[piano intro] - [Man fishing] Going horizontally instead of vertically most people, your instinct is to lift the rod up.

- [Man Holding net] So if you're gonna lose him that's gonna be on that jump like a lot of fish.

- Just watch what you're doing there, you might have to use a little more technique to get him up here.

There you go.

Now let's get, the drag's a-slinging.

- Yeah, the drag's set pretty light.

I just got that bait in the water when he hammered it.

Alright, now, get his head.

Let's get him in the boat.

- Man, that is a great fight.

He is a slab and a half.

- [male announcer]: The Carolina Outdoor Journal is brought to you by: - [female announcer]: "Wildlife in North Carolina" magazine has been delivering stunning photography and informative articles for more than 80 years.

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

Well, today's program's gonna take us up to Lake James.

Joe, we're gonna be fishing for smallmouth bass.

- We are, John, this is a, turned out to be a really good day on the water.

We had perfect weather, which you always need on a lake, and caught some really pretty smallmouth bass.

In the past, most of our shows have been done on mountain rivers, drifting rivers for smallmouth, and we actually done one show on Fontana Lake years ago, but this was a first for Lake James and we caught a lot of fish.

- Now, talk about catching a lot of fish.

We'll find out a lot about that during Geartime today.

- That's right, we're fishing with Captain Craig Price who has really learned how to fish Lake James.

It's a noted smallmouth lake.

It's not the easiest place to catch them, but we used a live bait today, and he's figured out a great technique to catch them, and a good class of fish.

- And our recipe today, oyster stew.

- Really good tasting oyster stew recipe from Donna.

Again, she comes to the table always with a fresh look at different ways to prepare seafood.

- Alright, we got a lot going on, let's head out to Lake James.

- Well Craig, looks like we're up for another good day on the water.

It's mid-November, it's chilly out this morning, but I mean, we've had a really warm fall.

And it's been a couple days, we had a cold front come through.

Really the first one of the year, but water temperatures look good.

And we're out today doing something a little unusual for me at least, is fishing for smallmouth on Lake James.

I've done plenty of smallmouth fishing on rivers, but this is really exciting for me.

So what do you have in store for us?

- Well, Lake James is really a good smallmouth fishery.

It's kind of a hidden jewel here in western North Carolina.

It has a lot of really quality fish in it.

We're gonna use some minnows today, some small shad, herring, and even shiners.

Live bait them.

And catching three, four, five, six, seven pound smallmouth is not out of the-- it's not unusual.

So we're gonna get some baits in the water and we also might catch the occasional walleye or white bass, even sometimes large-mouth.

So hopefully we'll have a mixed bag.

I'm noticing the water temperature has dropped several degrees just since I was here a couple of days ago.

So this cold snap, as you can see, is the first really foggy morning we've had all fall, anywhere I've fished.

So we're kinda slowly moving out to our point, and we're gonna get some baits in the water and hopefully we can catch some fish today.

- Yeah, with the backdrop of the mountains like this, and Carolina blue skies, it's gonna be great day.

- It'll be beautiful when the fog burns off.

You'll see this is a very scenic lake and it's really a treat to come up here and fish.

- Yeah, I'm excited, reminds me of being a kid again.

Let's do it.

- Sounds good - [Paul] First, bait into the water.

I hope that's a good sign.

His head's bouncing.

- [Craig] Let me come right under you here and get this net.

- Well you notice it'll drop that in and here he comes, come on up.

Oh, a smally!

- Oh, that's a nice smally!

- You know it when you see that jump.

- Yep.

Just go where you gotta go.

Got some stuff in the way here.

- So you know, you were saying that a lot of times, you could lose those fish when they jump, though.

- That's right, yeah.

I mean, for my purposes, we wanna keep them in the water, but you know, it's fun to see them jump.

- Well, the majority of times, you will see that jump, so you kinda sweep that rod back as he's coming up.

- Well, that's right.

I try to put a side pull on them to get them a little more going horizontally instead of vertically, most people, your instinct is to lift he rod up.

- So if you're gonna lose him, that's gonna be on that jump like a lot of fish.

- Just watch what you're doing there.

You might have to use a little more technique to get him up here.

There you go.

- Let's get, the drag's a-slinging.

- Yeah, the drag's set pretty light I just got that bait in the water when he hammered it.

Alright, now, get his head.

Let's get him in the boat.

- Man, that is a great fight.

He is a slab and a half, holy cow.

That reminds me of Lake Eerie!

- That's a good start.

- Alright, nice job on the neck, wow.

- On the board there, we'll get a real quick measurement, that ought to be about 15-16 inches I'm thinking.

Actually, that's pushing 18, that's probably three pounder.

