[piano intro] All right, got him on another one.

Second cast here in this spot.

You're gettin' good!

Get ya one on, Marty.

Fire it in there.

Let's see if we can... get in that hole there.

Take that.

Oh, that's a good one!

Probably need the net for him.

- [male announcer]: The production of Carolina Outdoor Journal is made possible in part by: - [female announcer]: The North Carolina Wildlife Rescources Commission.

A fishing license goes a long way towards wildlife conservation in North Carolina.

Over 38,000 miles of managed streams and rivers, and 250,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs.

- [male announcer]: And by EZ Bait and Tackle, family owned and operated.

We fish from fresh to saltwater.

We provide fishing supplies and ad vice to every type of angler.

For all your fishing needs, EZ Bait and Tackle.

And by contributions from PBS NC vi ewers like you.

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

Today's program's gonna take us on the Roanoke River.

We're gonna be fishing, and our young angler first experience.

(Joe) Yeah, we're takin' a first-time fisherman to the Roanoke.

He's fished other places.

His past fishing experience, mainly around Swan Quarters and the Pamlico Sound, but he's never fished the Roanoke River, never caught a striped bass.

We're gonna take him for his first experience on the river.

We're targeting striped bass today using soft--soft plastics, and had a good day.

How 'bout in "Geartime" today?

Roanoke River's a great river.

We'll learn how to rig for it in "Geartime."

Exactly, we'll go back with, um-- with Richard Andrews, who's our guide today, and he'll go over the soft baits, the tackle, the rod and reel combinations they like to use.

But he's, uh--Richard, over the last few years, has built up a good wintertime-- this is in, you know, winter months, it's in March, and, um, he's got that population down pat on how to catch 'em.

(John) And today's recipe, fish stew.

(Joe) I think the recipe goes right with this show today.

We got a lot to do.

Let's go to work on the Carolina Outdoor Journal .

[engine roaring] [engine decelerating] So, Marty, here we are.

We're, uh, almost to our fishin' destination.

It's March, Roanoke-- lower Roanoke River, uh.

We're striper fishin' today.

What do you think?

And I'm-- I'm excited.

I understand this is-- this'll be your first striper ever if we can catch a few today.

First trip ever.

One's good; a bunch is great.

What a great fishery to try out your-- your first striper fishin' trip.

Very excitin'.

We'll be in our spot in a second, and we'll idle up here and start fishin'.

All right, let's do it.

(Richard) So, Marty, we have these three-inch paddle tail baits that we're usin' that mimic the natural forage species of the stripers, uh, which is river herring, and we gonna start out with a couple different colors.

This is an off-white color with a red jig head, and you have a chartreuse variation there, and what we're gonna be doin' is just throwin' these, uh-- these jigs up to the bank.

See, river herring spawn up in the woods, in the-- in the flooded trees, and they're entering and exiting the flood plain on these-- in these little, uh, channels and passageways, and if we could find those areas and throw these jigs in those areas, we ought to catch some stripers.

So good afternoon, huh?

Yeah, yeah.

You ready?

Ready-- let's do it.

Same side?

Yep, right there, 'bout two or three feet off the base of those trees.

Look at that.

(Richard) Marty, we got one.

Our second cast-- can you believe it?

(Marty) That is great.

Second cast-- Roanoke river striper.

That's what it's all about.

(Marty) Looks like it's gonna be a great afternoon.

(Richard) Some high volume action on the lower Roanoke in March.

There he is; he's coming up--pretty fish.

(Marty) It makes the rest of the day look promising.

(Richard) Yes, sir.

We'll get 'em off the hook and back in the water.

(Marty) So that's what we're after today?

That's it; that's the striped bass that we are after, the Roanoke River stripers.

Pop that hook out.

Pretty fish--pretty little schoolie striper.

He'll be on his way to Weldon pretty soon-- in about two weeks.

(Marty) Nice.

Go tell your friends.

(Richard) Up in those trees, it's only knee-deep.

I mean, if you were to step off that bank ledge, you'd drop right down to about 12 to 15 foot of water, and these fish are holdin' right on those bank ledges feedin', uh, when bait fish come by.

And just let that bait drop down, flick your wrist, twitch it ev ery few seconds.

Give it about a three- to five-second pause in between twitches, and your bite will come on the fall almost every time when the bait's dropping.

OK. (Richard) Comin' on up again.

Let's see how big he is.

Whoa, there he is; diggin' on me.

That might be the same fish.

It looks like his twin brother.

Sling him up here, and we'll get him back in the water.

They're all about the same this time o' year.

I mean, we have seen some mixed sizes, some bigger fish, and some smaller fish, but that's about average size for this year's stock, uh.

That fish was probably born in 2011.

Fish on!

