[piano intro] - I'll tell you what.

These drum are fighters aren't they?

- Ah, sometimes they wait until they get right there.

Yeah I've noticed catching those big ones.

See how uneven it is and stuff, that sometimes they'll fight you out there and sometimes they wait till they get here and just bull dog all around the boat.

Hold on boss, land ho.

- [Man] It took a nice easy.

- He's gonna mess with you for a little bit now.

That's a pretty fish.

That's a little bit better fish than what I thought it was when he rolled up out there a while ago.

Look at that drum.

Hot dog buddy.

Look at there, look at there.

- [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.

- [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] ♪ ♪ ♪ - Hello and welcome to the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

Well today's program will take us down to the marshes.

We're gonna be fishing for some red drum.

- That's right.

We're gonna be fishing the marshes along and near Swan Quarter, Engelhard, that the expanse of the Northern Pamlico Sound that has just endless bays and estuarine areas that are just home to the red drum, our state fish.

We just had a great morning fishing shallows and grass using one of my favorite lures, and it's an older bait, over lure, the Johnson spoon.

It's a golden color and guys will talk about it in Gear Time.

But just had a great day.

- Yeah, we're gonna have a good Gear Time today 'cause we're gonna show you some different ways to rig.

But Donna is in the kitchen today with smoked trout.

- [Joe] Yeah, it's a trout recipe that she's come up with and anybody that goes up in the mountains and may camp out and give it a try.

You can even cook it in your own kitchen.

Real tasty from her today.

- Well if you like fishing in the marshes for red drum, this show's for you.

Stick around, there's a lot coming your way today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- [Kurt] Finding it a little breezier this morning than I thought it was gonna be.

- I thought it was gonna be slick calm over here.

It was calm coming all the way from home on the sound and Stumpy Point Bay and everything was real calm.

- Couple of hours, we'll probably appreciate it.

- I know, especially when we're right up there.

- Kind of the dog days of summer.

- Yeah it's right here in the beginning of August.

There's a lot going on out here this year though isn't it?

- [Kurt] It's been a good year.

- A lot of trout.

A lot of flounders showing up.

It's that time of the year for the flounders but today, we've been talking about doing this for a while, this puppy drum fishing with spinner baits and stuff.

Kurt, you've fished it all but from Long Shore River to Stumpy Point Bay all the way to the mouth of the Pungo, it all looks the same.

There's marsh creeks, marsh islands.

- [Kurt] A lot of shallows.

- [Bryan] A lot of shallow water grass beds in the back of these little coves.

And there's puppy drums.

They're not schooled up like they're gonna be a little bit later on.

- [ Kurt] In another month.

- [Bryan] Yeah.

But they're scattered out, running gun fishing, I like throwing the spinner baits 'cause it's easy.

Anybody can do this.

- [Kurt] A lot of control over it too.

You get in shallow water and you can keep it up.

You can fish it a little deeper.

- Fishing right down the banks, you got a target to throw to.

Flounder will eat it, speckled trout like we've seen already.

Rock fish will eat it.

You like putting that gulp on there 'cause of that extra scent.

- [Kurt] That's right.

- And I, actually, got a gulp trailer on here.

Just a spinner bait arm and bucktail and a gulp trailer.

It works good.

- [Kurt] Combination of that flash and scent.

- That's right.

- [Kurt] Middle of the day when it gets a little warmer.

- I'm gonna take you to some bigger grass beds later on.

Maybe some stumps or something and we might catch them on a spoon or on top water bait.

- That puppy drum always likes a little flash though doesn't he?

- Yeah, yep.

There's a nice swirl right there.

Watch that trailer move.

Hot dog buddy.

It's taking him a little while to wake up.

Look at that, that's a pretty fish Kurt.

- [Kurt] It never took a real run.

- [Bryan] That's what we come in here for right there.

- Look how cloudy.

It's a little murkier in here than where we've been fishing.

We're fitting to go up on the back though.

- [Bryan] We'll just lay right up against it.

It'll be fine.

- I'll tell you what, these drums are fighters aren't.

- Sometimes they wait till they get right there.

I've noticed catching those big ones.

See how uneven it is and stuff?

That sometimes they'll fight you out there, and sometimes they wait until they get here and just bull dog all around the boat.

