[piano intro] - There was one over there.

- That a boy.

Nice fish.

Nice fish.

- [Drew] Tell you what, we get that graphite, it gets easy.

- I got you here.

- Big old black tail.

Real sand color.

- Uh-huh.

- It's hardly got any bars to him.

- Oh yeah.

- Boy, he's digging down too.

- [Mark] You never wanna net 'em unless that head's up.

- You ready?

I'll get it up for you.

- Farm fresh Drew.

- There you go.

[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, we're going on a float trip today.

We're gonna catch some smallmouth bass.

We got a great show planned for you today.

- That's right.

We really do.

We're gonna drift a really pretty section of the New River, a real wild section.

You're not gonna see too much in the way of homes or anything like that.

This is a wild stretch of the New River.

And the New River's already got a good reputation for smallmouth.

We're fishing with some guides for the first time, Elk Creek Outfitters.

Judson Conway and his crew did a great job.

Spent a day on the river.

Started off kinda foggy.

Just a real, again, I don't wanna emphasize it, but, you know, in high-definition, picturesque is a good term to use 'cause it really was.

And we caught some nice fish.

We didn't catch the big ones he was after.

Again, he's known for catching big smallmouth on that stretch of the river, but we caught a good number of fish.

- And a float trip, we gotta have some specialized equipment.

We'll talk about that on "Gear Time".

- The guys will share with us the type of tackle and the lures we used that day.

We were spinning tackle that day and using several different lures.

And they'll share that with us.

- And I'm excited about Donna's recipe today, oven-fried fish.

- It is delicious.

I've tried it, and it's worth jotting down.

- It's all about fishing today on the "Carolina Outdoor Journal".

[pleasant guitar music] ♪ ♪ ♪ - It's like a beautiful April day, fellas.

- It's hard to believe it's April.

- After that cold winter.

- Oh man.

Well, we got snow two weeks ago.

- We've got a little sunshine starting to burn this fog off now.

- Perfect day for some North Carolina mountain smallmouth.

- The past two weeks, water temperature's been rising daily.

- Mark, what are you starting with this morning?

- I'm gonna try this green pumpkin grub.

- I'm gonna go with old whitey just to give it some contrast, see which one they go for.

But we've got good visibility, a little dinge to the water, about four and a half foot.

I checked the water when we were putting the boat in.

It's 58 degrees, so it's warming up right nice.

After that sun pops out, it'll probably get up to 60 and we're really be on the- - You can feel it burning through right now too.

- Oh yeah.

You can see it good, clearly.

Y'all ready to go get 'em?

- Yeah.

- Let's get 'em.

- Who's gonna call the first one?

- Ooh.

- I'll take it.

- [Drew] There you go.

Where is it?

- [Judson] Found him.

Got it.

- [Mark] Good job.

Good angle.

We were wanting to see that small mouth come off when it jumped off that rock.

- [Judson] I thought it was a smally jumping up.

- [Drew] Oh, you guys just keep on casting in these pockets, boys.

I'm trying to keep you here, but you know the water's moving you more than I can row.

- [Judson] You're doing a good job, Drew.

- [Drew] Thank you, sir.

- Got him, boy.

- There you go, Judson.

- Boy, first thing this morning.

Like to start a day like that.

- They're acting for it.

- Yeah.

- Just while this fog's burning off of here.

- I'll get him.

I'll get him.

- Oh yeah.

Look at that.

- I think they might- - They fight so hard, you think they're bigger than they are.

- Oh, I thought that was some nice, that is a nice one.

- Little North Carolina smallmouth.

- [Mark] Uh-huh.

- Thank you, boy.

- Nice job.

- Shoot yeah.

Hope they bite like that all day.

- [Mark] Yup.

- If this fog burns off and the sun comes out like it's supposed to, I'd say they will.

- Look at that.

Like a surgeon.

[water rushing] Is that a good one that just ate there at the boat, Judson?

- Boy, it felt like it.

