[gentle orchestral fanfare] - [Man] That's one of the best looking takes I've seen.

Now I mean, now that one grabbed it from the side.

- [Man] We call that a reaction bite in the trout world.

That thing landed, he munched.

- [Man] It didn't get it to behind.

It came off to the side and just smashed it.

I love it.

- [Man] That was awesome.

- [Man] Way to smash.

Thank you, fish.

- I would like to take a moment to thank you for bringing me down here for this.

- Buddy, it's been fun.

Hey, I'll bring you some more because I love to see somebody miss fish.

- [Man] Oh, thank you.

- [Man] Here we go again.

- [Man] Alright, he's gonna try the boat thing again.

Make sure you step on the line a few times.

- [Man] I'll just wrap it around my sandal.

Wrap around my ankles a few times, buddy.

Now look at the strength of that fish.

- [Man] I like it.

- [Man] I mean look at the strength of that fish.

Come on, fish, wear out.

I tell ya, for the size, if these things weighed 10 pounds.

- [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, welcome to the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

Well today's program will take us to the Pee Dee River and Joe, not only will people see something they probably have never seen before, but you got some guys in there, you called them Mullet Men.

- Right, yeah, they qualify to be called Mullet Men now because they've actually caught the jumping mullet, stripe mullet, on artificial flies, using fly rods.

I know of mullet that have been caught in years past using little red worms, some green algae that floats in some of our rivers in the summer time.

I've even caught 'em, many years ago, using that method, but I've never heard of anyone catching one on an artificial fly.

So we're going to join these guys who have figured it out, and we're fishing with Pee Dee Adventures on the Pee Dee River, just west of Rockingham.

Hot day, one of the hottest days I've ever been out fishing, but the mullet were on, and we just had a great time.

- The Mullet Men should have a real interesting Gear Time for us today too.

- They're going to show us how they did it, what they used, the flies that they tied for it, and the recommendation on the fly rod, and we just had a great day.

- And a recipe for duck too.

- Yeah, we're going to join Donna in the kitchen and she's going to give us a real tasty duck recipe.

- We've got a lot going on.

Let's get to it.

Here today, on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- Well guys, here we are on the Pee Dee River, middle of July.

- Call me crazy, but I left Boone yesterday in 80 degree weather to come down here, and it's already a hundred degrees.

But I heard about this unique fly fishing opportunity.

Robert, you invited me down here.

Why don't you tell me a little bit about it?

- Last year, I was in the hospital, and the intensive care nurse, we were talking about fishing, and she said my brother in law's a guide on the Pee Dee River.

I said fine, give me his phone number.

And I called Robbie and I said Robbie, I'd like to fly fish.

I said what do you fish for besides catfish?

And he said, well we got other things out here.

He's running down the list, and then he goes, and we got these mussels that float up.

The water gets hot and they float up dead, and mullet come up from way up there in Georgetown, 130 miles, they gotta stop at the dam, and they eat these mussels.

I said, Robbie, are you sure they're mullet?

He said yes sir, they're mullet, and they're eating mussels.

I'm thinking okay, if they eat mussels, we can tie a fluffy looking, cotton ball fly, and we have a chance of 'em.

And we came out here and we caught some.

First time I'd ever caught a mullet on a fly.

- And these are good conditions for trying the mullet on the fly?

- Yes sir.

What you want is the water to be clear and a lot of sunshine so you can see the fish cause they are sight feeders themselves, and you've got to be able to see them take the bait because they'll take it and spit it out real quick, so we've got good conditions today.

- I'm real excited about this.

So guys, take me to your mullet.

- Let's get 'em.

- Let's go get 'em.

Robert.

- [Man] Come on, fish, come on, fish.

- I just successfully missed.

- [Man] Well I did too.

- My second mullet.

We've been here three minutes.

- When they come on top and I miss 'em, you know, give me a break.

- It mean you had some operator error?

I'm still not sure how hard I'm supposed to set the hook.

- Oh, you can tell.

