[gentle orchestral fanfare] - Gary, shore, shore, right here on the edge.

- Oo, there you go, come on.

Tweek it, tweek it, oo, wee.

Ah ha, got him.

- Jamie, get back in there.

- Lay it down for you, lay down for you.

- Anybody needed a different bait?

- Just right off that ledge, boys.

Right off that ledge.

- Dang, that was another good one.

- Mmhmm.

Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo.

- He's gonna see more food in front of him than he's seen in a long time.

There he is, there he is right there.

He's following it, he's following it, Alan.

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

ncwildlife.org/winc.

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

We've been fishing since 2003.

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

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

Well, today's program is unusual because, Joe, this program is back due to popular demand.

It's the muskie.

- The muskie show, right, we did this several years ago, and I have had a number of people request that show again.

Some of them didn't see it, some of them did see it and wanted to see it again.

But, yeah, the muskie, the muskellunge, the fish of 10,000 casts, that was a real popular show when it aired because a lot of people didn't believe we had them, but we do have muskie, and not only in the rivers where we did this show, but also our lakes up in the mountains.

The water temperature, the conditions are such that muskie can live and thrive and you'll see the size of the fish we catch here are, certainly one of them, was world-class.

- [John] And not an easy fish to catch.

- Well, no, again, that's how they get the name fish of 10,000 casts.

Sometimes it takes you, what you feel like, is 10,000 casts, but we're fishing with the Elk Creek Outfitters who have refined the art of catching muskie up in these rivers, and they know how to do it.

- All right, Donna's got a recipe today for Smokey Cornbread Muffins.

That should be good.

- That goes right, I think that goes right with the show today, and we'll taste the recipe from her.

- All right, let's get started here on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- All right, boys, we're going for some North Carolina muskellunge, the mighty muskie.

And got a prime day for it, here end of October.

Big boys are starin' to move around.

- That's right, they really strap on the feeding bag this month.

- Don't forget to check them drags.

Definitely check them drags.

- You know, should be.

Get ready for some casting, you know, they say the fish of 10,000 casts.

- And 1,000 hours.

- Oh, that's right.

- And, Jamie, you've got several muskie under your belt, but Alan hopefully this will be the day for you.

Get your first muskie.

- Looking forward to it.

Been bit before, but never landed, so this will be the day.

- I'd say we got great conditions for it.

All right, fellas, one thing you definitely have to do today is watch every time you bring your lure up for follow, 'cause these fish are notorious for following that bait, not necessarily eatin' it.

I mean, figure eightin' it can definitely get you a lot of fish, 'cause if the muskie's not sure and you start figuring eightin' it, it looks like that bait is tryin' to get away from him even hide under the boat since he doesn't know it's a boat.

So, watch'em, watch'em, watch'em.

And the other fella needs to get his bait in here quick when we do see one.

- Just getting a follow to the boat is what sometimes, makes a successful day.

You can see that muskie in there.

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

Not necessarily a hook-up makes it successful, of course, that's what we're after.

I mean, like you said, you're absolutely obsessed with this, and you haven't even boated one yet.

You just had some follows and you've had one on, you had a good eatin'.

- Oh, seein' them follow is what hooked me.

- Hopefully, today we'll change all that.

Check out these logs over here.

Let me drop anchor and let's work them.

- Looks like a good spot.

- Everything you read about muskies, they love to get on structure, especially logs, rocks, rock out croppings, places like that, they're a big ambush fish.

But, honestly, as fun as it is to pull one off a log, we've caught more muskie just chunckin' and, you know, cruisin' across the... - Coverin' log water.

- Middle big flats, exactly, that's what it is.

You just got that much more chance of coming across one.

Good cast, Jamie.

All right, fellas, with all that rain we had this morning, water's dinged up some, and I think that making this transition to our brighter lures is gonna make a big difference.

That fog keeps rollin' in and out, but we definitely still have our overhead, cloudy, which is good, which is prime.

So, let's just keep the baits moving and keep puttin' 'em in front of 'em.

- Call'em up.

Call'em up.

- Come on, baby.

- Woo.

- Go the leaf action.

- Yep.

That rain's brought a lot more leaves down, too.

You notice that?

It probably got windy up river.

- Gary, shore, shore, right here on the edge.

Woo, come on, baby, come on.

Tweek it, tweek it, oo, wee.

Ah ha, got him.

- Jamie, get back in there.

- Lay it down for you, lay down for you.

- Anybody needed a different bait?

- Just right off that ledge, boys, right off that ledge.

- Dang, that was another good one.

- Mmhmm.

Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo.