But you know what they say about these smallmouth.

Wildcat with fins.

They fight so dang hard, sometimes you can get depressed, be pulling drag and you get up and it's just a little peanut.

- Oh, the first five seconds, you always think you got a state record and then- [Judson laughing] - You know, people always compare 'em as the hardest fighting freshwater fish.

A thousand times, I've heard people say you put a one-pound smallmouth tail to tail with a one-pound anything else and the smallmouth will drag the other fish all around the river.

- On up.

- There you go.

- Got him pulling, man.

- Oh, look at that pig.

- Oh, he's not that big.

- No, he's wide though for that size.

- Look at him trying to get down up under the boat.

- He knows where he wants to be.

- Yeah, he's- - It's not in this net.

- He don't wanna see this net.

That's for sure.

He's gonna see it, though.

- He's a lot darker than that last fish.

[water splashing] Yeah, boy.

- Nice work.

Uh-huh.

- Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

- He's pretty, isn't he?

- Oh, beautiful.

- Love it.

Anything in his mouth?

We found an eel in one's mouth last week.

- Isn't that amazing?

- Freshwater eel.

That's cool.

- Nice fish.

- Let me look.

Yup.

- Are you gonna give him a kiss?

- No.

- Why don't you kiss your fish?

- That's what Roland Martin does.

Go ahead.

- I say, yeah.

I wouldn't do it if Roland does it.

All right.

Let's get another one, boys.

[water splashing] - With the main river.

So any time we got this clear water coming in, there might be a good amount of fish podding up and taking advantage of the extra visibility.

So let's see what we can do here.

Sometimes, it will spark the interest of some feeding fish.

- We're taking a little drag.

I love it.

- Good one, Mark.

Is your anchor down, Drew?

Put your anchor down.

- Oh.

- This is talking about two and three pounders.

- There you- - Oh.

- Oh.

- There you go.

Nice fish.

- Look at that.

There ain't even a grub in there anymore.

- I thought I saw him throw it.

- Beauty.

- He got the grub, didn't he?

- When he threw it, I thought it was everything.

I thought he had lost him.

- [Mark] Early season bronze back.

Look at him.

- Oh yeah.

- Shoot yeah.

- Fat fish.

- Good belly.

- Count him.

- Thank you, buddy.

- [Drew] Yeah, count him.

- [Judson] Good job, Mark.

- It's amazing how those little guys fight.

You think you got a five-pound fish on every time when you get one of those biting.

- I guess we had to sacrifice one little green pumpkin.

- I don't know if it was worth all the other kit- - You stuck to it, didn't you?

I ain't switching yet.

I'm not switching yet.

- It's whatever you got faith in.

Do you have any faith in that pumpkin?

- No.

- I guess.

- No, I'll- - Well, I'll tell something about Mark- - I'll fish any color.

- Any color, as long as it's green pumpkin.

- Yup.

[light instrumental music] ♪ [pleasant guitar music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - It's starting to warm up, isn't it?

- I tell you what.

- Coming right up here on rattletrap, aren't we, Judson?

- Yeah.

Yeah, Drew, did I ever tell you how we got the name rattletrap?

- [Drew] Huh-uh.

You caught a fish in a rattletrap?

- Well, exactly.

Last year, we had a citation bass, and we were throwing a grub, and yeah, of course, you know what a rattletrap feels like.

As soon as you got it on your line, it's just [imitating rattletrap rattling] rattling.

- Yeah.

- And my angler threw out there, hooked this fish, and all of a sudden, felt that sensation while he was fighting this fish.

Of course, it was unexplainable until we landed the fish, and he had a big old rattletrap hung on his lip.

So that fish was glad we let him go and, of course, kept the lure.

- There you go, Judson.

- Come on, baby.

I've been looking for you.

I'll get him.

I'll get him.

- You sure have.

Yeah, there you are.

- There he is.

- [Drew] Where has he been hiding?

- I don't know.

Glad to see him, though.

- [Mark] Boy, look at him.