- Wow.

- Which isn't big by Lake James standards, but that's a pretty fish.

- Absolutely, I gotta take a picture of that one.

Man let's do it.

- Let's do it.

Alright, let's get some more.

- So Craig, show me.

I know there's a lot of nuances with rigging live, but what is the technique that you're using here?

- Well, different minnows, different bait, you rig differently, but these alewives have a real skinny snout and with these circle hooks, they have pretty good...

Piece of tough cartilage right there in their nostrils, so I'm just going in one nostril and out the other.

And you see that's a pretty small minnow, but that's what these fish are keying on in the fall.

- That's a fairly small hook, too.

- Yeah, they're very small hooks.

One thing about this lake in particular, and a lot of the Catawba Lakes, is that they can be really clear and so you wanna minimize your tackle as much as possible.

A lot of guys use number ten treble hooks- very, very small hooks.

But I'm kind of a circle hook guy, so they prove ineffective.

They're not perfect, but... Then when I set my baits, because we're fishing spinning tackle, it's not as easy to count line out as it is with a bait caster rig.

But I just loosed my drag, I get my bait in the water.

I want 22 feet, so it's just two, four six... Twenty-two, then I tighten my drag back down.

I still want pretty light drag.

Tighten it back down, and set it in the rod holder.

And that's really all there is to it.

- And ten seconds later, we hook one.

(both laughing) There's some drag.

- You're getting ready to leave.

- Getting ready to leave, but you never know.

- Pulling that drag up.

Coming up, coming up!

Oh no, that looked like a big spot for a minute.

You know how you mentioned about the mixed bag in here.

- Well... - Not sure what it is but, - That's a smally, he's a nice one.

- Oh, whoa whoa!

Nice, saw those spots go by, I was thinking now I feel like I'm back on Lake Norma but that is absolutely a smallmouth.

What a fish.

- Pretty pretty fish.

- Whew.

- That clear water makes them look a little bigger, and-- - it does, he shot under that boat and it looked like he had spots.

I thought I was back home.

- Nice clean hook-up.

- Yeah.

- About the size of that other one.

- And getting off that point, all that wooded structure, just holding in there.

- Yep.

- Great fish, way to go, Craig.

- Good deal.

Good job.

Try him again.

- Man, that's the second time we dropped it and bang, here he comes, here he comes!

Oh yeah!

Must've dropped that right on his head.

- Yep.

Let me get-- - Lotta smallmouth jump.

- Putting on a show, isn't he?

- Yeah, he actually is.

It's kinda neat how he can bounce around from spot to spot and you can get onto them.

So there's a lot of movement with these fish, it seems.

- Yeah, I think they're still really active.

- Oh yeah.

- On up into the winter, I think they become a little more sedentary.

- Still a solid fish.

- Here we go.

- Another nice one.

- Yep, pretty fish.

- He almost looks like he's got some of the markings of a spotted bass under his lateral line there.

- Especially when he gets a backdrop of the table rocking and the gorge.

- Pretty fish.

(soft music) Yeah, I'd get it down about 25-30 feet.

I just looked up, there's a stack of fish under us.

We're in 38 feet of water and they're from about 32 feet to 24 feet.

This is as good a school as we've seen all day.

Shoulda got-- - Right at the, right at the base of that-- - Should have gotten a bite out.

Trying to get us turned around here.

- So there's definitely some urgency when you see these fish on the electronics.

- Yeah, you know sometimes when it, you get up into the middle of the day, you're really kind of hunting and pecking them.

I mean, you're just picking up a fish here or there, so-- - So you definitely gotta have it-- - When you look down and you see a school of them under the boat, you definitely want-- - There you go, there you go.

- Here, let me have that, yep.

- Fish on!

- There you go.

- Oh, what a good pull!

- That's why we wanted to get the baits out.

- Absolutely right.

You see them on the electronics, you gotta be ready.

So there's not a whole lot of time to get them down.

- Sometimes it's, just try to keep-- - Watch that right there.

- Just try to keep him out of this other line, up and over if you have to, or whatever.

- He's under it, oh, good pull, good pull.

There's some drag.

I don't think I'm on the other line.

- Yeah, I think maybe you are.

- Oh, I'm sorry.

- That's alright, just fight the fish.

- Good organized chaos for us.

(both laughing) That's what makes fishing fishing.

- There goes our bait, man!

Come on!

- Good fish though.

- Unbelievable.

- As long as we land him, it'll be worth it.

- He's fighting good.

- Ooh, looks like a beast, jump!

That might be the biggest one of the day.

- I am not believing that.

- Better than the net you're gonna use to wrap my fish.

- Yeah, wait 'til you try to catch one of those shad with your hands (laughing) and the bait.