- He's gonna see more food in front of him than he's seen in a long time.

- I was snagged.

Look like he's.

- There he is!

Right there!

He's following it, he's following it, Alan!

He won't come off this ledge.

Man, he is beautiful, look at the stripes on him.

Holy cow.

Okay, come on, come on, come one, come on.

He didn't turn, Alan, you got the bait.

You got the right bait, you got to bounce it.

He's right on this ledge.

Jamie, we've got to find something slower for you.

- How about this jig?

- Here, here, here, here, finesse it, finesse it, finesse it.

I have never seen one sit in front of the boat that calm for so long.

- There he is, there he is, he wants it.

Oh gosh, oh gosh.

- Woo hoo hoo, woo hoo hoo.

- Come on, get ready, Jamie, get ready.

He got scared that time.

- They want that jig, boy.

He wants that jig.

- He saw the boat that time, he didn't go far, oh, I guarantee it.

- He came off the ledge for that one.

- He did, he came all the way up.

God, did you see the stripes on him?

Freakin' beautiful.

Oh my god.

Oh my gosh.

Look at this, you don't get closer encounters than that.

He followed y'all's baits, both of 'em, up.

- Man, he was a nice one, too.

- He did everything, but eat.

All right, had a lot of, a lot of action, down here in the openin' bay channel, we're gonna ease right around this corner and anchor down for a minute.

Is everyone in here?

- This is where the big boy is.

I'm gonna just keep hittin' to the right.

Little secret spot.

- Come on, baby.

- Oh my, oh my god.

- Eat it, eat it.

- It's huge!

- Right there, right there, right there, eat it.

- He's huge.

Eat it, eat it, eat it, please, come on.

He's huge.

Man, he's huge.

- He was a big one, okay, who needs what?

- Watch out, watch out, watch out.

Let's get that.

- Told you he was on that bank.

- Man, they like that jig.

- Golly!

- They like that jig.

- He wanted that tube so bad.

Ohhh.

Oh god, he is big, he is big.

Biggest one we seen yet, boys.

Come on, baby.

- Come on.

- All right, locate her, locate her.

- What's he gonna eat?

Get that worm, get the worm.

How far did you see him comin'?

- Just right out there.

I don't know, ten feet.

- Oh wait.

- But every time I jigged it, he eased up towards it and dropped off, eased up toward it and dropped off.

He was big, though, wasn't he.

- He was big, boy.

That's what I want right there.

Okay, okay, I'm going to a different color.

- I think he's gonna eat that worm.

- Do you?

- Come on up here.

- Actually, I'm gonna go down to this little spinnin' rod.

Bounce this little guy around.

- Come on, cowboy.

- Jamie, you want this?

- No.

- You got what you want?

- Yeah, go ahead, Imma.

- Can't see, can't see it.

You'll feel him.

- Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you see him, you'll know it.

[music] - Justin, you floated this section too many times.

What's your average size of the muskies in here that you been seein'?

- Average size, mid 30s.

- Wow.

- Usually, most the fish we catch are in the 30 inch range, 30 - 40 inches.

Every once in a while, you'll get a bigger one and sometimes you'll get some smaller ones out of the 20s.

- Populations in the river seem to be pretty strong, don't they?

- Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, for muskies, you know, muskies are real territorial fish.

And they're the king of the jungle, they're not just swimming around everywhere.

But as far as their population, its got a real healthy population.

- What are you mainly looking for?

Structure and slow water?

- Yep.

Yep, typically, in the big flats.

Anywhere that water slows down, gets out of the rapids, and definitely around the structure, big log jams, rock piles, that sort of thing.

- Right there, looks awful fishy.

- It does, don't it?

- It does, right there, see that log?

Right along that log.

- Yeah, come on, baby.

- Man, gotta be in there.

- Get ready now, one more time.

- Get ready to set it.

- Get ready to set it right down here.

- Oo, that looks good.

- Right there.

- Uh oh, mind your clearance while Jamie's messed up.

Get in there, Jamie.

Good cast.

All right, fellas, drop it in to this flat.

I want to think about it.

All the muskie fishin' you've done.

What's your number, the one lure, the one lure you have more faith in than anything.

Where you've got your vibe on, like you was layin' in bed this morning dreaming about muskie fishin', where was, what were you thinkin'?

What was that one lure that you got the most faith in?

That's what I want you throwin'.

- Man, look at that flat.

- That is gorgeous.

- All right, fellas, work this water right here real good.

See how we got this log jam up here and the rocks really slows the water down gives them some good structure to hide in.

I've had a couple follows out of here before.

Let's see if he's home.

Come on, baby.