(Richard) All right, Marty, good job!

(Marty) That's a decent fish.

First striper.

I know!

(Richard) I better not lose him.

[both laughing] (Marty) Oh, yeah, comin' up.

(Richard) Good fish too.

(Richard) Ge t ahold of that le ader right there.

There ya go.

He's hooked well.

All right, Marty, that's your first striper right there.

(Marty) Isn't he pretty?

(Richard) Pretty fish, yes, sir; you like that?

(Marty) I do; let's catch another one.

(Richard) Sounds good; we'll get him back in the water and get another one on.

All right, got him on.

Second cast here in this spot.

Man, you're gettin' good.

Get ya one on, Marty.

Fire it in there.

Get it in that hole there.

Take that.

Oh, that's a good one.

Probably need the net for him.

There he is; we got him!

(Marty) Oh, yeah!

Nice fish, ma n. He might make th e limit.

He's gonna make the keeper, Marty.

I think we're gonna keep him and eat a nice rock fish for supper tonight.

Or you will, at least.

Sounds great, man.

Fire up the grease; get it hot--heh, heh!

(Richard) Pretty hook-up there.

(Marty) Once again, you've put us in 'em.

(Richard) He's in that current; he's fightin' it.

(Marty) This one's pullin' real good!

(Richard) There we go; give me a little slack.

Pretty work, bud.

All right.

Pretty rock.

Yeah, man!

We'll see if he's big enough.

All right, Marty-- pretty work.

We got another one.

That chartreuse paddle tail is doin' the trick, isn't it?

(Marty) It's caught a few today.

I got a question.

Are we fishin' for rock or striped bass?

That's a good-- that is a good question!

Most people around this area call 'em rock fish.

Rock fish-- But they're more universally known as striped bass.

We'll measure him to see if he's a keeper.

He might be close.

Nope, not quite.

[fish flopping] Let him go.

He's got a stubby tail on him.

Yeah, he does.

Good job, bud.

Hey, thanks, man.

[mellow acoustic guitar leads soft rock arrangement] ♪ ♪ (Marty) So...when's a good time to come out here and catch these fish?

(Richard) Well, Marty, that's a good question, uh.

We generally start seein' these fish school up-- there are resident stripers in the Roanoke River all year, however, we really start seein' these fish school up in the wintertime.

I start fishin' for 'em as early as late November, early December, and we fish 'em all winter long, right into the pre-spawn period, which is right now in March, uh.

We tend to see it a little-- we tend to see it slow down a bit in April and May when the bulk of the fish are up on the spawning grounds in Weldon.

And then after the spawn, post-spawn fishin's very good in late May or early June, so we really have quite a wide season when we fish these fish.

You better tighten up.

Fire that thing in there.

You'll get a fish.

I think I need to just swim over and set it down.

Heh, heh...heh!

Whoa, put a little drag.

Here we go.

He definitely doesn't wanna see sunshine.

(Richard) I'ma put a net under that one just in case... just in case he's a keeper.

He's gonna be close.

All right, Marty.

I don't think this one's gonna be 18 inches.

(Marty) He's pretty close.

(Richard) We're gonna let that fish go.

Maybe next year, we'll catch him.

He'll be about 5 or 6 inches bigger.

There you go.

He'll give you another nice pull.

(Richard) Yes, it sure would.

All right.

Let's get us another one.

Sounds great.

Here we go!

Another striper.

(Richard) We moved again and found another spot that was holdin' some fish.

Shakin' his head.

(Marty) That was almost as soon as bait hit the water.

(Richard) He was up there suspended high in the water column.

We'll sling him up.

He's another undersized fish.

I think he's about 17 and some change, maybe.

That chartreuse bait did it right there, didn't it?

Half-ounce jig head, it's a good one.

We'll let him go to try to get a larger one.

Cast right back up there in that hole right there.

That's where I got that bite.

(Marty) All right.

(Richard) There you go.

Just let it fall ri ght down that ledge and twitch it-- twitch your tip.

(Marty) Is that a bite?

(Richard) Just give a little twitch.

Let it fall.

All right, Marty!

Fish!

(Richard) Attaboy!

You got the touch now, don't ya?

(Marty) You gave it to me.

Heh, heh-- shoot.

I think I'm just-- I want that pie.

Heh, heh...heh!

That's a good one.

Break his head a little bit.

There you go-- pretty work.

Well, you're learnin' and doin' a great job catchin' 'em, man.

Thank you for teachin' me.

I didn't do anything.

You did all the hard work.

Put him back; we'll catch another one.

Let's do that.

Up again here... move to a different spot... a spot with similar characteristics, but, uh...a little bit further up the river here.

(Marty) See what we got.

(Richard) Another 'bout 17-incher, I think.

