[gentle orchestral fanfare] - There's a chub right there.

- Oh man.

- [Joe] That's a nice fish right there.

- [Cliff] Just get it close man.

- Now you just hold on and let me have a little bit of fun.

It ain't every day you catch one of these.

People will live all their life and don't catch a fish that size.

- You want me to get him then?

- Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

Yeah, go ahead and get him.

- I don't think he's ready.

[splashing] - She's ready.

- [Announcer] The production of Carolina Outdoor Journal is made possible in part by: - [Female Announcer] Wildlife in North Carolina Magazine.

ncwildlife.org/winc.

- [Male Announcer] And by EZ Bait and Tackle, family owned and operated.

We've been fishing since 2003.

Come see the crew in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and we can hook you up for all your fishing needs.

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

Some people don't like to fish when it's really hot, But Joe, today we had a whole new meaning to summertime heat.

- That's right, and the premise for this show was to go out and see if we could catch a good class largemouth bass in the heat of the summer.

That was the whole idea.

Late June, early July, we typically, we start moving into those warmer temperatures.

Throughout the day, even early and late in the day you can still run into warm temperatures.

That particular morning we started fairly cool but it warmed up by 9:30, 10 o'clock, to where you could tell it was gonna be a real scorcher.

But we caught fish.

We mixed the baits, we used a variety of baits, moved around the pond looking for different temperature change and different depth, oxygen levels, all that kind of plays into it.

And the guys will share with you what you need to look for to do it, but we proved today that you can catch a good class of fish even during the heat of the summer.

- We'll talk about that on Gear Time.

Now Donna's in the kitchen with a recipe today that is all about catfish.

- It's a different way to prepare catfish and is her unique style of cooking, and a really tasty recipe.

- Well, you've heard the term summertime heat, we gonna add a whole new meaning of it today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- Today you have to get in early in the morning about 5:30 to really catch the sunrise and get some of these fish to start bitin' and you have the early bite, and this time of year, late June, it'll get in the 90's.

Today it's gonna be 90, so if we can get out here early enough we can really rile up some of the bigger bass, and some of the bass.

You can see it's kind of a cool night from just the mist coming off the lake, but I think we're gonna have a good day.

It's fun being out here anyway.

- Oh yeah, yeah, that's what it's all about, I guess this water temperatures heated up a little bit.

- Yeah, matter of fact we checked it, and there's no locks in the low seven foot at all.

There's .02 locks for me in the low seven foot.

In the summertime ponds stratify.

Anything below seventh you got a pond 19 foot deep, you won't have any oxygen flow.

So it kinda simplifies things to just fish the banks and stay suspended left in the seven feet, and you in the strike zone.

- Well I'm looking forward to it.

- Let's go out then.

- Pretty morning.

- Yep, beautiful.

- It's a little cooler than it's been being in the mornings now, and I didn't realize.

I know a cold front came through like yesterday, but it's still a beautiful morning, just hope we can get these fish too, full moon last night and we're trying to get 'em workin'.

- We'll get 'em woke up, it's still early.

That sun was pretty this morning coming up, wasn't it?

- [Cliff] Wasn't it?

- [Joe] Absolutely beautiful.

Had a temperature change, had a little haze on the pond.

- Yep, big difference in the water temperature.

Feel like a bath water compared to-- - There's a fish Cliff!

Did you get him?

- [Cliff] Yeah.

- [Joe] Alright.

I'm gonna get my line out of you.

Oh, I've got one too.

- Have you?

- [Joe] Yep, they're right there together.

- They've got the bubble on 'em.

That's a nice fish.

- [Joe] God, did you see that fish?

[laughing] - You had a good fish on Cliff.

- Man!

Just makes me feel sick to see this.

- Yeah, don't lose the first one.

That's a nice fish there, but he ain't nothin' like you had on, you had a huge fish on there.

- Well, I had to try.

- Good fish, healthy.

- Yeah, there gonna be healthy they shared that.

- Yeah, for summertime pond fish, that's a nice fish.

