[piano intro] Good fish!

He's runnin' toward the boat.

Is he runnin' at you?

(man #1) He re he comes.

(man #2) Is he big?

(man #1) He wants to be big, but I don't believe he 's that big--heh, heh!

He wanna be a monster.

That's funny; lo ok at him bend my rod!

He's got a lotta fight in him; he's mad.

That a mad bass.

Here, come over and wa tch him jump--hup!

He gonna jump in the boat right now.

[chuckling] At taboy!

Well, you was a fun fish anyway.

Got one too.

Attaboy.

- [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] ♪ ♪ ♪ Welcome to the Carolina Outdoor Journal .

Well, if you like bass fishing, this program today is all about you.

You're gonna enjoy it.

Joe, we had a good day, a tough but good day.

Yeah, it was another of these days where weather just kinda stepped in and said, You're gonna have to do it a little differently.

We're fishing on Belews Lake, outside Kernersville, for largemouth bass, uh; it's a deep water lake, um.

It's a lake that stays fairly--temperaturewise, um-- pretty close to-- and it fluctuates during the year, of course, but it's a power plant on the edge of the lake, so it kinda controls the temperature a little bit.

Our goal was to catch bass in deep water using spinnerbaits, but as it turns out, we, uh-- because of the wind, we had to move a closer to shore.

Most of the fish we caught were actually close to shore.

This was in mid-March, and, uh, really surprised Joel a little bit that we caught the fish that we did that close-- but had a good day.

That's gonna make "Geartime" interesting today.

Well, they'll go over the spinnerbaits they used and pretty much the tack-- overall tackle they used-- the spinnerbait combinations they used today, uh, that proved productive.

(John) And Donna's recipe, it's all about mussels today.

Yeah, it's, uh--this is kind of a different recipe.

I don't think she's done a mussel recipe for us before but quite tasty.

(John) Well, if you're a bass fisherman, you are gonna like today's program here today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal .

(Joel) Neal, this is a three-bladed Hawg Caller spinnerbait.

It's a half-ounce size, and the color's gold glimmer, and the fish really seem to have been preferrin' this.

(Neal) Exactly.

I guess it matches the bait fish.

It's got small blades on it.

This is what we'll be throwin' today.

We'll be slow-rollin' it out off of these flat points.

Let me look at that a second, Joel.

I see you been catchin' fish on this.

Look at that scar.

The fish been hittin' it hard?

They've been hittin' it.

I'm lookin' forward to that.

Let's give it a cast.

Let's catch one.

All right, he hit it there on that point.

(Neal) Go od job.

(Joel) Decent fish.

Keeper fish to o, Joel.

Yes, sir.

Sling him in.

Look how colored up that fish is!

That's a nice fish.

(Neal) It is a pretty fish.

(Joel) This is typical what you catch a lot of this time of year on Belews Lake.

Is that tagged?

No tag.

What is that?

I don't know what that is.

Nice fish, though.

Pretty color.

Yeah, he was up shallow.

(Neal) Th at's a good, he althy fish.

(Joel) He hit that bait like he sure wanted it.

Bent it!

(Neal) You think his brother may be out here?

I believe so.

Let's find out.

See if he wants the gold one.

He hit it right good ways off the bank.

Yeah.

I think he followed it because...

I could see-- I could see the bait comin' under the water, but I never seen the fish hit it.

Yeah.

He was right up there, shallow.

You could see the bottom where that fish was.

You want me to lip him?

(Neal) Na w, I'm gonna sw ing him in.

(Joel) Naw, let's lip him.

(Neal) Th ere's another one; fo llow him in.

I'm gonna le t him play.

(Joel) Look at that big bass!

He come after it!

Come on; we'll ge t that double.

I'm gonna let him pl ay a little more.

There's another fish!

He came after my lure!

Have you got somethin' to drop down on him?

I'm droppin' that spinnerbait, man.

I'm droppin' that spinnerbait!

Get it, bass!

Oh, no!

Look at that bi g ole fish.

That is a good fish.