Hold on boss, land hoe.

- [Bryan] It took a nice easy.

- He's gonna mess with you for a little bit now.

That's a pretty fish.

That's a little bit better fish than what I thought it was when he rolled up out there awhile ago.

Look at that drum.

Hot dog buddy.

Look at there, look at there.

- Pretty fish, Sunday fighters.

- I think his spinner bait is a little tangled up there.

A pretty fish man.

These little marsh bays are full of this class of fish right now.

Look at there, you're fishing that gulp shrimp.

- [Kurt] Is that what that is?

- On the back of that thing.

And I've been fishing more of a buck tail with a gulp trailer.

But regardless, that is exactly what he wanted.

Skinny fish.

- Good fly today.

I'm surprised he didn't take a run right when I hooked him.

I was halfway thinking it was a flounder to start with.

- [Bryan] It has that classic spot.

Look how round and perfect that spot it.

- [Kurt] He's in good health too look, no red where he hadn't been dragging on the bottom.

- [Bryan] Yep, yep.

- Let's shoot him back and follow him.

See which way he goes.

- [laughs] Will that work?

Whoo.

The water is a little bit cloudier here than what it was out there.

- [Kurt] He was right on the bank of it.

The bait didn't land two inches from the bank.

- [Bryan] That's where he's supposed to be.

There he goes.

- [Kurt] He kicked right on out of there didn't he?

- [Bryan] Yeah he's in good shape.

At least he had been.

- And you know what?

The way he was sitting right here, we can cast and bring it right down that edge.

'Cause he, probably, wasn't alone.

- Rock and roll, rock and roll.

They're usually not alone.

They may not be schooled up, per say, but they're gonna be in the same general area.

They'll school back up again in these bays, in these coves and stuff a little bit later on.

When the water starts cooling off, and it can get pretty special.

- Y'all figured that gulp on that spinner bait be a good combination.

Flash and scent.

- [Bryan] It is, it certainly is.

- [Kurt] Can you deal with him?

- He all under, we'll see.

There he come out, whoo man.

- He's not the fish like the one I had.

- No he's not but there was another fish slashed at the bait and took off.

So we'll come back in here in just a second.

- Are you ready for one?

- Yeah man.

Yeah man, golly.

That's three fish that we've seen right here and a couple back there.

- Let me get my bait in.

You got him under control, haven't you?

- I think so.

You see what he came through don't you?

- [Kurt] That's right.

- It's a wonder.

A lot of times, like the fish you pulled off awhile ago?

They'll get down in that grass and shake their head real hard and you end up pulling against the grass instead of against the fish.

- [Kurt] He's a pretty fish.

Look at the color on him, right bronze.

- [Bryan] Yeah man, that's just a great class of fish.

That's the reason I got up this morning right there.

- I'd rather catch him that size than any size.

Good pull on light tackle.

- That's a 20 inch fish, 21 inch fish.

You can't beat that Bubba.

On a spinner bait, on that light tackle, eight pound test, whoo.

- [Kurt] That one I had on just before him, I bet was 24, 25.

- It was.

He was easily bigger than that one.

Classic drum spot, blue tail.

I'm gonna turn him loose and spin the trowler motor right back around 'cause I know there's at least another fish that neither one of us hooked right there.

- [Kurt] That's right.

- [Bryan] He's in good shape.

Perfect, perfect, perfect.

- [Kurt] You can believe I'm looking hard behind my bait.

- I bet.

Man, he come right out of this bank right here.

- [Kurt] Yeah pretty.

He was right there in that opening.

- I was worried that I wasn't gonna get him stuck 'cause he ate it coming right at me.

- [Kurt] You want me to net him for you?

- [Bryan] Sure.

Look at that in that water man.

Is that not beautiful?

- [Kurt] Yes.

- [Bryan] This is pretty habitat right here.

- [Kurt] He's got a little more shoulders on him.

- [Bryan] He's got some shoulders.

He's not as long as some of them ones we caught earlier.

He's a little bit thicker.

Old eight pound P-line.

You can't put so much pressure in this grass but you just need a good abrasion resistant line if you're gonna be fishing in this mess.

'Cause you know it takes a beating in here.

Heck yeah man.

I'll take that all day long.

Look where he's hooked to.