Boy that water is just bathtub warm.

- Isn't it?

It's amazing how warm it can get in there.

- Let's get another one.

I wanna get that one you lost.

- Well, hopefully we'll get some more.

- Oh yeah.

- It disappoints me to miss the first fish.

- Yeah.

- But, can't get 'em all.

- No.

- You know he stroke right through right in behind you and he was right there with him?

He stroke right through y'all.

- Yeah.

- We're in about five foot of water right now Joe, and as you go progressively towards the bank, it obviously gets more shallow, and these bass, this time of year, are gonna be from six foot to the surface, because it's with oxygen that in this time of the morning they don't visit the shallows a lot, and a lot of times you can catch 'em coming off the shallows.

And we'll just have to try all this out.

The difference in the water, the depths the way it drops from four to five and five to six, they'll hang in there a lot of times, right in that range where the drop offs at.

- I guess that creek channel runs between us and the bank here?

- It runs out this way.

- Yeah.

- And like I say, it's five right here, but we are just about over top of it, not quite, it goes about right there.

- Okay.

- And, fish-- - Got him?

- Yeah, I don't know what size, he's not big, but he's up.

I'm gonna reach up here and turn this thing off.

- Well, you are right in the creek channel.

- Bring him around that way.

- [Joe] Yeah, bring him on up so he's in that motor again.

- Let's see what we got here.

- That's a nice pond fish there.

- What we're looking for is big sister.

- Yeah, they are healthy though.

- Not bad.

- Solid fish.

There's a fish Cliff, I don't know if he's, haven't seen him yet.

I changed up like we talked about earlier, went with a crank bait to get a little deeper, get out of that sun with some.

[splashing] He's a good fish.

- Like I said, I will take his business.

For right now, he'll do.

They are solid, that fish has got some spots on his tail, like he's been fanning and healin' back up.

That doesn't look good Cliff, yeah, he would have been on a while.

Fish got a couple spots on his tail.

- Parasite get him on this time of year when it's hot like that.

There'll be a price out on his tail, but they usually key up pretty easy.

- That's a solid fish, he's healthy.

Back we go little guy.

I changed up, I went with a, it's a very visible tee that might help a lot.

- Yeah it's a suspending bait, I can stop it.

- Yeah, they love that stop and stop, start, retrieve.

Especially when they're big bass.

- Yeah, keep it in their face a little bit longer.

[engine humming] - Now there's a chub right there.

- Oh man.

- [Joe] Yeah that's a nice fish right there.

- [Cliff] Just get it close man, I'll get a.

- Now you just hold on and let me have a little bit of fun.

It ain't everyday you catch one of these.

- People will live all their life and don't catch a fish that size.

- You want me to get him now?

- Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

Yeah, go ahead and get him!

- I don't think it's ready.

- She's ready.

- [Cliff] Strong.

- Man, look how long that fish is.

- See what I told you about the tail right there?

See how it's zigzagging?

Fish been got before and released.

- Yeah.

- Could have been caught when it was three pounds or four pounds or whatever.

- Yeah, that's healed up nice.

- You get the hook out and we'll weigh it.

- I wonder what that one will weigh.

Believe that one came off easy.

[banging] - That's how easy it is-- - [laughing] Fish can take it out better than I can.

- Alright, let's see.

- That is a nice fish.

- Come on back, I'm gonna put you back just a second, just be easy.

Exactly 10 pounds.

- Without weight, without roe in her.

- I'm gonna let you put her back, and I'm gonna take this off of her, and let's get her back in the water.

[acoustic music] - There that's the bait you just put on, that little crank bait, did the trick.

The sun's coming out and it's going a little bit deeper, and I think obviously it was the right thing to do.

- Well you know we talked about this water temperature being almost 80 degrees or hotter, and all these baits we've thrown so far, you have to keep retrieving 'em, to keep 'em movin', to keep 'em off the bottom, but this is actually a suspended bait, and it'll float up.

I can crank it down and just stop it, and it'll just kinda sit there in front of the fish, and the water's so hot the fish are lazy.