If it stays on, you just did it right.

- You know, I'm so used to bass fishing where you set hard, trout fishing where you set soft, so still not sure.

- I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking.

See, I didn't even see.

- [Man] I'm going to recast.

- I didn't see the trout, I meant the trout, the mullet.

I just saw him hit the top.

- I see him, I see him.

Okay, I think he's, what Robbie said, I think that was torpedoing.

- So where they going?

- Here we go, I got a looker.

I got a window shopper.

- Man, you got good eyes.

- I got a window shopper.

Oh, this is fun.

Boy, they're waking like red fish out there.

- Look at that, look at that, look at that.

It's what I'm saying.

They're popping around.

Come on, guys.

- There he is.

- Oh, show time, baby, come on.

- Nice, that is awesome.

- I love it, I love it.

- [Man] This is like red fishing right here.

- [Man] Whoa, come on, mountain boy.

- [Man] Shallow water.

- [Man] Hey, look the other way, man.

You're scaring him.

He keeps coming up and splashing.

- [Man] This is really cool.

We hadn't been here five minutes, you get hooked up.

- [Man] You think it's safe to lip him.

What do you think?

- We can't tell anybody about this.

Nice, nice.

- [Man] It is, it is.

I am glad.

- [Man] Any special way about handling these things?

- [Man] Well, you know, they got that little fly on there, but I'd get your hands wet first.

That's all.

- [Man] Okay, got it.

- [Man] Whoa, long line release, babe.

- I put a hex on you so you wouldn't land that first fish.

- Thank you, I really appreciate that.

- That was cool.

Let's see if I can get my stock up here.

Wow, that was a strong pull.

- They're something else, aren't they?

- Now again, here guys, I don't know how much pressure to put on this thing.

- They're something.

What tippet you got?

- I've got rope on here.

I've got three inch tippet, which is probably about.

- That should be fine, that should be fine.

- Eight pound test.

Now Robbie, what kind of obstacles do I need to look for as far as rocks?

- You're alright.

- Log jams.

- You ain't got no rocks.

- Okay, anything I need to know about the fighting, except that it's fun?

- [Man] He's strong, isn't he?

- [Man] Yeah, he'll.

- [Man] Heck yeah, he's strong.

- [Man] He's strong, he fooled ya.

They're stronger than I thought they'd be.

- [Man] This is a five weight rod, so yeah.

- [Man] But Robbie, I thought for sure they'd jump, you know, because they jump.

I thought when they hooked, they'd jump.

- [Man] But they don't.

- [Man] There's a good run right there.

- [Man] Yes sir.

- [Man] Alright, now I gotta make sure I don't step on the line.

- [Man] Doing fine.

- [Man] Okay, this is great.

- [Man] It is fun, isn't it?

- [Man] Oh.

- [Man] It's fun bringing little guys in.

- [Man] This is very cool.

- [Man] You got him tired enough?

- No.

- [Man] Okay, and here is Ollie's first.

- [Man] First mullet on the fly.

- [Man] First egg on steroids.

Look at the size of that thing.

- It's not an egg, it's a mullet mussel.

That is awesome.

New species.

- And I had him, I had him.

Cute little thing.

- I like it.

- Huh?

- Oh my gosh, mountain trout are overrated.

That's awesome, that's awesome.

- Alright, back in, alright.

- Alright, let's get him back in.

- Here, let me get him over here, you throw out there, they're still in there.

Throw out, throw out over there where they are.

- [Man] Get a double going?

- Yeah, they're still out there.

Man, that fish, that was fun.

That fish, that fish just snuck, kept following, kept following, kept following it.

- I love it.

Were you doing a slow strip on that or just a dead rift?

- I don't strip out here in front of people, Ollie.

What school did you go to?

- That's a good thing, that's a good thing.

- What school, did you go to Appalachian State?

- Tweetsy Tech.

- Well yeah, you were right, I was watching it, just looks.

- Here we go.

- Yeah, yeah, slow stripping, and, but when I, you know, felt him, it was right on top, Ollie.