- [Kurt] Look how thick he is.

- [Bryan] I think that's the thickest fish we've caught.

- He's got some nice shoulders on him.

We saw that.

- He pulled like he had some shoulders.

Yeah man.

- Pretty fish, pretty.

- [Bryan] Heck yeah.

This is the cleanest water we've seen.

You got behind some of this grass.

[soft music] - [Kurt] He's gone wasn't he?

- He's buried in the grass now.

He came off.

- I don't know that.

Did you see him?

- Yeah, I saw the fish.

Oh yeah.

There's a heck of a whirl and the fish took off to the left real hard.

- I was tryin to tighten up all I could.

- Yeah no, it ain't a question about what that was.

I know what that was.

- Left with some salad.

- If he starts coming at you that hard, he's hard to deal with.

A lot of bait in here isn't it?

- Yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty.

- There are, certainly, some fish in here.

- Do you like it in the middle of the day where you can see like this or in the morning or when's your favorite time?

- I usually don't come in these grass type situations until the sun gets up high enough.

Something stopped me right then.

Till the sun gets up high enough that I can see these sandy spots.

You see that right there?

You can differentiate between the grass and the sand.

The fish will get concentrated closer in those sandy spots.

They're waiting on mullets and crabs and stuff.

- I'm trying to line my cast up where I bring it through a couple of those every cast.

- That's right, that's the perfect plan.

On an overcast day, you don't see as much of this mullet activity.

- Nah, that wasn't a fish, I'm just.

- [Bryan] Trigger happy.

Trigger happy.

- You've got such distance and there's so much grass.

- [Bryan] As soon as it stops, it's hard not to set the hook.

If you think we need to get to him, you're fishing with eight pound?

- It's 10.

- [Bryan] Oh it is 10?

I got you.

Yeah we can go to him if we need to.

- No we'll be alright.

- Listen to that drag pull him there.

- And that bowl up there where he's in the water.

This is just about as good as catching you're own top water isn't it?

- Yeah.

- You get to see the strike, you get to see a lot of the fish.

- You could, probably, come close to catching some of these fish on top but you're gonna be grassed up most casts.

So it's hard to do.

That spoon's hard to beat in that grass isn't it?

- [Kurt] It's tough.

- Whoo, golly.

I mean the water's shallow.

They got to pull dude, they don't have anywhere to go.

- [Kurt] They're a pulling fish.

- Got to keep your drag set light.

They're surging fish, you know what I mean?

They're not runners.

- [Kurt] He's gonna take it.

- [Bryan] They surge and that's how people break em off a lot of times.

- [Kurt] Take it or break it won't it.

- [Bryan] Yeah, you got to have your drag set right.

- [Kurt] It's, kind of, a tough deal here 'cause you got to have it set tight enough to set this hook in and with this light tackle.

- That's a good class of fish man.

- [Kurt] Yeah pound for pound.

- [Bryan] He's tough isn't he?

- [Kurt] Uh-huh.

- That blue tail man.

Did I say I know guys at Carolina Pan?

He's stuck right in that same place that other one was.

- [Kurt] That's what I was aiming for.

- [Bryan] Did you say you were?

Pretty work.

- [Kurt] Yeah he's a nice fish.

Pretty.

Good thick fish, healthy.

- Yeah man, pop that baby out of there for you?

- Yeah if you can.

I should of took it out before I picked him up.

- Nah that's good.

They'll sail on those spoons.

- Yep, pretty fish.

- [Bryan] Pretty work.

Let's do that again.

- [Kurt] I'm gonna try.

I got him Bryan.

- [Bryan] Good golly, come on.

- I let him go.

- He thumbed you though didn't he?

- That's about twice I felt like I had a bite when I brought him in.

The weedless piece was bent down.

- [Bryan] Oh really?

- Yeah, I was pretty sure.

- [Bryan] There's no question about it.

He's casting a long ways with a light rod.

And eight or 10 pound test with a lot of stretch man.

He was hard to sink that hook sometimes.

- Well see how he bit that down?

Oh look, I had a.

- [Bryan] Scale.

- I got part of it.

- [Bryan] That's the drum.

- That's right.

- [Bryan] There ain't a question about it.

He just rolled on it, hit him in the side of the head.