They're just lookin' for an easy bite.

And he's the size of a shed, you said two inches long or so.

So we fooled one into bitin' it.

- I'm so glad that we got one in the boat that size.

- That was a good fish.

- 'Cause you know, it really goes, this time of year everybody thinks you can't catch big bass, that you have to catch 'em before they're going to bed, and even that fish was 10 pounds, and roed out, that fish would have been 11, 11 and a half pounds.

And there's quite a few of those in here, and people think I'm crazy, but that's the truth, there's a lot of that size fish in here.

- Just goes to show, if you manage your pond, and look after it like you have these, you can raise big fish.

- Yep, there's no doubt, and in the late June, early July, like I say, slow your bait down a little bit and get out here early in the morning, and those big bass will feed up after coming off the bed, it's a fun day.

- There's a fish!

- [Cliff] I'll tell you what we got.

You must have found a nice fish too.

- I believe so, it's taking some drag.

First cast on that worm.

These fish have just moved off deep.

- [Cliff] Well this water right here's exactly five foot, so they're not gonna be any deeper than that.

That looked like a nice fish too, where you running that too?

- I got a glimpse of him, but I didn't see, well he's not as big as I thought he was, but he's a, he'll, now that fish is solid Cliff.

He's a fat fish, yeah.

That fish has got roe in him still.

- No, that's got shed in him.

[laughing] - Is that shed?

- That's real shed, that's what you call rush.

It's fish, it ain't row.

- That's a shad fed fish then.

- You might look in the gut and see if you see anything sticking out, a lot of time we'll catch these fish, and the tail will be sticking completely out.

Yeah, you look at the gut on that thing.

- That fish kinda favors me.

Around the middle.

[laughing] - I didn't want say anything about that, but you're right.

[laughing] - Yeah, that's what we'd call a pike's packing deal fish.

- [Cliff] He's gonna sit and watch you.

That's good, that's good.

- About that size.

Alright, either side there's two of 'em.

- He's running with me so much I can't tell, but-- - Oh yeah, that's a nice fish Cliff.

- Well-- - He ain't runnin' with you anymore is he?

- Nope I just, we'll get him in, that's all that counts.

He wants to jump again.

Just hold him down.

Another good fish.

- [Joe] Yeah, this corner is real good.

- It really has been productive this morning, isn't it?

I tell you that one structure cone that I put there has made all the difference in the world.

- [Joe] Bring 'em on up here and I'll help you.

- He might have a little somethin' to say about that.

Watch your hand there, that thing's got hooks in it, it's unbelievable.

- There he is.

Well, he ate that up Cliff.

- [Cliff] This corner has been really good for us, you just come out with that 10 pounder.

- Yeah.

- [Cliff] And that one's what, three?

- Three and a half probably, fish is still healthy.

They are eatin' a lot of shed.

Not as fat as that one I caught a few minutes ago, but.

- [Cliff] That was a tremendously fat one.

- Yeah, he was full of shed.

- [Cliff] Maybe we should have stayed in this corner a lot longer.

- We might have to go back through there again.

- Thank you for landing that for me.

[splashing] Let's go after him again.

- He's pullin' right steady though my friend.

- He's a nice fish.

- Yeah they all are, say look there.

He's bigger than I thought he was.

- See that, they fool you, don't they?

- They do fool you, 'cause he was comin' to the boat.

- You reckon that's the that hit mine right there and missed it-- - I'm sure, I told you I'd get him.

Don't worry about a thing.

[laughing] You just locate 'em, and I'll catch 'em.

- I'm chumming for you.

- There you go.

All I need for you to do is find 'em.

- [Cliff] He ain't quit yet, he ain't tired, is he?

- No.

He got more sleep than I got last night.

I need to throw him back there?

- [Cliff] You might have another one.

They're not chasin' this thing, that's for sure.

They must be hittin' that slow bank.

- Yeah, that's that-- this water temperature is hot and they're lazy.

- It's come up to 79 now.

- Yeah, they're like me, they're just lazy.