Bronze back.

- He is pretty.

See how colored up he is?

Did you leave his buddy over here for me?

- [Mark] Yeah, boy.

- [Drew] Buddy, grandfather to Ashton.

Get a little bit of something to eat.

- Been waiting for him.

That's a good sign.

- [Drew] Yup.

- [Mark] I guess I can go ahead and catch another one now, huh?

[Judson chuckling] - You got my permission.

- We're fishing, fellas, this time.

- [Mark] Thanks.

Judson, we always get the question.

What's the best time of year to fish out here?

What's your feeling?

- Oh, somebody asked me that, I'd tell 'em the best time to fish is their next day off.

- That's the way I feel, when they can go.

- You know, you gotta break it down.

It depends on what they want.

You know, if they're trout fishermen, by all means, you know, we're guiding 12 months a year for our trout.

Smallmouth, you know, up here, I'd say May is the most popular month.

But at the same time, that's when everybody's out.

So, it's kind of a catch-22 with running into too many people.

- If we've got good water levels, the summertime stuff can be real productive.

- Yup.

And, you know, the next question I ask 'em is if they're a fly fisherman or a spin fisherman.

I like to target April, like we're out here today, 'cause you got the higher water levels.

You've got the off-color water.

You've got the spawn going on.

You can really penetrate and catch some bigger fish.

But that doesn't leave a whole lot for the fly fisherman who need lower, clear water and everybody likes top water action anyway when all the creepy-crawlies are out.

So, April, May, June, July.

A lot depends on how much water you're getting, you know, in the year and how much rain in the spring.

But, you know, those are the months I try to target these trips for.

There was one over there.

- That a boy.

Nice fish.

Nice fish.

- [Drew] I tell you what, when you get that graphite, it gets easy.

- I got you here.

- That big old black tail.

Real sand color.

- Uh-huh.

- It's hardly got any bars to him.

- Oh yeah.

- Boy, he's digging down too.

- [Mark] Never wanna net 'em unless that head's up.

- You ready?

I'll get it up for you.

- Ah.

Oh.

- Farm fresh Drew.

- There you go.

- Nice.

Ooh, look at those big red eyes.

Take him.

- That was a strong fish.

- Uh-huh.

- [Drew] His head didn't wanna come up.

- Look how sand-colored he is.

- Yeah.

- Real light-colored.

- I ain't seen one with a tail that dark.

Almost black.

- Huh.

Thank you, sir.

- Pretty fish.

- Good fight.

Good fight.

- Beautiful fish.

Good job there.

- Thank you, thank you.

- Good going, cowboy.

- Told you they're on this side.

- Uh-huh.

- Get us another one.

- Woo!

- Yeah.

- Good job.

- There you go, get on that.

Get on that fish.

Fish on?

- Fish on.

- Fish on.

- Love it.

Ah.

- Oh.

- Got off, son.

Dang.

Boy, that was a rapid fish.

That was a rapid fish.

There's too much slack in that long a distance coming over that rapid.

Keep good tension.

You're all right, Drew.

- Give me that fish.

- Good.

Yeah, yeah.

Good one.

Boy, he's scarred up from the head.

- He's a warrior.

- He has been spawning hard.

- Oh my goodness.

- Yes, sir.

- Oh my goodness.

- Good one.

- Boy.

- It looks to me as if a muskie's gotten a hold of this thing.

He is scarred up way more than they look like when they just lay on the beds.

- Mm-hmm.

- He's gotten it bad, if you look at this side of him, Mark.

You see that?

- Holy cow.

- Look at that.

- Look, and there's teeth marks up by his head and teeth marks there.

- He got chowed on.

- He's a warrior.

- Look.

Why don't you hold your fish there?

And he's really gotten chewed up.

- Let's get him back in the water.

- Give him a breath.

Yeah.

I mean, that's rare to see a fish survive a muskie attack like that.

That's like a human being surviving a shark attack.

There he goes.

Get him back in there healthy.

