[piano intro] - Right in that same hole we saw coming out of that - Might be another nice female - Yeah that's a nice fish, look at it pull that rod.

- Good, good, good [clanking] [bird chirping] - Yeah, hey there, oh look - Oh yeah take it dry, nice.

[bird chirping] It might be the same fish - Look at that Nah this one's bigger [laughter] - Can you grab it?

- Yeah.

- Nice.

- Had that blue Rat-L-Trap that time.

- Yeah, another fat female.

- [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, we're going fishing in the Piedmont section of our great state, and Joe it's all about white bass.

- It sure is John, we're gonna take you on a trip up the Eno River to target white bass when they make their spring migration up the river to spawn.

They're coming out of Falls Lake it's an ultra light day, and we're using ultra light tackle, a small boat, and Eno, where we're fishing is pretty small.

But just loads of fun on light tackle.

- You mention light tackle, now that's gonna make your time real interesting today.

- Well they'll show you, they'll lay it out for you what they used.

Used several artificial lures that the fish liked that day, and they'll share all that with you.

- And a recipe with Donna today?

- So a new fish recipe from her, right out of her kitchen.

- Alright, we're gonna find out more here today, on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

[birds chirping] - So Brad, I drove up here from the coast today tocheck out one of the Piedmont's best light tackle fisheries.

I wanted to get these ultra lights bent over with some white bass, can you tell me a little bit 'bout the fishery?

- I can, Falls Lake is full of these white bass and we're on the headwaters of the Flat and Eno River systems and we're a little late in the main spawning run.

That's predominantly through March.

We're at the first of April, but I think there's still gonna be plenty of fish in here for us to catch today.

- Well it's a gorgeous early April day, so why don't we get after it.

- Let's do it.

- Alright.

[birds chirping] Well Brad, I can tell that winter's gone for good this year, with all this new green growth, what does that mean for our white bass fishing?

- Well, we're at that time of year, everything's coming alive, you know, it's like we were saying, the spawning run is almost over and a lot of different species come to light this time of year.

- Yeah, our fishing on the coast is really fired up, stripers are running, the speckle trout bites good, anglers should expect a lot of good action in April.

- Yeah, it's the exciting time of year, everything just really draws you outdoors.

- I'm excited that we have an 80 degree day today.

- We haven't had that many of those have we?

- And I'll be more excited if I catch a white bass here in a second.

Alright Brad, we're hooked up to a big one here.

I think it's a female and she's pulling some drag, or she was on the initial hook set.

- That's what we came here for.

- Oh yeah, oh yeah, look at that!

Got that ultra light bent right over.

- Yeah, that's a nice fish, a really nice fish.

- Wow, yes sir, that's a nice one!

- That's a big one.

- That tiny trap did it again, didn't it?

- That's a healthy female idn't it.

- Yeah, she hadn't spawned yet, so let's get her back in the water, let her spawn and catch us another one.

- Yeah, she's a pretty one.

Let her go.

- Okay - Pretty sure that just goes to show that a lot of these fish hadn't spawned out yet, and here we are in April.

- There she goes.

Yeah, we're gonna catch another one here.

- Yeah right in that same hole we saw coming out of that - Might be another nice female.

- Yeah, that's a nice fish, look at it pull that rod.

- Good, good, good.

[clanking] [bird chirping] - Yeah.

[ticking] - Look at there.

- Oh yeah, take it dry, nice.

It might be the same fish.

[laughter] - Nah, this one's bigger.

Can you grab it?

- Yeah.

- Here ya go.

Nice.

- Hit that blue Rat-L-Trap that time.

- Yeah, another fat female.

[bird chirping] - Outstanding!

That was pretty much two casts in a row.

- Yeah, these are aggressive fish aren't they?

When they're biting they're a lot of fun.

Here ya go.

- Another pre-spawn, let's get her back in and let her spawn.

- Yeah, while you let my fish go I'm gonna grab another one.

- Oh yeah, well, you better hurry.

[brad laughs] [reel zipping] [bird chirping] - So, Brad, we're up here in the headwaters of the lake catching these white bass.

They're in a spawn, they're in a spring spawn, and after the spawn they return to the lake, can you tell me a little bit about lake fishing?

- Yeah, the lake fishing's a lot of fun, our favorite part of it, fishing it in the evenings They surface to the top after bait, like we do with the striper at the coast and they reveal themselves and we throw top water at 'em and fly rods and it's a lot of fun.

And you catch 'em deep as well, but that's really when it's action packed.

- I like top water fishing, we'll have to try that.

- Yeah, you need to come on back, it's a lot of fun.

- Another one right here.

- Well we relocated to a different part of the river.

- We did, we're further up the river, probably closer to the spawning grounds.