That's another nice fish.

Must be a good pond manager up here, fish are awfully-- - I think he manages the pond better than his fishing.

- [laughing] He's doin' a good job.

- Joe, we had a good day of fishing, but Joe had a great day of fishing.

- That was a lot, once in a lifetime fish for a lot of people, I mean a 10 pound bass anywhere in the country, but especially here in North Carolina, is truly a catch of a lifetime.

He's caught a lot of bass, he's fished a lot of tournaments through the years, and bass fishing in general, and he's caught a lot of six to eight pound fish during those years but never had eclipsed anything bigger really than nine and a half, so 10 pounds is his big fish to date, and we were all a little surprised, but most of the fish we caught that day were in that three to four pound class that, it's a great fish anytime of the year, but when that big fish hit, she had a little crank weight, and they'll talk about that in Gear Time, that really made for a special day.

- That's probably gonna be the most famous crank bait we've talked about in a long time, let's go to Gear Time.

[acoustic music] - Well Joe this morning we got out here early, it has to be early because it gets to 90 degrees to the end of June, early first of July, but we've had some real good success today, we started out around six and we tried mostly minnows to start with because the bass were chasing shed.

And we had real good luck with that.

At least you did, I kept losing my fish, but I wonder if this had any hooks on it.

Like I said, we did real good with the minnow baits that immulate shed, and then you started using a little small-- - A little small crank bait, when the fish, you know, the water temperature is so warm, the sun got up and I knew the fish were gonna slow down, just get lazy.

So I start with the lip less crank bait, which you have to keep moving to keep it off the bottom, and I went with just a diving bait that would actually float back up when you quit cranking it, so it's kind of a suspending bait and it'll stay in the strike zone a little longer.

And it worked really well, that's what I caught the big fish on earlier this morning.

And we tried a number of baits and you know pond fish, ponds are only so big, so you can make a circle and change baits, make another circle and go to the center, like we talked about in the creek channels and you can continually change and catch fish each time you change.

- Right, 'cause I know when we went you caught that big bass we had just pounded that particular area with four or five different baits and you just came back with that little lip bait, and you nailed it him.

- Absolutely, just stopped in front of him, and he said, well it's not movin', I'll bite that one.

- Right, and I had fairly good success with a double fluke, which is two baits on one line, and it gives 'em a little schooling effect, and it works pretty good, I've caught two at a time at times.

And I've been real happy with the use of these plastic baits and the metal baits this time of year.

- Well you struck on it earlier, and I was pulling the top water plug earlier, a buzz bait, and you came behind me with the little lip less crank bait, and the fish would look at my top water bait, but maybe well, I don't wanna bite that, but then you came along, well there's a real one.

- Yeah, and they hit it, and we did pretty good considering the heat.

I think we really did.

- [Joe] Really good, yeah.

You got a fine place here, you've done a good job managing these ponds, and this is something that anybody, you don't have to make a long trip, everybody lives near a pond.

- Yep, and it's like I said, a few things you really need to know about a pond is is the depths and where the creeks and channels are at, and just to get a little information from the person you're gonna fish from, or get the pond, go to the pond, and it'll help you, and you will catch a lot of fish.

- No better way to spend an afternoon then down by the pond.

- I love it, I love it.

- Well, I've had a great time.

- I have too man.

- Thanks for coming back, I really enjoyed this.

- Yep, thank you sir.

- Joe, we moved around a lot that day, we changed baits, and it turned out to be productive.

- It really did, and that's what you have to do.

That time of year, it's like fishing in the wintertime when you have to move around and find out where the fish are they're gonna look for the oxygen level, they need to be comfortable there, they need to be in an area where the water temperature is comfortable, and then where they can find food.

So that's what the guys did, they moved around the pond that day, they changed up baits and found out what the fish wanted, and you saw what it did, you know, a lifetime bass and a good class of fish, right during the heat of the day.

- Well the fish continue, Donna's in the kitchen, she's got a recipe using catfish today.