- Nice fish, man.

- Beautiful fish.

- Good job, Drew.

- That was a good day of fishing, and I gotta tell you, absolutely some of the most beautiful scenery I think I've ever seen.

- And that's the part of that trip.

A lot of the shows we do up in the mountains, I always mention that because, you know, just about every turn you make, you're gonna see a picture, and this particular trip, moving down that river, it was.

Yeah, just around every turn.

There were a lot of Canada geese on the river.

That was kinda neat to see them.

But it's got fish too.

And so, and these guys did a great job.

They know how to fish 'em, and you're moving all the time.

Although, at certain spots, they did drop anchor because these areas sometimes hold more than one fish.

And so, we fished several areas by dropping anchor.

But they know the river, and we caught fish, and had a lot of fun.

- Let's talk about some of the equipment.

Let's go to "Gear Time".

[light instrumental music] ♪ - Judson, tell me a little bit about the rod and reel outfit you used to catch these smallmouth today.

- Well, my favorite rod is a Fenwick HMX.

It's a great piece of graphite.

And typically, you're looking at about a six foot rod, six and a half foot rod.

That's, you know, my favorite lengths.

As far as line, this one throws four to 12-pound test.

12-pound test is important in the spring when you get a lot of rain and the water's dingy and muddy and that sort of thing, and you need a heavier line.

But then, in the summertime, as the rain stops, the water clears up, and you know, four-pound test is not unusual to throw.

So having a rod that can, you know, handle the variation from the light to the heavy is real important.

And this particular rod throws eighth ounce to 3/8 ounce jigs.

- So it's a medium action rod?

- Yup, yup.

Medium action, and this one actually is medium light.

But it's, you know, medium heavy.

I wouldn't go any heavier than medium heavy.

But, you know, stick around the medium because you are throwing some lighter baits for your smallmouth.

As far as reels, this is a ABU Garcia Cardinal series.

Great reel.

I really like it because it's got a 5.1 reel ratio.

It can be real important to be able to retrieve a lot of line quickly.

I'm dealing with the rivers, these fast currents.

Sometimes, you'll make a cast and, as the current's pushing your lure down, you've gotta be able to get that thing to move so it doesn't just get washed down through the water.

And so, being able to reel in a bunch of line real quick can be real important.

So a high-ratio reel is definitely advisable.

And, you know, everybody's gonna have a little bit different preference to, you know, what they like.

Sometimes, longer rods, that sort of thing.

But this is the stick and the reel that I stick with, for sure.

- What about baits, Mark?

- Well, we've got a variety of baits here.

The hard baits, there's some jerk baits.

And all of these come in a variety of sizes, but this is a Yo-Zuri Pin's Minnow in a favorite color, the smallmouth.

It's got a really nice action.

It's got a ball bearing in it, a little different weight distribution so it changes directions and- - [Judson] I saw that when you were fishing.

- The smallmouth like that a lot.

Here's a crawdad imitation.

That's a Rebel crawdad.

It's just a straight crank bait.

You kinda crank it along.

It bounces off the bottom, and the fish seem to like that.

Sometimes, in muddy water conditions or high water conditions, you really need to excite the fish with a little bit of noise.

And this rattletrap's a good bait for that.

- [Judson] Absolutely.

- Then, of course, you know, having fished with me, I'm a big fan of the rubber baits, and the grub being my favorite bait.

It's a very versatile bait.

You can fish it a number of ways.

Fish it in shallow water.

The high rod tip and a fast retrieve, or you can kinda bounce the bottom with it, fish it real slow.

They make a lot of different rubber baits.

Longer worms can work well in certain conditions.

- Sure.

- But the grub tends to be my favorite.

- Mine too.

- Let's go get some more.

- Yeah.

It's been a pleasure fishing with you again.

- Likewise.

- Thanks, guys, for the information.

If you're headed out for a float trip, we hope that you will find those tips useful.

Joe, we dropped anchor a couple of times, had a great day on the river, had a good meal out there.