- I figured you had a way of doing it.

- Oh, get it, get it.

- Head up.

- There you go.

- Sweet!

- Alright, there's another one.

- We've worked for him.

- Yeah.

- A little organized chaos.

- That caused a little activity and excitement.

Here you go, take him, he's yours.

Let's get a quick measurement while we-- - Man, look at that dorsal fins and the thickness on him.

He is absolutely stunning.

- Yeah, they're healthy.

- You aren't kidding.

- See what your length is, there.

- Eighteen.

- Probably three and a half, three and three quarter.

- Absolutely, what's the best way to distinguish this from a large mouth?

If an angler didn't know, what's the distinguishing characteristics?

- Well, the black bass have, these are kind of more consistently, they call them bronze backs, but the black bass, spotted bass, all have those black markings down the side.

- Right the hinge of the-- - Along the lateral line.

- The hinge of the mouth stays in front of the eye versus going behind it.

- Well, now you're getting kind of technical on me.

- I've been waiting to throw that in all day.

(both laughing) - Great job, man.

Let's get another.

- Good deal.

- Oh, what a whack, did you see that?

- That was the best strike.

- Behind the boat, there's a jump.

- That was the best strike today.

- He hit it and he came back, and I thought I'd missed him.

Again, we see that one blip and he's shooting up on the depth finder, sure enough.

He's pulling, he's gonna give us a jump.

- I didn't see him, but he sure did hit like a-- - You aren't kidding that.

- Like he thought he was something.

- You got the net?

- Yes sir.

He hit like a bully, nice fish.

- There's a good jump.

- Stir him up.

- That a way.

That a way.

Woo.

- Easy there junior.

- That's another solid 16-18.

- Yep.

- I'm gonna take a picture of that.

- They've all kind of been book ends today.

- Yeah, those are pretty good-- - Pretty fish.

- Pretty good book ends for me.

- Yeah.

- I'm gonna take a snapshot of him.

- Very nice.

- Oh!

It's simply amazing how many times we have stopped to put them out, and whack.

I mean, within five minutes.

- What's more amazing is that you're catching all the fish and I haven't caught any of them.

(Craig laughing) - Ooh, man.

- Here we go.

- Double!

- Double down, double down.

- Double, about time!

Pulling his weight back there.

- About time.

Oh yes, oh pretty fish, pretty pretty pretty.

- Mine might even be bigger, you got yours in the net?

Mine's still going.

- Not yet, but if he's bigger than-- - I don't know.

- That's a nice fish.

Come on Junior, there we go.

That's the biggest one yet.

- I don't know, we've still got time.

- Let's see what you've got.

- We've got time.

- Oh yeah, that's a pretty fish.

- Pulling this one out.

- Alright.

Dropped him in the live well and see what, this one here is not too happy about it.

- I'm trying to make him look bigger.

- There's our automatic release.

Getting a bite on the other side too.

Oh yes, very nice.

- Those are trophy smallmouth anywhere in the country.

- That's what we're looking for.

- You aren't kidding there, man.

Look at that, what a double.

- I swear I thought that almost looks like it's got some black bass in him.

- Well more importantly, mine's bigger.

(both laughing) - Certainly got a bigger belly on him.

- Absolutely, let's let these babies go and go get some more.

- Hey, real quick, can we get a measurement on that one?

- Oh yeah.

- I mean that's probably over-- - Twenty-one!

- Yep.

- Twenty-one inches, Lake James smallmouth.

- Very nice, very nice.

- Woo!

- There they go.

- Woo, that was a nice-- (both laughing) That was phenomenal!

- That's what we've been looking for.

- What a good day on the lake.

- It really was, we had a perfect day.

The wind, it was not a factor.

And on that lake, a lot of the lakes up there, you really wanna have good conditions because we moved around a lot.

That was one thing I noted during the day, that Craig moved to a number of different areas that he's caught fish in, and he knows the depth, he knows where to place the baits and using the depth finder, he put us on the fish, and I had a lot of fun.

- Well, talk about putting us on the fish, let's go to Geartime.

(soft music) - Well Craig, after just a phenomenal day of smallmouth fishing here on Lake James, I mean, I can't thank you enough.

As far as what we were using today, I mean, it was a pretty simple set-up and the key was we found spots that were very similar points, got on them, fished them for very short periods of time, and kept moving and that was the key to success.

- Yep, you know, sometimes you'll find them where they're really on a spot and you can sit over them and catch them.

But today, it was more, pull up on them, catch one or two, and then move.

- Right, and we started out with a little bit of fog and then the fog lifted but the fishing really wasn't, it stayed consistent all day.