- Came a little bit further up and then into some little heavier current, we got our first bite.

- Yup.

- Yeah that's a white bass - That's a white bass, yeah.

Smaller male maybe?

- Yeah, baby, yep.

Get him back in the water and get another one, maybe there's a school here Brad.

- Yeah, those little small males are real aggressive, if you can get in on a whole school of 'em they'll stick around, maybe.

- Yep, that's a male, sure is.

- Let's find some more of those.

- Alright, I'm gonna make that cast again, see if I can get another one.

- There ya go.

- That's a turbo charged one there.

- Check it out.

- Nice Brad.

- Yeah man, he hit it right by the boat.

You know, I've seen them do that a lot, they'll chase it right to the boat.

It's one of those rules, you know, you probably tell your clients all the time, you know, bring that lure all the way back.

I've seen 'em many times, chase it right up to the boat.

- You got it?

- Yeah, I got it.

- Hitting the gold?

- No, it's the silver and black.

Nice.

- Beautiful.

- Look at that Richard, got another, is that a small female maybe?

- Probably, yeah.

- Yeah - Looks like it to me.

- Still a little bit full.

- Yeah, hit that one right next to the boat.

- Yeah, it sure did, it chased it right to the boat and popped it right there.

- took out a little bit of string too.

- Yeah, it sure did.

Hearty fish.

- Oh yeah, they're fun.

- Real strong fish, yeah.

- I think we're in 'em now man.

- Yeah we are, right up here, below someone's spawning ground.

- Okay.

[boat creaking] Good job!

- Fish in the boat.

- You get another one.

Look at here, oh no, I got a snag.

- Oh, do you?

- I got the woody bass kind, yeah.

- That was exciting for a minute please come all the way around the boat - I was all in though.

- Go ahead, here I'll get your fish for you.

- Oh that's a nice one, yeah.

- Yeah man.

- Look at him pull that rod.

Gotta love that.

- Yep.

Little smaller than that last one, but a nice one.

- Yeah, I think we've found a productive area, just below some of the spawning grounds.

I think they're pretty active up here.

- You need it?

- Yeah, if you don't mind.

- You got it.

- Right there.

[rattling] There you go.

The thing about these little light lures, you gotta be careful where the trebles mount now.

That is a male.

- Good.

Yeah, a lot of males up here.

- A good pair of hemostats helps out when those trebles - Yeah they sure do.

- get in there, don't they?

[upbeat music] (upbeat music [upbeat music] [upbeat music] [upbeat music] [chimes] We've made it a little further up the river away from the lake and the banks have changed, they're higher, and actually I just caught a fish right there on that cast.

- Yeah, nice.

Yeah, we've moved into a different topography, further north and west of the Piedmont.

This is kind of what you would see up here closer to the spawning grounds.

We leave more of the mud bottoms, get into more of the sandy rockier bottoms where they'll spawn out and we're getting close to those areas, so we hope to see a lot of these fish in this area.

- Good.

Yeah the current's a lot faster too, so maybe that's gonna make the fish a little bit better.

These fish are very current oriented, kind of like striped bass.

- And you can smell it being a spawning ground, I can actually smell the fish smell.

- Yeah, I tell people it smells kind of like watermelon, it's kind of a sweet smell, that fish oil smell.

- I don't know if I can say that.

[Richard laughs] - Nice fish by the way - Get this fish off here and we'll be, yeah that's another big male right there.

- Yeah, they're really, today, going for that little lipless crank with the loop top on it.

- Yeah that fish hasn't spawned either, beautiful fish, put him right back.

Yeah man, got another one on there.

- Under that slough we're sitting up on a flat - that cut bank over there, deeper water faster water.

- Yeah we're sitting up on a flat with a slough kinda going around us, current going in it.

- Yup, this water's really moving through here and I think they're liking it.

- Yeah, I think you're right.

- There you go, a good one.

- Snag on this one.

- Alright, that's a male there Brad, a few little broken stripes on him.

- Yeah, they're starting to fire up, this time of the day they get more aggressive and, you know, I think you don't have to worry so much about what lure you're tossing this time of the day.

I think they start biting most anything you throw with a flash or a bright color in this water.

- Yeah, what time is it, about four o'clock?

We're getting to be about four o'clock here?

- Yeah late in the day.

- And the bite is really getting better.

- They start popping the surface and reveal themselves and they get real active, it's easier to find 'em.

- Good, that's good.

We're here at the right time.

- Yeah.

- Brad, I switched to the white rooster tail and I've got something big on, we'll see what it is.

[reel zipping] - He's really pulling there.

It was hard for me to switch, I had a lot of confidence in that Rat-L-Trap.

- Yeah.