Let me grab him.

Don't break my spinnerbait.

(Joel) Neal Stockton got the big fish.

I got the first dollar.

That is a nice fish-- good for a tournament.

The fish that was followin' that fish was just as big, and I almost caught him.

He swiped at my bait, but he didn't get it.

Goodness!

(Neal) He y, man, th at's a good fish.

That's the size that wins tournaments.

(Neal) Th at's right, buddy.

(Joel) About a 3 1/2 pounder.

(Neal) Th at's what we had Saturday, but we had, like, fi ve of those, and then we started cu llin' three-pound bass.

Wow!

That was so neat.

That fish was up where you could see bottom.

Maybe they're gettin' shallower.

I think so.

Do it again.

I'm gonna throw to the right of that spot.

He had you tied up in that brush.

He just wrapped around that brush so pretty.

He came right out for that.

Oh, he crashed on that spinnerbait.

I'll tell you what I done.

When I made that cast and hit that water, that fish charged on that bait, took it, and drug me down in that tree lap.

But he came out, thank goodness.

I put the pressure on him.

That's a good thing for a good line.

I did that to keep him from wrappin' around the tree 'cause once he made that dive and went down that tree, I pulled back the pressure so he wouldn't have to wrap.

Once they make that wrap, it's hard to get 'em loose.

It is there.

(Neal) I noticed that fish we caught was on the bank.

A couple weeks ago, we was catchin' 'em out a bit further and a little deeper.

What's the transition of this, now?

We've got a couple of things-- we've had a couple o' warm nights and a couple o' warm days, right behind this super cold weather we've been havin', and we've had-- had a low light, so, you know, that right there, low light will make fish sh allower a lotta times.

And then, you know, in springtime, the warmin' waters up shallow will-- will bring fish in.

I think it's a combination of both of 'em that, uh, might be contributin' to these fish.

You know, that was a lot larger fish than the average, and a lotta times, your bigger fish'll move first.

Right, so a couple days can make a difference.

A couple of days can make a big difference on any lake in the Carolinas.

Two or three degrees of water temperature difference can make all the difference in whether you're catchin' or not catchin' any.

You gotta find warmer water.

A lotta times, it's in the pockets.

With it calm like this, it can be here on the main part.

He hit that strong, Joel.

(Joel) He hit it hard.

(Neal) He crushed that thing.

(Joel) I just had a strike right there.

Yep, nice fish.

(Neal) Ni ce fish.

Nice bass.

Is it a spotted bass?

It's gonna jump; lo ok at him.

Come in the water.

Swing him in here.

Look at the fat belly on that bass.

Joel, that fish smacked th at spinnerbait!

I mean, it knocked my line slack.

Look at the belly on that fish!

Is that fish ready to spawn?

It looks like he's been eatin' good.

Probably getting ready to spawn too.

Look--it's got a pretty color to it.

That's a beautiful color.

You'll notice the tail's ain't been fanned out any, so I think it's just kinda prespawn conditions still.

That's a sign of a good lake when you got a bass with a belly like that.

Not a mark on it.

(Neal) It's been gorging a lot with shad, ain't it?

Yeah, Belews Lake's got a lotta healthy fish.

Lots of 'em.

(Neal) We had so many sh ort strikes, and that come up there an d crushed it.

It was halfway back to the boat.

You gotta keep fishin' it.

Some are gonna short strike it and some are gonna get it.

I noticed it didn't hit the trailer hook.

It hit the main hook.

Let's take that trailer hook off of there.

That might be my-- my collar right there.

[both chuckling] All right, you can have it.

You keep it on.

I like that little keeper you put on there.

You like the color of it.

I think that's the attractor.

I was gonna say, that fish did not have the trailer hook at all.

No, he crushed it.

It wasn't no nibble; that's a crush.

[mellow acoustic guitar leads soft rock arrangement] ♪ (Neal) We caught two fish on the other side of the lake where the wind weren't bl owin' as much.

We came back here an d caught another fish.

You think the wind and the water color change make a difference?