Go up high, Jamie.

Good cast.

All right.

- Muskie, goin', goin', goin', goin', goin'.

- Woo hoo!

- There he is, son.

- Woo!

- Come on, let's get these rods back.

Good, good.

- Baby, baby, baby.

Come on.

- I'm kickin' up the anchor, I'm kickin' up the anchor.

- Aw, he's huge, he's huge.

- Woo!

Son!

- You got that net, brother?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Come on.

- Just say when.

Just say when.

Let go, Alan.

I got it, got it.

- Come on.

- Muskie!

- Muskie.

[water splashes] [grunts] - Yes!

- Son!

- Woo!

- Hold that net.

Hold the net, hold the net, hold the net, hold the net, hold the net.

- I got her.

- Hold it.

- Way to go, Jamie.

- Woo!

- What a pig!

- I twitched it, I seen it coming.

I twitched it, he came.

- You gotta use that muskie!

- Woo!

- Hey, was that the cast under the tree.

- He's 40 inches.

- He's a fat one, he is.

- Was that the cast under the tree?

- That was the cast under the tree.

You called it.

- Come on, let's get her out of here on land.

- I'm goin'.

Oh, man.

You got it.

- Pumped.

- He's heavy, I know that.

Golly.

He's a heavy fish.

Let's prop this up here.

Keep him up.

Goodness gracious.

- Holy cow.

Let me see that fish.

- Ripped the tube out of his mouth.

- Good god.

Holy cow.

Oh my, that is fat.

- Famous city river muskie, boys.

- Look at the red fins, look at that, that belly.

- Man, look at those teeth.

[they laugh] - Man that's a fish of a lifetime.

Right there, Denis.

- Yes, sir.

Thank you, Judson.

- Come on, mighty muskie.

- Yeah, practice that figure eight.

- Oh, there he was, there he was, muskie!

- Muskie!

- Muskie's on!

Muskie on.

- Good fish.

- You want to row for a minute, I'll hold the net.

- Yeah, get up here, Jamie.

Oh, got him barely.

- Woo!

- Got him.

- Good job.

[laughs] Yes, baby, yes.

- Okay, Jamie, ram straight down to the gravel.

Straight down to the gravel.

- Good job, Alan.

Woo!

- 35, 35 inches.

Nice.

- Can we get a weight?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Let's see what he weighs.

- Lift him on up.

- 10, 12?

- 12 pounds?

- 12 pounds.

Good.

Beautiful fish.

Wanna do some pictures, too?

- There are muskies in North Carolina.

- That's right, and we certainly proved it to this guy, what you saw were actually two different days, two different seasons.

The first being in the fall of the year, where we had seven different fish actually charge the baits, and that's not unusual when you are muskie fishing, a lot of times you'll see fish, you'll have fish come after your baits, and may not take'em.

The second half of the show was in the spring of the year where we had fish on then caught two.

And just two different rivers, but that's the way it is and of course, Elk Creek Outfitters, Judson Conway, and his team, you know, probably some of the best muskie fishermen we've got up in the mountains and if you've never tried it, give them a try.

- Joe, you talked about 10,000 casts, let's see if we can streamline that a little bit, and learn more on Gear Time.

[music] - All right, fellas, we did it, we had a hard game fish to go after.

The muskie, the fish of 10,000 casts.

You both got one, you know, there's a lot to it.

Let's look at some of the gear we used.

Allan, what do you like in a muskie rod?

- Well, I prefer the muskie rod to be about a seven foot rod, medium medium heavy action is good, this is a Berkeley Lightening Rod seven footer medium heavy, and the thin whick makes a great muskie rod.

Ambassador reels, we use anywhere from 12 to 17 pound test, just depends on the kind of size lure you're using.

- Which there's a large variety.

- Right, obviously.

And that's what I like most about the rod.

It's good, strong butt section and a sensitive tip.

- I'm hearing you.

- Easy to cast, I'll bet.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, it's an easy cast.

- Obviously, we've got an array of baits.

Soft plastics, like finesse tubes, you've got your jerk baits, twitch baits, jointeds, your buck tails, you know, there's a wide, wide, big tubes, a wide variety of baits, these are the ones we used mostly today.

Which ones caught the fish?

Yeah, jointed Rapala Rainbow, Yo-Zuri Chrystal Minnow, that was the choice, we missed a fish on a Lindy Tube, and missed one on a Cisco Kid.

To handle these big fish.

- That was a whole nother ball game.

- You've got to have the big net, Boga Grip.

Great tool, but not only weighing the fish, but getting a hold of him.