- In the side of the face.

Couldn't go in no deeper than that.

That's a block on me.

- [Bryan] Yep, wow.

Well they're still right there Kurt.

- [Kurt] You got him?

- [Bryan] I think so.

Yes sir, there he is.

- When we get him, let's check to see if he's got scales missing out the side of his face.

- [Bryan] See I had a hard time catching up with him.

I got a light drag.

I'll pop him a couple of more times and make sure.

I'm not hitting him hard enough to snatch his head out of the water but that shaking will set that hook a little bit further.

- [Kurt] Once you get him taking drag, you get a good feeling on him like that.

- Mostly changes directions man.

You figure out which way he's going, you set the hook.

Yee haw, look at that little dude go.

Go on baby, go on baby.

Now you watch what happens right now.

With that sun going behind that cloud.

You'll quit seeing the mullets jumping.

You won't see any whirls or anything.

You'll still get a bite or two.

- They'll just take the bite, just visibility's not as far as putting a search on a fish.

- No, the surface activity just goes away with that cloud cover.

- I would a lot rather trout fish in an overcast conditions than have it all day long.

- Yeah, yeah, oh yeah.

- [Kurt] If these weren't such shallow water.

- That sunshine man, it keeps them in there tight to the cover.

That gold flash, it's got a different kind of flash to it in that sun.

Yee haw, now that's, probably, the smallest one we've caught in here and he's 17 or 18 inches or better.

- And it's not caught yet.

- Oh he's good as caught boss.

He's as good as caught.

You don't have to worry about him.

You don't have to worry about him.

Let's see what we can do.

He's a little bit bigger than I thought he was.

- [Kurt] Yeah he didn't look a whole lot different than me frankly.

- [Bryan] I don't want to reach down there and grab that line.

- [Kurt] Yeah a lot of people like to do that.

You better leave the dag darn.

- [Bryan] You see how much bend I got left in my rod?

You just grab that line and pull up on it and you'll snap him off in a hurry.

- [Kurt] All he's got to do is shake off his head.

- [Bryan] Let's see if I can get that spoon right there and he's coming in the boat.

You can lip these fish like a bass but they got a row of teeth in them Bubba and if he shuts his mouth and shakes his head, you're losing some skin.

- [Kurt] Those gills are pretty tough gill plates, in the side is pretty tough on one too.

- Yeah, it's a bad deal to stick your hand very far in a drum's mouth.

That is not a good plan.

Look how thick these fish.

We caught some fish out in the marsh earlier that were long and skinny.

- Yeah those are nice fish right there.

It's pretty.

- Heck yeah.

He's just a one spotter.

One on each side.

But as long as he'll keep eating that spoon, we're gonna be here for awhile.

- Joe, that was a good day of fishing and I got to give it to you, your spoon was working over time that day.

- It did.

'Cause if you notice the grass was pretty thick in a number of those bays that we fished.

And so you consequently, have to use a lure that is weedless and allows you to fish it.

And what's so neat about that type of fishing is you see the fish a lot of times.

Sometimes you don't but most of the time, in that shallow water, you do.

Especially with polarized glasses.

And the guys will talk about that too.

The need to wear polarized glasses under those conditions.

But just had a great morning with him.

And our state fish, to me, one of the best we've got.

- We had a good time that day.

- Absolutely.

- Right, let's go to Gear Time.

Let's find out more.

[soft music] - Well Bryan, that was a lot of fun.

One thing about a puppy's run, he'll pull.

- He pulls good.

Especially in the shallow water we were catching them in.

We had to hunt for them today.

We fished a lot of water and fished some shallow coves with grass in it which, once the sun came up, worked really good.

We fished some deeper marsh banks just running the gun fishing with spinner baits and stuff.

We caught a few fish early and we kept right on catching them until just a few minutes ago.

But it's time for us to go different directions now.

- [Kurt] Pretty much what we're using in the water, with most color, we used a Johnson Spoon it it, perfect.

Pull it right through the water.

You can drag it right across that grass and it'd be fine.

Where there wasn't so much cover, we just used about a quarter ounce spinner bait.

- [Bryan] Fishing up and down the edge of the marsh banks away from the grass and all.

That spinner bait works great.

Everybody's favorite, as far as I know, is gold.