It was just a good day.

- Yeah, we really did.

And mentioning that meal, that's a part of the package.

And that day, we had crab cakes and it... To go out and fish a wild river like that, catch some fish in the morning, stop and have a meal like that just is really a great day.

And if you've never done it, you owe it to yourself to give 'em a call.

- Well, we talked about the great meal there.

I wanna talk about this recipe that Donna's got.

Let's join Donna.

She's in the kitchen with a recipe for oven-fried fish.

[light instrumental music] ♪ ♪ - Hi.

Today in the kitchen, we're going to be making a yogurt dill oven-fried fish.

It's a great recipe.

It goes together quick and easy, and you can have dinner on the table in no time.

So let's go ahead and get started.

We're going to start out with some catfish filets.

I have one here already that's ready to go, and we're going to be using some nonfat yogurt, plain yogurt.

And we're gonna add to that some fresh dill.

And if you don't have fresh dill readily available, just use the dry dill.

It works just as well.

And if you're gonna use the dry dill, I would go ahead and put it in and stir it up, and then let it sit for just a minute so it can hydrate back up a little bit.

But it's gonna add some great flavor to your fish.

We're just gonna mix that together, and I'm just gonna use my tongs here.

If you're like me, I love the smell of fresh dill.

So it smells so great.

We're gonna also take our catfish.

We're gonna dredge it into our yogurt dill mixture and then we're going to coat it with some In Your Oven coating mix.

And the great thing about this coating mix is that you don't have to drizzle any oil on it at all.

It's already in the mixture.

So let's take our catfish filets.

We're gonna just coat it in... And I would use some tongs 'cause it is a little bit messy, but it's yummy.

And then, we're gonna kinda shake off the excess.

And then, we're gonna place it here in our In Your Oven coating, and it will come out the most beautiful golden brown as well.

Pull it off and shake off your excess.

Place this on a baking sheet that is lined with either a nonstick foil, or you can spray the foil with some nonstick spray.

Bake this at 400 degrees for about 10 to 15 minutes, just until your fish is flaky to the fork, and the outside will be a nice golden brown.

And this is what it looks like when it's finished.

You can see it's a nice golden brown.

It's crunchy, and it has some great flavors to it.

I hope you really enjoy it.

It's a really fabulous fish recipe.

So I hope you enjoyed the yogurt dill oven-fried fish, and I look forward to seeing you here next time on "Simple Cooking" - Thanks, Donna.

That sounds like a great recipe.

If you haven't tried it, we recommend that you try it at home.

I know Joe's tried it, and that was a good one.

- Very good.

- But, honestly, was it as good as crab cakes on the river?

- It was real close.

- Real good.

- Real close.

- I know the guides were good that day.

- Super job, and they know the river.

They fish a number of rivers around there for smallmouth.

I think the New River's one of their favorites because it holds some good fish.

We were actually targeting a little bigger fish that day, and we're gonna go back and spend a little bit more time.

We caught some decent fish that day, but Judson was hoping for, you know, a five or six-pounder, which would be trophy class here in North Carolina waters.

But the New River's known for its smallmouth population.

It's known for its fluctuation in depth and coloration.

So you need to know what to throw at 'em, and that's where the guides come in.

They know the river better than anybody.

And if you never tried it, give 'em a call and go try it, 'cause it's a lot of fun.

- Guides are easy to work with, and they can almost guarantee you a great day of fishing.

- They sure can.

- All right, for Joe Albea, I'm John Moore.

Thanks for joining us here on the "Carolina Outdoor Journal".

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

The Carolina Outdoor Journal is brought to you by: - [Female Announcer]: "Wildlife in North Carolina" magazine.

- [Male Announcer]: And by EZ Bait & Tackle.

Family owned and operated.

We fish from fresh to saltwater.

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

For all your fishing needs, EZ Bait & Tackle.

And by contributions from PBS North Carolina viewers like you.

[light instrumental music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