This comes up to the top and I.

Man, man, I tell ya, look at this, gee whiz.

Hard to believe, man.

- [Man] Oh, I got a big wake right back here.

- [Man] I am having to, look at this.

I had to put some string on this fish.

Can you believe this?

Alright, sport.

- So I just wave my hands here?

- [Man] Hang on, yeah, where's your hands?

You have to get under it.

- Now what tippet do you have on there?

Can I pull the tippet?

- [Man] I think you can, I think that's a four.

Three or four.

Nice chunky one.

Well the only times I've ever put my hands on these is in a bait shop.

There you go, Bubba.

- That is a face only a mother could love right there.

- [Man] Oh come on, man, you saw the way that thing fought?

- I love this.

- Go ahead and hug it, the little peck fins.

- Alright, come here, come here.

- Ease him out.

- Come here, come here.

Let me hold him upside down.

- There's no barb on it.

- Look at that fish.

You got one six feet behind your fly.

- [Man] I see something.

- [Man] There he is, got him.

- [Man] Show time, baby.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

- [Man] Nice.

- I appreciate your assistance on that one.

Look at that.

I mean these are not, these fish are not that big, and they're fighting like they're bigger.

There we go.

- [Man] I'm going to throw some line over board.

- Yeah.

Man, oh man, you talk about fun.

You don't feel over gun, do you?

- [Man] Now how big do these guys get here?

- [Man] Four pounds.

- [Man] What would you call this, just three quarters a pound, right here?

- [Man] Oh yeah, probably.

- So we got some monster mullet.

- [Man] Wouldn't you love to pop a four pounder outta here?

- [Man] Look at that.

- [Man] Yeah, it's a pretty thing, ain't he?

- [Man] It resembles you a little bit.

- Yeah, good looking, good looking and fat, uh huh.

- [Man] Big eyes.

- Well muscled.

- [Man] I like that.

This is crazy catching mullet on a fly.

[upbeat instrumental music] - [Man] It's gotta be hot, gotta be hot.

It's gotta be bright.

- Fish hooked.

- Oh, you hooked, nice hook up.

- Thanks, Robbie.

- It's gotta be bright and the water's gotta be low.

- [Man] Well, you know a lot of fisheries die off in July, and some of the small streams die off in July.

This will be a great thing for somebody to come down here and do when all their other fisheries are burned out in July and August.

- [Man] Sure.

- Shoot yeah, man.

- Just do your thing.

Alright, let's get it.

That's a chunker, isn't it?

- That's a chunker, that's a chunker fish.

Come here, fish.

- [Man] Alright.

- [Man] I get my stone, this little mullet, that's a nice fish.

You see where that mouth is shaped, why you have to hook that baby where you do.

- Got it.

- Otherwise, otherwise it is not.

See if you can pop the hook out right there.

- I have snagged these things as a kid in the ocean.

I never thought I would be catching these on a fly.

This is awesome.

- The flat part.

- [Man] Yep.

He's just got a rubbery mouth.

- Oh, they do.

It's tougher than you think, it's tougher than you'd think.

- [Man] Awesome.

- Pretty fish.

See the way the eyes are, how flat he is on top?

- Is that why you call that a Popeye mullet?

- They do here, yeah.

And he's looking right on top, looking for that bait to come right on top there.

Nice fish.

Hello, hello, hello.

- I saw that one.

That one hit on the dead drift.

- Yep, yep, yep.

Well gosh.

- You were probably adjusting your glasses or something.

- I was.

- He hadn't even started stripping yet.

- I was scratching.

Now let me ask you something, mountain boy.

Are you glad you drove all the way down to catch real fish.

Huh, huh, huh?

- Now I did grow up on the coast.

Now I live in the mountains.

This is in between, and I've never fished in between.

- [Man] I saw you, I saw you on the show in that pretty trout's with that pretty lady fishing.

- [Man] Yes.

- [Man] And you were the gentleman, though.