- Yep, yep.

- And then the rigs, what we were using here, I mean, pretty straight forward spinning rods with your one ounce weight attached to a swivel with a fluorocarbon leader.

- Yep, I like the fluorocarbon, I like to tie a little bit longer leader than most people might normally use.

We've actually shortened this one a little bit.

But a good three or four feet of 15 pound fluorcarbon leader is all you need.

And I like to use the smallest hook possible.

That's actually a size one demon circle hook, a light wire hook.

A lot of people use small treble hooks, but you wanna just minimize your tackle, anything they can see.

This water's generally clearer than even the other lakes on the chain, so the less visible, the better.

And these are just seven and a half foot fast action spinning rods and I've got 20 pound braid on them.

- Alright, so really keeps the gear pretty simple.

And obviously fishing this type of fishing, you needed that long handled net, and the electronics came into play.

- Exactly, yep.

There are some long points, we're actually sitting near a couple of them.

But most of the points are just small knobs, essentially right off the bank.

That's where we found them today.

It'll stay good, this is mid-November.

It'll stay good all the way up until the dead of winter.

They don't really slow down unless the water temperature gets in the low 40s.

- That was six, seven hours of fishing.

It was fantastic, I can't think you enough.

- Really enjoyed it.

- Biggest smallmouth I've ever caught, there you go.

- Good deal, good deal.

- Yes, I hope that you can use that valuable information and if you want a trip, call our Captain Craig Price, there.

He'll be more than glad to take you out.

Now let's catch up with Donna, she's in the kitchen with a recipe for oyster stew.

(soft music) - Hi, today we're gonna be making an oyster stew in the kitchen.

And this is a great recipe, it's one of my dad's favorite things to make.

And I'm sure he's not gonna really, this isn't his recipe, so he might be thinking I'm putting too much into it.

But I've got my stick of butter that I've melted.

I'm gonna add in some onions, some chopped onion and then I'm going to add some celery that's been chopped.

We're just gonna give that a stir, and then we're gonna make a roux to go with this, which is a thickening, so we're gonna add the flour to the butter and stir.

And this is called a roux, and it's gonna thicken our oyster stew.

We're just gonna stir that together, and you can see it's already starting to thicken a little bit.

So we're gonna give that a good stir, and let that cook for a few.

Then we're gonna add in some garlic, and it calls for minced garlic.

And if you don't wanna sit there and chop it with your knife, you can buy minced garlic in the store which is a great convenience item, or you can take your microplane and just grate your... garlic, just like this.

And I find this is just a great way to do it.

It's nice and fine, and it's pretty quick and easy.

You really don't even have to peel it, you can just peel off the very end and then just go ahead and you're good to go.

So we're gonna give that a stir.

It's looking good, you can add some salt and pepper to this if you want, at that time.

Then we're gonna add in two cups of whole milk, or you can use cream or a combination if you want it to be a little bit richer.

Or if you're like me, whatever kind of milk you have in your fridge.

If it's still good, you're good to go.

You're just going to give that a stir.

And then you're just gonna stir this until it becomes thick.

So, this is what it looks like when it becomes thicker after it's sat and cooked.

And then you're gonna add in your oysters to it.

And you don't wanna cook them for very long, because they might get tough.

So, what you're going to do is just add your oysters with your juice.

You're ready to go.

Cook those for about five minutes until they're just barely cooked.

Then we're gonna ladle this up and serve this in our crock, and sprinkle a little parsley on it, and you are good to go.

And this is something that's quick and easy you can do after work for dinner that night or on a weekend when you just want something really warm and quick and easy.

So I hope you enjoy the oyster stew, and I look forward to seeing you next time here on Simple Cooking.

- Thanks Donna, for that recipe.

That recipe and a whole lot more is in our cookbook, check it out.

I bet you'll find something you'll really like.

Joe, a good day at Lake James.

- We really did, John.

It was, as you saw, it started off kind of foggy.

We had a little delay in the morning, but in the first couple spots that Craig went to, the fish were not quite awake yet I guess.

But once he found the fish that were active, we caught some pretty fish.

Anytime you can catch a four pound, I think, a four or five pound smallmouth in any of our waters, it's really a trophy fish.

He was hoping for a little larger class that day, but I was really happy with the day.

The fact that we had a really pretty day to fish, it was in the fall, that time of the year.

But he knows the lake really well and knows the different areas of the lake, where to go to find the fish, and that time of year especially is finding fish that are active, that are hungry.

He knows how to fish them.

- If it's one thing about it, not only was it a good day, but it was a great day of fishing in North Carolina.

- Always, yep.

- Well 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 has been delivering stunning photography and informative articles for more than 80 years.

- [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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