Sometimes you get the hooks way down in their mouth, some jaw spreaders, important tool to be able to get in there.

His teeth are sharp, some long pliers.

Good Lindy glove never hurts, handling those sharp teeth.

But most of all, you've got to have the tenacity to go after 'em and keep castin'.

- It was a great day.

- Good job.

- Awesome time.

- Good job.

- Awesome time.

- Congratulations on your big muskie.

- Yes!

- All right.

- Well, as always, we hope that you can use that information, now let's catch up with Donna, she's in the kitchen with a recipe for Smokey Cornbread Muffins, you're gonna like this one.

[music] - Hi, today in the kitchen we're making Smokey Cornbread Muffins, let's go ahead and get started.

This is one of those great recipes that you can cook at home in your oven or if you're camping you can make it camp-side and put it right on your grill or your camp fire and bake your muffins there, very versatile.

We're gonna start out with one cup of yellow cornmeal, and you can use the self-rising or the regular, if you're using self-rising then you don't need to use your baking soda or your baking powder or salt.

It's already in there for you.

So, we're gonna use one cup of our cornmeal.

We're gonna add to that about a fourth of a cup of flour, then, about one cup of all purpose flour, and that was one fourth cup of sugar.

So, then we're just gonna mix this all together.

You wanna mix all your dry ingredients together, and then add your wet ingredients.

We're gonna add a little bit of cayenne pepper to this, just to give it a little bit of a kick, and then, because this is gonna be a savory cornbread muffin, we're gonna add some cooked bacon, that has been cooked and chopped, and some scallions.

And I like to use the green and the white part of those scallions because I just think they add nice color and come good crunch.

Then, we're gonna use about a cup of frozen corn and that has been thawed.

And if you are camping, you can bring your ingredients, you can bring your bacon, and just fry it over your campfire if you'd like, and if you have some extra from breakfast you can use that for your cornbread muffins, and if you are gonna bring in your corn you can use fresh corn if you like, but you can also use frozen bag corn and just put it in your cooler and it'll kind of defrost as the day goes on, so that's nice as well, you don't have to worry about it.

It'll help keep other things in your cooler cold as well.

So, we have all of our dry ingredients mixed, and the reason you want to put in your corn and your bacon and toss them with your dry ingredients, otherwise, it will fall to the bottom of your muffin and you'll have all your corn and all your bacon at the bottom of your muffin, so you want to coat it with your other dry ingredients.

So, that won't happen, so it'll be dispersed.

Then, we're going to kind of mix up our couple eggs.

We're just gonna beat those slightly.

Pour that in.

And then, pour in about one cup of sour cream.

So, this has got to be good.

It has great flavor to it, and the sour cream will help keep it moist as well.

And then some butter that is melted.

And we're just gonna give this a stir.

Coat it, you know, until it's mixed well.

Then, we're going to place this into our muffin tin that has been lined with muffin cups, this will help it easy clean up as well as not sticking to the sides of your muffin tin.

We're gonna place this in the middle of your fire, if you're doing this on your grill, what you're going to want to do is do an indirect heat method, so if you're doing it over charcoal you'll move all your charcoal to one side of your grill and place your muffin tin on the other side, so there's no coals underneath it and that, then cover it up and that will circulate into an indirect heat method.

If you're using it, if you're cooking it inside in your oven you want to cook it at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, this is what they look like.

You can see they're nice and brown and crunchy on the top, and it's a great muffin.

It has lots of good yummy things inside it as well, so I hope you enjoy these cornbread muffins, and I look forward to seeing you here next time on Simple Cooking.

- Thank you, Donna, that's always a tasty recipe.

Joe, when we first did the show on muskies some years ago, people were a little skeptical, to be honest with you, they just didn't believe us.

- Yeah, a number of people were, I'd say, probably still maybe some nonbelievers they're there and Justin Conway and Elk Creek Outfitters, his crew, they really specialize in that.

They've really refined the art of muskie fishing in our mountain rivers, and probably more consistent than anybody I know.

But what a great fish.

You need to exhibit lots of patience.

Like I said, the first trip up there, we did, we had seven fish that actually came for baits and but we didn't have any takers, so we said let's try it again, and the following spring went back on a different river and caught two fish.

So you never know, they'll put you in the waters where these fish live, and if you're patient enough you'll catch one and it'll be a part of your fishing history.

- Like you said, you never know, but we do know that there are muskies in North Carolina.

- Absolutely.

- For Joe Albea, I'm John Moore, thanks for joining us today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

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

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

ncwildlife.org/winc.

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

We've been fishing since 2003.

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

[light instrumental music] ♪