(Marty) Oh, pretty fish.

(Richard) Sling him up here, and we'll try to get him off.

There we go.

(Marty) That's a nice fish.

Pop that jig head out of his mouth.

We'll let him go.

Catch another one ju st like him.

Marty, go ahead and make yo ur cast right there underneath that branch.

That seems to be where they're schoolin' right now.

(Marty) OK, yes, sir.

(Richard) This is a good little spot.

Probably the best spot we found all day.

That's what we look for, schooled-up fish that are stacked in these spots that we can catch every cast like this.

That's the ultimate goal.

It doesn't happen like that every day though, but...it's fishin'.

But even on the Roanoke River, you still come out on a slow day and bang out 15 or 20 fish, which is pretty awesome.

(Marty) Yeah, I think it's pretty awesome.

(Richard) Now, this one might be... a little bit bigger than that last one.

Probably about the same size, but I'm gonna measure him just to make sure.

(Marty) Pr etty close, huh?

I know you want some fried fish for supper.

Seems everything's be en pretty close, around that 18 -inch mark.

That one is 18 1/8.

He is legal.

(Marty) Legal...that's what we're lookin' for, right?

Yes, sir.

Absolutely-- so we're gonna fillet and release into the grease.

Heh, heh... heh!

That's right.

Man, that sounds delicious.

Some hush puppies with it?

Yes, sir, imagine that.

That's gonna be good.

Maybe a little herring roe to go with it, that Roanoke River delight.

mmh (Richard) Let's see.

Go where he wants to go right now.

He's fightin' good.

Marty, when we were fishin' here the other day, we were seeing 'em follow each other up already.

(Marty) Oh, man, that's a good sign.

(Richard) There was two and three fish with each we were catchin'.

That was pretty neat to see.

(Marty) That's a good sign the fish are workin' that spot.

(Richard) I think this one might...measure.

Lemme see.

We're gonna have to put him on the board and see... see what he ends up bein'.

(Marty) It's gonna be close.

(Richard) If he'll cooperate-- he is just under size.

We're gonna have to throw him back.

He was one mil away from goin' into the cooler, wasn't he?

(Marty) Today's his lucky day.

Heh, heh...heh!

Let's try again.

Joe, we had a good day on the Roanoke.

Yeah, we actually fished in the afternoon, and, uh, you know, catchin'-- catchin' your first fish of any species is always a highlight in your fishin' career, and I think Marty had a really good time.

Richard was a little disappointed in the size and the numbers we caught, but we, like I said, we caught a handful of fish and really showed Marty the Roanoke in-- in its wildest state.

That section of the river, which is above Jamesville, to me, it's one of the wildest parts of the river, but the fishing throughout the winter this past winter was really good.

Richard has really fine-tuned that winter fishery up there, and if you're interested in tryin' to catch your first striper or a limit of stripers, call.

Talk about catchin' that first striper-- let's go to "Geartime."

[mellow acoustic guitar leads soft rock arrangement] ♪ Marty, this is your first day on the Roanoke River and the first time catchin' striped bass.

How would you rate your experience today?

I rated it, from 1 to 10, a 10.

Great day.

Any new experience outside is-- is--is great, um.

Great fish, uh, great people, man-- I just had a great time catchin' fish.

How 'bout the scenery?

The scenery's awesome.

You know, the Roanoke-- I've never been on the Roanoke River, and, you know, between the winding river itself and the trees and just the wildlife was-- it was pretty intense.

(Richard) Yeah, it's a big bonus to, um, just the fishin'.

I mean, being out here and just surrounded by national wildlife refuge is a really neat experience.

(Marty) Right, it really is, and, you know, I'm just glad we get to experience this on a daily basis.

Well, being a newbie to the river, you sure made a quick adjustment to a lot of our techniques here.

We're usin', you know, medium-light- action rods, uh, you know, TFO rods, uh.

A good, sensitive rod is very important when we're jiggin' these soft plastics, uh.

We're usin' 2000-series PENN Battle Reels today, spooled with 10-pound braid and an assortment of soft plastic baits, D.O.A.

soft plastics, uh, different-- couple of different jig head colors.

I usually use the white and off-white colors when the water's a little clearer, and I use the pinks and the chartreuse, the bright colors, when the water's muddy.

And a good-quality jig head, uh, that can stand up to repeated strikes of these stripers is important.

Um, another-- another key addition to our-- our arsenal today is-- is scent.

You know, I'm a true believer in adding scent to these baits-- makes a big difference.

These fish really respond well to it.

We use a lot of it here, and we've had great success with it.

Well, that wraps up a really nice day here on the river.

We caught a lotta fish.

What ya say we grab a bite at the Cypress Grill?

I'm always ready to eat.