You got this gold blades.

You got a ball bearing swivel, so it's really got a lot of vibration, really spins well.

And you can change out, with these spinner bait arms like this.

You can change out your head colors.

I fished a buck tail a little bit this morning and you were fishing that gulp just about then.

Nice thing about that is, you catch a speckled trout, a flounder and all kinds of stuff on it.

- Good scent to it too.

But I would say color, for a puppy drum, gold.

We've caught them on gold rattle traps in the past.

Good bait but gold's a key color.

- Gold's hard to beat.

The thing about these spoons.

A couple of things we talked about.

One, we talked all through the day.

'Cause you haven't really fished with them that much-- - Not a whole lot.

- doing what we did.

You got a lot of bulk right there and the fish is eating it a long ways away, you really got to thump him.

- It was light tackle but it was hard to get a hook set on him but once you got a hook set, the fight was on.

- That's right and then you've got the weed guard needs to stay out fishing around this grass.

If you fish it too fast, it's gonna spin your line up real bad but if you slow it down and let it wobble, it'll fish down in there.

One time, I had to pause it to get the fish to eat.

- You dropped it down.

We were looking at him.

It's far casting bait as I've ever used.

- Yeah these are 1/2 ounce.

They make them 3/4 too.

We didn't need to fish that as shallow as it was or whatever but fishing eight and 10 pound bait casters.

Long, flimsy rods and they're light action rods.

You got to thump him.

You got to let him have it.

- Best bait of the day.

Hope we get a chance to use it again.

- I hope so.

- He enjoyed it.

- Yeah man, I did too.

Thanks for coming down.

- Glad you had me.

- Yes sir.

- Thanks guys.

That's some valuable information.

Now let's catch up with Donna.

She's got a recipe for smoked trout.

[soft music] - Hi, today in the kitchen, we're going to be serving some smoked trout with some fried cheese.

This is a recipe that my husband created.

We better go ahead and get started.

We just bought the smoked trout or if you have a smoker, you can smoke your own trout if that's something you'd like to do.

So we're gonna take our feta cheese, and it's a hard cheese so we're gonna use that.

Goat cheese, I think, would work really well too but I would freeze my goat cheese prior to since it's a pretty soft cheese, I would go ahead and just put it in the freezer and then work with it that way.

But we're gonna use this feta because it's firm.

We're just gonna slice this into rectangles.

It's nice and cold.

You want to make sure you have all of your ingredients ready before you get started 'cause you want your cheese to be as cold as possible.

We're gonna take one egg and we're just going to blend it.

This will help all of our breaders to adhere to our cheese.

I took some cornmeal, a little seafood butter and some sesame seeds.

We're just gonna mix that all together, with our hands, on a piece of wax paper.

Make sure our oil's ready.

Yes, it's very nice and hot.

We're gonna take our cheese and we're going to dip it into our egg.

This is, kind of, a messy recipe but it's fun.

It's an unusual way to serve.

It can be a great appetizer.

You can make this into a great salad.

However you want to serve it.

I think it would be great.

We're gonna take our cheese and we're just gonna drop it into our oil.

This is gonna have to happen pretty fast 'cause you want to cook it just until it's brown on one side, flip it over and then bring it out.

Be careful you don't pop on yourself.

I think this one is, probably, about ready to go.

So we flip that over.

I can see that it's nice and golden brown but it's still gonna be firm in the middle but soft on the outside.

We're just gonna continue to do this but like I said, you might want to do a few at a time and then let those set and then do some more.

But it's great to serve it on a salad.

You get it in nice, fancy restaurant.

You'll get some nice, golden cheese on top of your salad.

It's fun to do at home and it's easy to do.

We're just gonna remove that.

You can see, I already have some on here.

And just put it on top of your salad.

I used some mixed greens that I found at the grocer or if you have some in your garden, you can use those as well.

It's a really quick and easy thing that goes together.

Just take your bagged salad, plate it on a nice plate.

Your smoked trout that you like.

And then just fry up your cheeses and you're ready to go.

It's a great salad for an entree or for an appetizer.

I hope yoU enjoy the smoked trout with fried cheese and I look forward to seeing you next time here on Simple Cooking.

- For 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.

[light instrumental music] ♪ ♪ ♪