I do, especially on a lake like this.

The water clarity is-- it's better than five or six feet.

You know, it being dingier will, uh, always help you in a clear-water lake.

If you can find that dingier water and the wind disturbance kinda stirs it up and it seems like it'll make fish that are reluctant to strike somethin' like a spinnerbait or a crank bait and-- and it just makes 'em more aggressive.

Well, that last fish we caught, it crushed it.

The other ones kinda hit behind it.

Yeah, we'd been havin' some short strikes.

You get more wind, it seems like the fish get a little more aggressive.

Seems like the more wind you have, the more aggressive the fish'll get a lotta times.

So that means the bites are gonna pick up as the wind gets a little bit more-- more consistent.

Yeah, after it blows awhile, it seems like it gets more stirred up out there.

Right.

And the bite just-- it always picks up.

Usually, the wind'll pick up around 9:30 in the day, and usually you'll get a good bite startin' then.

Especially if you're fishin'-- movin' lures like these spinnerbaits.

It can really help ya.

Great.

I try to stay in it.

Good fish!

He's runnin' toward the boat.

Is he runnin' at you?

(Neal) He re he comes.

(Joel) Is he big?

(Neal) He wants to be big, but I don't believe he 's that big--heh, heh!

He wanna be a monster.

That's funny; lo ok at him bend my rod!

He's got a lotta fight in him; he's mad.

That a mad bass.

Here, come over and wa tch him jump--hup!

He gonna jump in the boat right now.

[chuckling] At taboy!

Well, you was a fun fish anyway.

Got one too.

Attaboy.

Same place.

I think mine's gonna be bigger.

(Joel) Mi ne's gonna be bigger!

(Neal) It might be another.

Not much bigger... but a little bit bigger; now he's fightin'.

I wanna tell ya , that's-- Whoo!

Look at that!

Good job.

Two bass off the same spot.

Wow!

Fat little bass... small.

(Neal) Tw o fish off the same tree.

Two fish off the same tree.

(Neal) Di d he hit it hard?

(Joel) He hit it like he'd been waitin' all day.

That one I had thought he was a tiger.

Fighters-- the smaller they are, the harder they fight.

He came out fightin' that lure like he was mad at it.

(Joel) Let's catch three off the tree.

(Neal) We 're gonna do that.

Last night, we was talkin' about fish-- the main lake points, wi th the deeper water with the spinnerbaits where we catch those suspended fish.

I know this mornin', we started off shallow and caught a couple fish and stayed shallow.

Is there any reason for that?

Well, we've had a couple of warmer nights here in the last couple o' days, and then we've got this overcast conditions.

It's--it's not too awful cold today compared to what it's been bein'.

You know, we had that success first thing there, and, uh, conditions are just favorin' fishing shallower.

Any time I'm on a clear-water lake, it seems like low-light conditions make fish-- they'll come up in shallower water because the light is not shinin' so bright, you know?

mm-hm And, uh, you'll--you'll find your active fish cruisin' around up there in the shallows, but, you know, we're still catching 'em close to deep water.

Good fish.

(Neal) Need a net?

Naw, I need your hand.

(Neal) I can hand him in there for ya.

I can hand him to you.

(Joel) He is a-fightin'!

This is a good one here.

Look at this big bass.

Or it's either one of them small hard-fightin' ones.

Comin' up to jump.

(Neal) Oh yeah, boy, what a good fish.

Bringin' him in.

Nice one, man.

Congratulations!

Good catch.

(Joel) That's a good three-pounder.

That fish has got a belly on him.

(Neal) Look how fat he is.

(Joel) Prespawn bass-- lots of these in Belews Lake right here.

Lots of 'em-- I can't tell you how many-- this lake has got as many fish as any one I've ever fished.

Lots of 'em.

Grow up and bite again.

(Neal) That's definitely a tournament fish right there.

(Joel) Yes, it is... anywhere you go.

Got a good one!

Oh, it's a biggun!

Biggun!

Don't let him get away.

He's just a-jumpin'.