Congratulations on a wonderful day, Marty.

Thank you, sir.

You ready?

Let's go.

If you need to talk to Captain Andrews, his number's on screen.

He'll take you fishin', and there's a good chance he'll put you on fish in that Roanoke River.

Let's catch up with Donna.

She's in the kitchen, and she's got a recipe for fish stew.

♪ ♪ Hi, today in the kitchen, we're gonna be makin' a fish stew.

This is a great recipe.

It's one you put on in the morning and just kinda simmer all day if you'd like.

You can use whatever type of fish you might have.

Little bits and pieces-- if you have little, you know, pieces-- a little bit of flounder left, a little bit of whiting left, a little bit of scallops-- whatever you might have, you can put it all in, which is awesome.

So what we're gonna do is start out by sautéing or cooking some bake--bacon.

I like to leave a little bit in my pan because I just think it's great.

We're gonna use the drippings to sauté our onions.

So I've just put my bacon aside-- so I just put it in a little cup on the side.

I'm gonna chop this a little finer 'cause it's gonna go on top when we're gettin' ready to serve.

So we're going to take our onion and just place that into our sauté pan... [sizzling] and give it a good stir, and we're gonna let this cook for just a few minutes until they begin to soften.

We're also gonna add in our potatoes.

I like to use Yukon Gold potatoes just 'cause I like the flavor of 'em.

I think they look pretty, but use whatever type of white potato you might have.

So we're gonna place those in there too.

Give that a stir so we're getting all the onion and good juices there, especially that bacon flavor... and we're just gonna let that cook for a little bit.

We're gonna add some salt... and some pepper... [grinding] to that... and give it another stir and try to keep it all into your saucepan.

So there we go.

So we're gonna cook that.

Let it, um, cook until it's-- the potatoes get tender.

We're gonna add in our fish, um.

This is just some flounder.

You can tell it's just one of those great recipes you can just dump and stir.

Then we're going to add in "The One" sauce, which will give a little bit of heat-- not a lot.

You can add more or less if you like.

We're gonna add in some tomato sauce.

[sizzling] And then we're going to add in some water.

And you can use chicken stock if you'd like, or if you have fish stock, which would be great too.

So we're just going to put the lid on that.

We're gonna let that cook for about 30 minutes until everything is nice and tender, and then we're going to crack eggs, six eggs, into this.

So I'd crack 'em into your dish and then pour them in slowly, and put the lid on and let them cook for about 20 more minutes.

This is what it looks like when it's finished, a great bowl of hearty stew.

We have our hard-cooked-- depending how you like your eggs.

This one's probably about medium.

So some crunchy bread-- it's a great hearty meal anytime and a great way to use up leftover or little bits of fish that you might have.

So I hope you enjoy the fish stew, and I look forward to seein' you here next time on "Simple Cooking."

Thanks, Donna.

That's some good stuff.

Joe, you fish on the Roanoke; you catch fish, but there's one thing you've got to do when you fish in the Jamesville area.

(Joe) You hit the nail on the head, and Marty really didn't know this was coming, but the fact that we fished in the afternoon.

It was an afternoon trip.

We finished a little earlier than we thought.

We had time to run him back down the river to the shores of Jamesville, where the Cypress Grill is located.

And anybody that's-- actually, anybody that's grown up in eastern North Carolina's heard of the Cypress Grill.

But it's right on the banks of the Roanoke River.

They're only open three or four-- three months out of the year-- well, January through-- through April.

They've been there since the early 1950s, and they've been a part of that fishing history of the river, uh, forever.

And--and they serve fried fish, generally, rockfish, herring when available, uh, white perch, flounder, trout-- a little bit of everything, and so we-- we treated Marty to his-- actually his first dinner at the Cypress Grill, and they top it off with homemade pie.

So, I mean, what else can you ask for?

First striper, um, first experience on the river, and then he experienced the Cypress Grill all in one afternoon.

Well, I gotta say, the Cypress Grill is a landmark.

Fishing on the Roanoke is always a lotta fun, just another good day in North Carolina.

For Joe Albea, I'm John Moore.

Thanks for joining us today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal .

- [male announcer]: And make sure to visit our website for more information.

- [male announcer]: The production of Carolina Outdoor Journal is made possible in part by: - [female announcer]: The North Carolina Wildlife Rescources Commission.

A fishing license goes a long way towards wildlife conservation in North Carolina.

Over 38,000 miles of managed streams and rivers, and 250,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs.

- [male announcer]: And by EZ Bait and Tackle, family owned and operated.

We fish from fresh to saltwater.

We provide fishing supplies and ad vice to every type of angler.

For all your fishing needs, EZ Bait and Tackle.

And by contributions from PBS NC vi ewers like you.

[light instrumental music] ♪