- [Man] She was busy today.

That's why we had to bring you in.

- [Man] Oh, oh, oh.

Oh gosh, I don't mind being second fiddle here.

- [Man] I'm a guest in this joint and I am glad to be here.

- [Man] This is fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.

- [Man] Robert, I told ya I'd cross this river for 45 years on the way to the beach.

Always wondered what was in here.

Today it's all coming true for me, and it has not disappointed.

- [Man] Ah, let's get the little guy out of the water here.

Well like I said, it's unique.

- I can just grab him right by the lip, right?

- Yep.

I still have friends who say no way.

Well thumb or finger, whatever works.

I still have friends that say no, you can't do it.

And I'm just like well okay, guys, here's, here's the video of it.

Thank you, sir.

- [Man] Now what is that, half pound?

- [Man] Yeah, probably.

- [Man] Half pound, three quarter.

- So we got somebody in here that would eat this thing.

- [Man] They're stocky guys, yeah.

- Fish on.

- [Man] There ya go.

- That never fails, Robert.

You say it's time to change spots.

- [Man] Exactly, exactly.

- Or change flies, and you look away and you look back and there's a fish on.

- Was it a top water head or was it a?

Did he have, is it was dead drift?

- I was looking the other direction.

- [Man] Yes sir, there he is on the.

- [Man] They don't give up.

- [Man] On the mussel egg.

Is that what you call it?

Look at that?

- [Man] The mullet mussel.

- [Man] Mullet mussel, look at that.

- [Man] Okay, lift the chin up, skate him right on over there.

- There we go.

Hey fishy, come on, come on up.

There we go, there we go.

- [Man] Fell for the dead drift.

- Yep, yep, yep.

Look at that mouth.

That's why they have to come over it.

That's why they have to come over it when they, to get the bait food.

Alright, guy, nice talking to you.

- [Man] Excellent, thank you sir.

- [Man] Good job, good job.

That's one of the best looking takes I've seen.

I mean, now that one grabbed it from the side.

- [Man] We call that a reaction bite in the trout world.

That thing landed and he munched.

- [Man] It didn't get it to behind.

It came off to the side and just smashed it.

I love it.

- [Man] That was awesome.

- [Man] Way to smash, thank you, fish.

Boy he's just.

- I would like to take a moment and thank you for bring me down here for this.

- Buddy, it's been fun.

Hey, I'll bring you some more because I love to see somebody miss fish.

- [Man] Oh, thank you.

- Here they go again.

- [Man] Alright, he's going to try the, try the boat thing again.

Make sure you step on the line a few times.

- I'll just wrap it around my sandals.

Wrap it around my ankles a few times, buddy.

Now look at the strength of that fish.

- [Man] I like it.

- I mean look at the strength of that fish.

Come on, fish, wear out.

I tell ya, for the size, if these things weighed 10 pounds, we'd probably be using what, 12 weights?

- [Man] With their strength, absolutely.

- I mean this is unreal.

- [Man] Eight weights, nine weights.

- [Man] Tough, tough fish.

- [Man] Come in here, buddy.

- [Man] That's a nice one.

That's a nice chunky one there.

That's the biggest I've caught.

- [Man] That's a big one.

- [Man] Biggest fish I've caught.

Francis is going to be proud of his mussel flies.

- That was the best bite you've had.

That thing came out of the water.

- It was, literally.

- And ate that fly.

- And smashed it, smashed it.

- I was guilty of watching your fly that time.

- Hey, hey, I even couldn't miss that stripe.

- That was a beautiful take.

- [Man] That's a nice fish.

- [Man] That was like a trout take.

His head came out of the water and he crushed it.

- [Man] He really did, he really did.

- [Man] I'm glad you didn't miss that one.

- Me too.

I don't know, like I said, I don't know whether it is, whether the flash helps, you know, it's just hard to say because in the water, of course it fluffs up.

Look at that, it's just, you know.

I don't know.

- Well if they were all hitting on the same retrieve and the same fly, we would have gotten tired of this a long time ago, but we're actually having to change.

