cooking down, and then we're going to take our poblano peppers, which look like this, they're really beautiful, glossy pepper, and we're going to cut it down the middle, put it skin side up, and we're going to put it in our oven on broil for about five minutes.

Just until the skin starts to blister, then you're going to flip it over for a couple more minutes and then when they're warm, you're going to take them off your sheet and put them into a zip lock bag or zippy top bag and let them steam up for about ten minutes.

That was the skin is going to loosen and you'll be able to slip it right off.

So I've got, this one is already done, and all you do is peel the skin right off.

And we're going to do this one too.

This is what it looks like when it's already come out, so it's going to be all nice and blistery, and then we're just going to put it on our cutting board and just peel the skin right off.

And then we're just going to rough chop this and put this in our dish too, in our pan.

(slicing) We're just going to put that in here.

So, we've got a lot of great flavors going on in this pan.

A lot of great smells in your house too.

Then we're going to add a little salt and pepper.

(glass clinking) to that we're going to add some lime juice and then we're going to add about two and a half pounds, or about four, medium sized green tomatoes.

So this is something great you can do with those green tomatoes that you get, or that you find, and they just look so beautiful and you want to make something with them.

So, we're just going to give this a stir, get it all mixed together here.

(metal clanking) Then we're going to add in six cups of vegetable broth that we've made.

(splashing) You're going to put a lid on this and you're just going to let it cook.

And we're just going to turn this up a little bit, we're going to give it a stir.

We're going to let this cook until it starts to boil and then we're going to add to that some basil, we're also going to put a bay leaf in here and let that cook.

Once it's cooked we're going to take the bay leaf out.

We're going to put in, about 14 or 15 basil leaves, some fresh cut, chopped cilantro, you're going to remove them from the stem, and then we're going to put in about three cups of arugula, and arugula, if you're not familiar with that, is a spicy green, so it's going to add some great flavor to this too.

Give this a stir, it's going to wilt down, and then you're going to remove it from your heat and you're going to let it cool.

So, once it's cooled, you're going to take in, put it into your blender, you're going to puree it down, and then you're going to chill it.

So this is going to be a chilled soup.

So this is what it looks like when it's done.

We're also going to top it with a really yummy little crab salad that's just got lime juice, olive oil, some salt, pepper, and some parsley in it, so it's real simple, light, and tasty.

So we're going to put our crab soup in there, top it with our salad and serve it.

It'd be a great thing to do as an appetizer in little shot glasses which would be lovely and a lot of fun at a party.

So I hope you enjoy the spicy crab soup, give it a try, it's really good, and I look forward to seeing you next time here on Simple Cooking.

- Donna you have got another great recipe there, one I think I'm going to have to try.

Joe, let's go back, had a great day of fishing.

- We really did, and everybody that trout fishes, here in North Carolina especially, knows the Cape Lookout rock jetty, it's really, top of the list for finding those fish that time of year and again, we have other jetties too, Masonboro, as I mentioned earlier come to mind down at Wilmington, they catch some really pretty trout there in the fall.

Starting with live bait which is really, it's hard for trout to turn down the live pin fish or croaker or, especially shrimp, and then having a backup, if you go with live bait and give out, you know, going to a bait like a D.O.A.

shrimp or any number of plastic baits out there, mirror lures are really good too on the jetties.

But fall time of the year, if you can make it out to the Cape Lookout jetty, lot's of fun.

- We had a lot of fun that day, just another great day in North Carolina.

- Absolutely.

- For Joe Albea, I'm John Moore, we thank you 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.

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