[gentle orchestral fanfare] - Now you're almost at your leader length.

So we don't need to pull any more line in.

- Woo!

I didn't realize he was that close.

- Excellent.

It's a little guy, but it was on the dry.

- That's okay.

- That makes it much bigger.

- I'm going to try to get him in there.

- Gotta wait 'til his chin comes up.

Here we go.

- There we go.

- On the dry.

Yes, that's the best part of the sport!

- Oh yes!

- Awesome!

- Beautiful fish.

- Okay, Tara, is that the first trout you've caught on a dry fly?

- That is the first.

- Excellent.

He's still feisty.

- Awesome.

- Notice I'm not trying to squeeze him.

I'm just gonna wait 'til he stops thrashing.

Okay, alright, I know.

- [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 mountains of North Carolina, it's all about trout today.

And Joe, interesting story today, because our angler goes from saltwater to fresh water.

- That's right.

We're going to follow a young lady who is an accomplished salt water angler.

Fly rods, spinning rod, it doesn't matter, she can catch salt water fish and she's quite good at it.

And we're going to take her up into the mountains and introduce her to some mountain small stream mountain trout fishing, and so great trip, we catch a lot of fish.

She made- well, I'm going to wait and let you see the transition was made and she did a great job.

- That's going to be really interesting making that transition.

- Right, we're going to be fishing with a guy that we worked with many times up near Boone, Ollie Smith with Blue Ridge Anglers and he's really good on the stream and giving you pointers on how to present the flies in different situations.

Some of these streams we've got have overhangs, trees overhanging and could be quite difficult for somebody that doesn't know what they're doing with a fly rod, and he's really good at showing how to do it and we'll just pay attention.

- Showing you how to do it.

Our viewers today will want to get a paper and pen because we've got a recipe with Donna using duck today, it's gonna be a good one.

- A good duck recipe using tomatoes and very tasty.

- Alright, we've got a lot going on so sit back and relax, this is the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- Tara, this is a typical size stream for the Appalachians, and this fast water here is called a run.

They can't see us that well, they can't hear us that well.

So this is a good type of water to start on.

There's a little room for error.

But before I cut you loose on these fish, first thing we need to do is look around and get used to all the trees that are around us.

Every one of these trees has flies hanging out of it where people did not look behind them before they cast.

After we've determined what type of cast we're going to make, now we need to determine where these fish are going to run once you hook them.

- Okay.

These are like hazards, all these rocks.

All those sticks are like hazards on a golf course.

We want to keep the fish out of those hazards.

- Okay.

- So we need to figure out how we're going to cast, and then figure out how we're going to play this fish.

- Okay.

- Now one good thing we have in our favor, these fish are stationary.

Unlike the saltwater fish which were always on the move, right?

- Right.

- Red fish, you might get one or two cast and either you hook them or they're gone.

- Mmhmm.

- These fish are going to stay right here for us, so we have time to change flies.

If this rig doesn't work we're going to switch over to another rig but we don't have to go looking for the fish 'cause they are literally right here.

- Good.

- Are you ready?

- I'm ready.

- I'm excited.

- Alright.

- It's gonna work.

Right there.

Oh, you got him, now lift up.

- Oh, gone.

- Now see how your trying to do your saltwater set.

Pulling the rod low and strippin'.

Since you have room back here, I want you to go a little higher on the hook set.

- Okay.

- Now that wasn't a real noticeable bite, it was a little more subtle looking.

But that was a bite.

Did you feel him on there for a second?

- Oh I definitely felt it.

And I saw the indicator go under.

Having trouble with my line here.

- Let's give it another shot.

- Okay.

Am I too far to the left with that one?

- Nope.

That's still good, you're still in that current.

- Come on.

- Right there.

- Ah, yes.

- You got him, now go up with it.

- Let him play.

- Now we don't know how big he is, so you just let him run around.

Now go to the left a little big so he doesn't get down into this white water.

- Okay.

- Now you might want to go to the right just to keep him off this rock pile.

And what I'm doing Tara is I'm actually watching your indicator.

When it moves away, let him run.

When it's coming at you, step like crazy.

Haven't determined if he's on the big fly or the little fly yet, so let's just act like it's on the little fly, which means more delicacy.

- Woo.

- Now a lot of saltwater fisherman that I takeout start getting anxious about now.

They want to get them in quickly.

But if you try to rush this fight, the hook's going to tear out.

- Right.

- These are small barbless hooks.

Little better fish.

- Woo, yes.

- 'Kay, now he's getting close to being done.

I'm gonna scooch over to your right.

- Okay, so you're going to my right, okay.

- And I'm gonna wait til his chin comes up.

Just like that, keep lifting.

- Playing him?

- Yeah, playing him up like that.

That way you can end the fight.

- Nice!

- Even though he's still got a lot of energy, if you can get his chin up and skate him across you end the fight a lot sooner.

- Okay, perfect.

- There again, this is about the same size as your last fish - Right.

- Ten, maybe ten and a half inches, but what a fight- - They still put up a great fight.

- And they still try to get you in the rocks they're still trying to do everything they can to get the hook out, so I have a lot of saltwater guys say they use bait bigger than this but the skill level required to get this fish to the net, it takes all your skill level.

So let's let this guy get back.

- Good release.

- Okay, Tara, we caught a rainbow in here.

Changed flies a couple times, had a few more bites, but now I think we've worn this piece of water out so we're going to let it rest for a few minutes.

- Okay.