- It might be foul hooked, not doing a lot of head shaking.

- Well you're dragging against the current too.

- No, it's just a nice fish.

- Yeah, it is, it's a real nice fish.

Nice.

- Nice - You wanna dig that hook out without hurting him.

- Yeah and that white flash on that rooster tail is really doing a good job.

- They like any kind of flashy bait like that, rattling bait, - Yup.

- anything that's a good bait for pan fish is a good bait for these.

- Yeah.

Especially anything that causes a reaction strike, you know gives off the vibration, for schooling fish they're fighting for food.

- They're pretty aggressive, especially late in the day like this.

- Their metabolism's really jacked up right now too, so they get real aggressive towards this bait.

- I don't know, third or fourth fish we caught almost in the same spot.

- It's cool, because you're seeing a bull in the same pocket you can cast right into it.

- Yeah, there's a little cut bait there under a tree and the current's swirling out off the bank and speeding up there.

- We're anchored up on this flat, casting into this current going around us.

This is really cool - Yes you just have to kind of beat around 'til you find a nice ,group of 'em.

- Yeah, that's right, and that's a nice fish too.

- This might be a better one than the last one.

But you can't really, I don't know, you can't really - You gonna bring it up right here?

just come out here and just try a spot.

You have to move around until you find 'em.

- That's right, that's a really nice fish - Oh that's a real good one.

- Really nice fish.

- Yes sir.

Brad, that's worth the price of admission right there on ultra light - Yeah, it's true.

Hey, and take note of that tail too, you know, these fish are probably working rocks and stuff, I mean through the tail with it.

- Yup.

- looks like it's kind of frayed up a little bit.

- Yeah, a little beat up.

Yeah, they're up here spawning, beautiful fish.

Ultra light, you can't beat it, cannot beat it - Yeah, it put up a good fight on that rod didn't it.

- Yeah, they're nice fish, I'll tell you, a lot of fun.

[splash] - Let's get another one.

- Yeah, let's hit the same hole again.

- I'm just letting my bait sink a little bit and just let it swing in the current and bam.

- Follow it right down.

I might pull up the anchor to get us down a little bit.

- Sure, yeah, let's get down a little further.

- Trying to see where you are, I don't wanna cross your line.

- Our first little spot dried up, so we just moved downriver a little bit there.

- Yeah, the next pocket held 'em too.

- Yup, they're in here, different little pockets like you're saying.

- On that white rooster tail again, nice one.

- That's a good fish.

- Oh yeah.

- These are healthier fish up here.

- I think we might have found some of the spawning bio-mass here in this stretch.

Sure would be fun on a fly rod.

- Yeah, it would, be a little challenging with all these limbs.

- Yeah, it's a little tight.

All right, let's get another one.

- Oops, bad cast!

- I think this is a perch Brad.

- Nah, I think that's another white bass, but you caught him right in the same spot as those perch.

- Right on that mate, get in there tight, you'll catch one.

They're just laying in there in that soft water right outside the current.

Oh, there's another one with him right there, there was two of 'em.

Yeah that's the first time we've seen today.

- Some of these steep clay banks like this'll hold these pockets.

- Oh man, wow!

Alright.

- There's one, aw I missed him.

- Yeah they're there man.

- I got trench happy on it - I think that's a female, maybe.

These fish are in hard heavy spawning mode right now, kind of like the stripers of the whelm, same situation, following each other up, very aggressive.

- Another one, is that a good one?

- Yep, that white rooster tail is killing 'em.

- Yeah it is, they like that today.

It's got the flash, the white.

[rustling] - Man, taking string - Really pulling idn't he?

- Taking string, yeah.

- They get excited...don't they?

- Yeah, it's fun.

- So Richard, have we addicted you to another fishery?

- Man I'm into this, this is fun.

Yeah, they're on my list now.

[Brad laughs] - See if I can get the hook out of this one.

- Another good size.

- Yeah.

Hard to tell whether it's a male or female, but a good fish nevertheless.

Beautiful.

[splash] - Joe, that was a good day.

- It really was, we hit it just about right and again, we always stress, size your tackle to the fish that you're going after, and we did, we knew the size of those fish and it just you know, using four pound test and just loads of fun.

And really if you can do that, it just makes the trip even better.

- It's all about light tackle, let's go to gear time.

[soft music] [chiming] - Brad, I had an amazing time up here this afternoon.

This is one of my first white bass experiences and it was just an amazing fishing day.

- We had a lot of success today didn't we?

- We sure did.

- Yeah, we started lower on the river, working our way up to the upper parts of the river.

We found more current up here.

We rounded a corner and could smell the spawn going on, and sure enough, as soon as we did, we really got into 'em up here.