- Well I don't know.

- Change patterns, change flies, I like this.

- [Man] Oh yeah, they're not, man they're still flying around.

Look at this.

- Certain degree of difficulty, makes it fun.

- Alright, your turn, your turn.

You wanna come up here?

- [Man] Nonsense.

- Huh?

Come on up here.

I mean back down there.

- No, cause then I'll look bad if you catch a fish after we relocate.

You stay put.

I'll stay right here.

Alright, Robert, we got a new technique here.

- [Man] Now you let that one just sink on down?

- I let it sink on down until it just disappeared.

- I'll be darned, I'll be darned.

- The old sinking mullet trick.

- Yep, yep, yep, you.

- Had to break it out here deep in the fourth quarter.

He's a little guy.

- He's tough, he's tough.

He's not through yet, man.

He's.

- There we go, there we go.

I'm gonna keep his head up for you.

Watch that first hook.

- [Man] I would appreciate it.

Absolutely, do not stick, do not stick flesh on the, come here.

- [Man] I'll hold that one right there and get that out of your way.

- There we go.

I see you got a bigger fish.

- Oh yeah.

- Big fish.

Nice one.

- Awesome.

- Got him?

- Awesome.

- Nice fish.

That's a nice one, that was fun.

That's fun.

- [Man] That was worth the trip right there.

- [Man] That's what you want to do.

- Joe, that's a day of fishing they will talk about for years to come.

- Absolutely, again, like I said, I've known about catching mullet using fly rods, using little red worms or algae in the past.

That's been done for years, but first time I'd heard about it was through Robert last summer when he called me, he said hey, I've got a show out here for you.

You know, we're catching them on artificials.

And so we set it for this summer, and he was right, and that jumping mullet, if you've never caught one, they will give you just some fantastic runs.

You won't see them jump much, but they will give you some drag, screaming runs, and just a great sport fish.

- Let's talk about rigging right.

Let's go to Gear Time.

[upbeat instrumental music] - Robert, I never thought I'd tell anybody this, but thank you for showing me your mullet.

- I was glad to do it, Ollie, glad to do it.

When I tell people that it's possible to catch mullet on a fly, now you can be one of the proponents and be a believer.

- I believe and all my buddies wanted to come down and see what this was all about.

We had the perfect conditions.

Robbie put us right on the fish.

These mussels are dying, floating on the surface, and so we had the right fly, it was perfect.

And tell me a little bit about the gear that we were using on these fish today.

- Well the fly is what's important because nobody had tied a fly that looked like a mussel, and a friend of mine, Steve Patterson, I said let's tie something that looks like a cotton ball.

So he tied this modified zonker.

- [Man] Right.

- And we came out here and started throwing them on five weight rods because they're heavy enough to get out, and these fish, as you know, fight pretty well.

This is a good fighting fish.

Anything that could swim 130 miles from Winyah Bay up here, to eat mussels, is going to be in good shape.

These guys are athletes.

- [Man] And the good thing was, we didn't have to use real light tippets on 'em because they are so strong.

- [Man] Right, right.

- I was using about 3X tippet, which is about eight pound test, so we were able to get them in without breaking them off.

- Right.

- So I would definitely come down from the mountains in the middle of July to do this again.

This is a great sight fishing fishery.

- Yeah, it's hot weather, but it's like.

To me, it's a combination of saltwater fishing, call it the poor man's bone fish, saltwater fishing and freshwater fishing, because each fish hits it differently.

Some slam it and some it's just like a finicky trout.

You gotta tease 'em and watch 'em.

- I like it.

Enjoyed it.

- I'm glad you could come.

- It was a great day on the water with you.

- I'm glad you come do it.

- Absolutely.

You wanna catch another one?

- Hey, let's go, I'm ready.

- Thanks, fellows, for that information.

Now let's catch up with Donna.

She's in the kitchen with a recipe for duck.