(Neal) He's just fightin' like a devil.

Watch him come up.

(Joel) I put a lip-lock on him.

I think this breaks the tiebreaker, doesn't it?

Whoo!

That's a three-pounder!

He sure is jumpin' a lot, isn't he?

That means he might try to get away.

heh, heh...heh That means he don't like them hooks.

Oh, yeah!

All right!

Look at that!

(Neal) I tell you what; he crunched that bait again.

(Joel) That was a fine job you done.

(Neal) He swallowed that whole bait!

He's got trailer hook and all in him.

(Neal) I mean, he went and just gorged that bait.

(Joel) Wow!

What a fish.

(Neal) That's a nice one.

That's a tournament fish.

Look at them black spots; have you noticed that?

What's so particular about that?

(Joel) Well, lakes that have a lot of bass in 'em, biologists have said that these bass with these black splotches on 'em are characteristic of a lake with lots of fish.

See these little black marks?

But something else I look at: see that mud on his belly?

That's--that's mud.

That fish was down on the bottom when-- before you caught him.

I see that a lot in the spring.

You get the mud on the belly.

Nice.

(Neal) Good eye.

(Joel) Oh , he's still sh akin' his head!

(Neal) He still can't believe it.

(Joel) Heh...heh...heh!

Oh, good job.

You broke the tie.

We're gonna get another one.

(Joel) You broke the tie.

Joe, we ended up with good fish.

We really did.

Considering the weather conditions were not what we'd hoped for-- we plan these shows out months in advance, and you never can go-- be guaranteed perfect weather, but, yeah, we ended up catchin' some pretty fish, and then had to do it a little differently.

That lake is real deep, and so it's-- it can have its really, really good days, and it can have its, you know, slow days, but Joel has been fishing the lake for years and stays on it a lot.

He lives around the corner, and so that always helps, knowing what the fish are doing.

But because of the weather change, we had to adapt, and it worked out.

And something else that always helps is "Geartime."

Let's catch up with Joel.

[mellow acoustic guitar leads soft rock arrangement] ♪ Neal, we had a good day on Belews Lake today.

Weather wasn't quite like what they called for.

We had a lot higher wind, um.

Really wasn't callin' for any chance of rain, but it's clouded up right nicely out here.

The fishing-- we got started off pretty early this mornin' and-- and started a little shallower than what we'd been fishin' and had some success right off the bat there.

And--and these fish seem to be... moving in shallower daily with this warming temperatures we've been having.

Right, and it was fabulous.

I really had a great time, and it was just amazin' how ferocious those bass were hitting that lure.

What was surprising to me, we had the short strikes, but when one really wanted it, he wanted it.

(Joel) Yeah, it's funny.

I guess all fish are different, uh.

I think there's some spawning goin' on out here too.

These fish were chasing these baits up out of this pretty deep water and hittin' at the blades.

Right.

So we done a lot of changing.

I know you're usin' a gold glimmer.

I'm using a white and chartreuse here.

Yours is 1/2 ounce and mine's 3/8, and the reason for changing these colors and sizes is because when fish are a little finicky, you know, it can be a little subtle change like a blade color or a skirt color, or the weight of the spinnerbait can make a difference.

Yes, that's what you told me about the line.

You like a lighter line on this lake.

(Joel) Yeah, typically, all of the lakes I fish that are real clear water, normally, you want your bait to go down a little further.

And you can control that with your line, you know, like 10-pound I'm using, 12-pound you're using.

We've kind of got it all mixed up, but if you want to go shallower, use heavier line, but it makes a difference on clear water on tryin' to keep your bait down to drop down in line size.

You have to be careful not to break your line.

One thing--I thought was gonna be smart, I put that trailer hook-- we had those short strikes-- I thought it was gonna make a difference.

Like you were sayin', the bass were actually hittin' the blades instead of the hook.

Yep, we still got 'em.

But even though there's trailer hook on there, it didn't make any difference 'cause the bass we caught still hit the main hook.

(Joel) That's correct, uh.