- Yeah, we got into more fish and also the time of day, as the day progressed, it seemed like the bite was better.

- I believe that thoroughly, that's a good point.

- About four o'clock seems to be the magic time frame.

- Yeah it does.

- Can you tell us a little bit about some of the tackle that we're using today?

- Yeah, we're using some TFO ultra light and light rods, you know, thousand series reels, real small, light weight stuff.

We used an assortment of lures, you know, we've got what I'm holding here, lipless cranks that we're using, small grubs with the eighth ounce heads.

- Some soft plastics here?

- Rooster tails Yeah that's right, the soft plastics, little jerk baits, swim baits, Little small swim baits - What you would use for typical pan fish tackle, crappy tackle.

- Yeah, real flashy stuff, bold colors in this murky water, you keep it in that two inch size really does well.

Now they can bite bigger stuff, but that two inch size works very well - They're very aggressive.

- Yeah they are.

- I had a lot of bait confidence in my tiny traps earlier today, but then I switched to this white rooster tail and it was killing 'em, so you know, you just gotta experiment.

- It's interesting to know how the bait can change throughout the day.

And it'll be hot one minute and then another one'll pick right up.

- Well, I had a wonderful time today and I'm definitely gonna be back, I hope you invite me back sometime.

- I will.

- Yes sir.

Alright buddy enjoyed it.

- It's all about light tackle, and we thank you for all that valuable information.

Now let's catch up with Donna, she's got a surprise for you in the kitchen today.

It's fish, it's curry, and it's something that you're really gonna enjoy.

[soft music] - Hi, today in the kitchen we're making a green curry fish soup.

And it is really great, it goes together really quick and simply, and it'll smell so good.

And especially on a cold rainy day, if you have one.

It's just so yummy.

So we're gonna heat in our pan, we have some canola oil that we're heating up, and then we're going to add two shallots that have been sliced thinly.

And a shallot, in case you don't know, or you haven't used one in a while, it's a combination between an onion and garlic.

So you're gonna get some really great flavors, and we're just gonna, kind of, break those up a little bit.

And give those a good swirl here.

And let those start to sautee.

There's only a few ingredients in this recipe, so that's nice too, so it's gonna go together quick and easy.

You can add a few other things to it if you want, cause if you're like me, you just can't really leave a recipe alone, you have to add your own little touch.

I get accused of that a lot, I can't just follow the recipe.

So we've got those going, then we're going to add in some corn, you can use fresh corn or frozen corn depending on what you have handy and the time of the year.

See, I would add, like, some spinach to this, give it a little color, maybe some red bell peppers to give it a nice little color.

We're going to add in some of our Anne's chicken broth that we've made with our base.

I'm just gonna give that a little swirl.

We're gonna add in our green chili, green curry paste and give that a swirl as well.

[scraping] We've got all those great flavors going on in there.

Then we're gonna add, this is one of my favorite things, is coconut milk, and this comes out of a can, so it's not the kind you find in the dairy section.

You find it in the asian section of your grocery store, the international section.

So it's nice and thick and it's gonna add some great flavors and some great smells.

It's one of my favorite things on a cold day.

So we're gonna give that a swirl, then we're going to add in our fish, and you can use fish, you can use shrimp, if you have it, whatever you might have that you want to enjoy.

And I just put that in there and let that simmer until your fish is opaque and ready to go, and then I just take my spoon and just kind of chop it up and you're ready to go.

We're gonna add a little salt to this, and just a little bit of pepper.

[grinding] We're gonna let that simmer until it thickens and your fish is all cooked, and then you are ready to go, quick and easy.

So this is what it looks like.

We served ours with a little bit of sticky rice, some thinly sliced jalapenos for a little bit of heat if you like it, and some basil.

It's a quick easy dish, you can warm yourself up on a nice cool day.

So I hope you enjoy this green curry fish, and I look forward to seeing you next time here on simple cooking.

- Thanks Donna, for that recipe.

Now Joe I wanna go back, we're talking light tackle, we're talking white bass, we talked about the Piedmont, it's just a good day.

- It was, it really was a good day, we timed it, our timing was perfect, we caught quite a few fish, and again matching with that light tackle made the day.

The white bass is a fish that was stocked a number of years ago in the lake, Falls Lake, and once they leave the river after spawning they can be caught out on the lake.

They school up a lot, in fact, they travel in schools, particularly, especially in the lake, and so you can catch 'em out in the lake year round.

But that was the first time we'd been on the Eno, a real pretty river here in the Piedmont, again a great sport fish, and matching that tackle with 'em made 'em even better.

- And you know, Joe, we've said it several times, light tackle does make the difference.

- It really does.

- 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 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.

[light instrumental music] ♪ ♪ ♪