[acoustic music] - Hi, today in the kitchen we're going to be making a yellow cornmeal Parmesan fish, it's a great recipe, we're gonna start out with some spicy breader, so we're gonna place that on our wax paper.

We're gonna use some catfish or any type of white fish that you have.

We're gonna spread that out a little bit and we're gonna dredge our filets.

Or you can use steaks if you have those, in our spicy breader, and then instead of just going ahead and putting that in, we're gonna make a little egg wash to go with this.

So we're gonna take a little bit of milk, and an egg or two, and we're just going to mix that together, until it's well combined, and then we're going to dredge our fish into this mixture, and then into some yellow cornmeal, a little bit of Parmesan cheese, you can use fresh or the kind out of a can, like we use at our house, and a little bit of parsley flakes.

And you can use fresh parsley if you have it.

A lot of times we have it growing in the garden, so we use that, but the dried works just as well.

And there's your yellow cornmeal, and your Parmesan cheese.

And this is going to make a nice crunchy outer coating for your fish, and it is really good.

So we're just gonna mix that together, real quickly in our pie plate, or you can use some wax paper 'cause that's easy cleanup.

And we're going to take our fish filet here, and just kinda dip it.

And you're gonna have the nice spicy coating on the inside plus the crunchy coating on the outside.

So it's gonna be a great combination.

Then we're just gonna toss that together, and shake off all the excess, and then we're gonna place that into our hot oil, and we're gonna add a little bit of butter to this too, but we don't want to add it too soon, because butter has a low smoke point, and it will scorch.

So you wanna add that right at the last minute so that it doesn't burn but you get that nice flavor from the butter.

And once we have let this cook for a couple, two to three minutes, depending on the thickness of your filets, we're going to turn those, and you can see we have a nice golden brown.

It'll have a nice crunchy outer coating, it's a great recipe, and then we're gonna cook this for about two to three more minutes until it's completely cooked throughout, and flakey when you touch it with a fork, 'cause you wanna make sure that your fish is cooked thoroughly.

And then what we're gonna do is drain it on a paper towel, and then you're ready to serve it.

And this is something that you can put on a sandwich, you can just serve it straight on a plate if you would like.

This is what it looks like when it's finished, you can see it has a nice outer crunchy coating, which is great, but your fish inside is nice and moist, and cooked throughout.

We're gonna serve it with a little bit of steamed asparagus, and some tomato wedges because they were in season.

So it's a great recipe, like I said, you could put it on a sandwich, you can eat it plain, you can serve it with a salad if you'd like as well.

So I hope you enjoyed the yellow cornmeal Parmesan fish, and I look forward to seeing you next time, here on Simple Cooking.

- Thanks Donna for that recipe, it seems we're hearing more and more about catfish on the table, but Joe we're gonna hear about this 10 pound bass for a long time to come.

- Well I know Joe Dorman will, I mean I think he's told everybody probably in the state.

I'm pretty sure he has, and it's worthy.

I mean a 10 pound bass, you don't go out and do that everyday, especially when you're fighting the conditions.

I mean we picked a day that was warm.

And the whole idea was to see if we could get out there and see if we could do it and, of course we fished a pond that Cliff manages, and you know that's a key too, fishing a pond that has that class of fish.

You know, he does such a great job, he knows how to do it, but a managed pond that's got the population of fish that you can fish for, knowing how to move the pond, knowing the pond, and he knows this pond, knowing where to go, and then mixing your baits.

And that's always the key, having a good selection of baits in your tackle box, and you can have a day like that too.

- Well, it was a hot one that day, but it adds a whole new meaning to the summer heat after a show like this.

- It sure does.

- For Joe Albea, I'm John Moore, thanks for joining us today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

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

- [Announcer] The production of Carolina Outdoor Journal is made possible in part by: - [Female Announcer] Wildlife in North Carolina Magazine.

ncwildlife.org/winc.

- [Male Announcer] And by EZ Bait and Tackle, family owned and operated.

We've been fishing since 2003.

Come see the crew in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and we can hook you up for all your fishing needs.

[light instrumental music] ♪