Sometimes, a trailer hook makes a difference.

A lotta times, I don't use it.

I believe you can adjust your color or your size or the blade combination to get the fish to bite it better.

It's preference, really, but I-- I've learned over the years that if they're not hittin' it right, there's somethin' a little wrong about it, and, you know, usually, you can home in on somethin' like color or something.

Well, it definitely made a difference today.

Well, I enjoyed it.

You're doin' a good job, and thank you, Joel.

Your welcome, buddy; had a good day.

Great job.

Good information-- if you wanna try to catch these bass, give Joel a call.

His number's on your screen.

Just give him a call.

He can put you on some fish.

Now, as you write that number down, we're gonna catch up with Donna.

She's got a recipe today using mussels.

♪ ♪ ♪ Hi, today in the kitchen, we're makin' mussels, and this is somethin' that a lot people eat out and maybe are a little nervous to make at home, but it really is a very simple dish to make, and it's really great.

It's really fun, and I think you, you know, can enjoy it anytime.

You don't have to wait to go out to enjoy them.

So I have some butter and olive oil in my pan, and then I have about six shallots, which is a combination of a mixture of garlic and an onion.

And I have those kind of shaved, and I'm just gonna put those into my pan and let those sauté for a while.

So while they're sautéing, I wanna talk to you a little bit about your mussels.

So you're gonna get your mussels, and you're gonna make sure they're clean.

You can soak them with some flour and some water to make-- to get all the sand out, if you'd like, and then drain them and rinse them well.

You wanna make sure that your mussels are always closed when you get ready to, um-- to cook with them.

If they're open, like this one is cracked and partially open, so we're gonna want to discard this one.

And you also make sure that you take the beards off if they're on there.

You can just pull those off.

Ooh!

That one's a tough one.

So you can pull it off, and then you're ready to go.

And if you need to, you can get a soft brush and just kind of, um, scrub 'em a little bit if you need to.

So those are ready to go, pretty much.

We're also going to go back here and give our onions or shallots a little stir.

We're gonna add in a bunch of garlic... some fresh parsley... some fresh thyme... and a couple saffron threads.

Just give that a stir.

You see all those nice, bright colors, and it really smells wonderful in here.

Like I said, this is a great-- this is one of my mom's favorite recipes or favorite things to eat out.

So I made this recipe for her, and I was like, "So, what do you think?"

She was like, "It's really good."

She loved it, and like I said, she loves to eat mussels out.

We're gonna add a little salt... and give that a stir.

Then we're gonna add in our white wine... [sizzling] and then our mussels.

Oh, and I forgot, and some tomatoes.

These are canned plum tomatoes that we just chopped, and we're gonna add in our mussels.

We're gonna put our lid on.

Give it a little shake, and let it cook for about five to ten minutes until your mussels have opened.

Quick and easy.

So this is what it looks like when it comes out.

You can see, it's a great, beautiful dish.

Very impressive, I think, if you were making it for friends or just for your family.

Some great, crusty bread to soak up all the juices, and you're ready to go.

I hope you enjoy the mussels; I look forward to seeing you here on "Simple Cooking."

Thanks, Donna, I wanna talk about Joel for just a second.

He can put you on a fish.

He knows it like the back of his hand.

He guides throughout the area.

He guides on most of the Triad lakes in the area, but Belews Lake is in his backyard, and he really does know it.

And you know, it's always good, you know, if you've never-- familiar with a body of water sometimes to--to-- to take, uh-- to hire a guide and learn it in different conditions 'cause like I said, the forecast a week out was not what we ended up with, and that happens so often.

Anybody that fishes here in North Carolina knows that's always that possibility-- is you just can't plan ahead.

So--but having somebody with knowledge of how to fish in the type-- and we wanted to use spinnerbaits for-- for this show.

And, uh--and again, we didn't do the offshore fishin' that we had planned to do, but we stuck with it.

And the weather never really changed during the day, but we caught fish.

Local knowledge makes a difference.

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] ♪ ♪ ♪