[upbeat instrumental music] - Hi, today in the kitchen, we're going to make a tuxedo duck breast with a wasabi slaw.

This is a really great recipe.

I think you're really going to like it.

It's going to have a little of an Asian flair to it.

Wasabi is really popular right now, so we're going to bring it home and you can entertain your friends and really give them a treat.

So we're going to start out with our in your oven breader, and I'm using the chicken breader, and to that we're going to add, what's nice about it is it's all going to be in this one bag, so we're not going to have a lot of clean up either.

So we're going to take some black sesame seeds and pour those in there, and then we're going to take some white sesame seeds and pour them in.

We're going to give that a little bit of a shake just to mix those together, toss them all there, and you can see we got all these great colors going on, and then we're going to take our duck breasts and we're going to place them in our bag and we're going to give them a shake as well.

Do them one at a time.

And this breader should be enough to do four to six breasts here.

And then what I like to do is I like to just kind of lay it on the ground, or on my counter, and I just like to press in so I get all those sesame seeds into the flesh side of my duck breasts.

And I'm just going to do that one, and then we'll do the next one, and then we'll bake these at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how you like your duck breasts.

And remember, they will continue to cook once you bring them out of the oven, so you can bring them out and just kind of let them rest.

And be ready to go.

And you can slice them or you can serve them whole, however you prefer.

So all these great sesame seeds in there.

We're going to pop those in the oven, and while those are in the oven, we're going to go ahead and make our slaw for this, and we're going to use some fun little Asian vegetables.

We're going to use some Napa cabbage, which comes like this, and we're just going to slice it across and it will just shred up for us, and we're going to use about a cup and a half, depending on how much slaw you want, and I have some already in my bowl, but we're just going to kind of pull that apart, and then we're going to use some bok choy, which is kind of fun.

These are babies bok choys, which I kind of liked, because they were just small and easy to handle.

They do make it in a bigger, you know, the regular version is bigger, of course, but I thought that these were cute.

So I picked those up, and we're just going to chop all that together, toss that in.

We're going to use a little bit of some cucumber, and you can use, you can take the seeds out if you like, but for me, that just takes too long, and I kind of like the seeds in it, so if you want to use an English cucumber, you can do that too, which have less seeds.

I'm just going to toss that all together.

Then we're going to toss in some red bell peppers that I've sliced.

I'm going to show you a great trick with the bell pepper.

You know sometimes you cut it and you have to take the seeds out.

Well if you take it whole and you just cut along, the seeds stay in the middle, it's great.

So when we're going to, we have all of our slaw together, then we can make our wasabi dressing, or if you'd like, you can just buy some at the store, which, you know, I like easy things, and so we're just going to toss in some of our wasabi sauce, toss that together, and we're ready to go.

So by the time you're finished making your slaw, your duck breasts should be finished, and this is what it looks like when it's finished.

I just kind of sliced mine, placed it on top of my slaw, and you're ready to go.

So I hope you enjoy the tuxedo duck breast with wasabi slaw, and I look forward to seeing you next time here on Simple Cooking.

- Well Donna, we thank you for that tasty recipe.

Now Joe, let's go back and talk about the mullet because it's an interesting story of how they end up here in North Carolina.

- Absolutely.

They, at the beginning of the summer, they run from Georgetown, South Carolina, all the way up the Pee Dee River to just below Blewetts Falls Dam is where we were and where these fish congregate, and what's attracting them to this area is every summer we have a die off of freshwater mussels that float to the surface, and these mullet key in on them, so what the guys did was to basically match the hatch, so to speak.

They match what these mullets are feeding on, naturally, so the guys tie the flies to mimic it as they talked about in Gear Time, just a fascinating story about how all this has come about, and fascinating enough that it brought Ollie Smith down from the mountains to do it.

He loves to catch fish that he's never caught before on a fly rod, and he says it's one of the best fish he's caught in recent memory.

- It was a good show today, and just another great day in North Carolina.

- Absolutely.

- For Joe, Ollie, I'm John Moore.

We thank you 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.

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