- Mm, thirty minutes, so we're going to advance up to this next hole, now there's not as much cover right here, so we're going to kind of come in- we're going to sneak into the creek, so to speak.

- Okay, perfect.

- We're going to come up on this one real slow.

Your first cast only needs to go up four or five feet.

- Okay.

- Don't get crazy and do a double haul all the way to the top 'cause the fish at the back of the pool will see your fly line - Okay - So you want to start short, couple casts, then we're going to go to the middle, couple more casts, then we're going to go to the top.

- Gotcha.

- Got it?

- Sounds good.

- Let's do it.

- Alright.

- Oh, was that too far to the left?

- That's good, that's good.

Uh, actually, start pulling it in.

I'm worried you're going to hit that rock pile.

- Okay.

- And then let it sit right there for a second.

Okay, now just a little more to the right.

- Okay, I'm going to get a little more line out.

Get that lead out of the water.

Oh.

- Actually the current, now do a mend now to the right.

- There's a fish.

- And you've got a fish.

- Yes!

- You've got a nice fish!

- Nice!

Woo!

- This is going to be exciting.

This might actually take a few minutes here.

Remember we got a rock pile right here we got to worry about.

- Okay.

- That ledge over there, we gotta worry about.

This is good, way to go, Tara.

- Alright, let's see here.

- 'Kay, now when you strip the line in make sure it's not going to jump down on anything.

And if he stops moving, we can actually get that line on the reel.

Good fish.

Okay, now back to the left, you see it's trying to get in that rock.

Now he's getting close.

I'm going to come around to your right again just like I did last time, I'm gonna wait til his chin comes up and then scoop him up.

- Okay, sounds good.

- Doin' good.

- He does not want to stop, does he?

Alright I'm gonna let him have this little run.

- Okay, back to the left.

Keep him off the ledge.

- He's feeling like he might- - Now back to the right again.

Keep him off that rock.

Now just start lifting.

- Just a little run there.

- Come on.

Beautiful!

- Nice!

- Excellent!

- Good healthy fish.

- Tara, your stock just went up.

- Thank you.

- This is our biggest fish today.

- Awesome.

- This guy's probably a little over 14 inches and it's got a huge belly.

You did a good job keeping him out of those rocks, too.

- That is a beautiful fish.

- I'd like to keep looking at this fish but there's actually fish rising behind us.

- I noticed that.

- Let's say we get this guy back and try to catch another one.

- I'd say that's a good idea.

- Buddy, get on out there.

[relaxing music] - Okay, Tara, this is the moment all fly fisherman dream about.

We caught that last fish, we looked behind us and noticed there was a few fish rising just all of a sudden, there was a few fish not many, so we're gonna try a dry fly.

This is the best part of the sport.

But just for insurance, we also have a little wet fly about two feet off the back.

So you know what you're looking for when they take the dry you'll see a splash.

- Right.

- They take the dropper, your dry fly's gonna get pulled under.

We're gonna hope that they're gonna take the dry fly.

- I hope so.

- Okay, same as before, let's start a little bit close, then work to the middle.

- Okay.

- Then we'll eventually get up there to the white water.

You ready?

- Sounds good.

- Alright, it's all yours.

- Perfect, thank you.

Let a little line out.

- Good, that was actually good right there.

Now can you keep that little fly floating on the surface?

- I can.

So- - Good shot, right there.

Right down the bubble line, right here he hit the bottom fly.

- Oh!

- We'll take it, and it's another nice fish.

Now since he's on that little fly, we gotta be extra careful.

- Okay.

- Remember we got our hazard over here on the left bank.

- Right.

- Shelf on the right bank, so let's try to keep him in the center.

- Nice!

- That's about a size 18 fly, it's pretty small.

- Okay.

- Doin' good, how's your line doin'?

- Line's looking good.

- Looking good.

Beautiful.

- Everything's in order here.

- Oh, he's gotta friend.

- There we go, he's actually almost ready.

I'm gonna do the same thing and come around here to the right of you.

Wait til the chin comes up, and I'll scoop him up.

- I'm gonna stand up.

- Okay.

- So I can bring him over better.

- Okay, there's his chin.

- About ready.

- Maybe one more pass.

Here we go, right here.

Got him!

- Nice!

- That's a good fish for a size 18 fly.

- Thank you!

- It wasn't on the dry fly, but we'll take it.

- That's right.

We'll just have to go back in there and get another one on the dry.

- We're gonna do it.

- And another great rainbow.

Excellent!

And that was on one of the smallest flies that I have.

- That's funny.

- And he is all ready to go.

- That's great.

- Let's hold him up for a minute.

- I'm glad he's healthy.

- Beautiful fish.

- Wow.

- I'm gonna get him back with his buddies.

- See ya, buddy.

- I'd say that fish would go a couple pounds.

- I know.

- That's great!

- Perfect, thank you!

- Perfect!

Wanna get another one?

- I'm ready.

- Alright.

You have a looker, get him!

Beautiful take!

- Nice.

- Now you're almost at your leader length so we don't need to pull any more line in.

- Woo, I didn't realize he was that close.

- Excellent.

It's a little guy, but it was on a dry.

- That's okay!

- That makes it much bigger.

- I'm gonna try to get him in there.

- Op, gotta wait til his chin comes up.

Here we go.

- There we go!

- On the dry!

- Thank you!

- Yes!

That's the best part of the sport!

- Oh, yes!

- Awesome!

- Beautiful fish!

- Okay, Tara, was that the first trout you've caught on a dry fly?

- That is the first.

- Excellent.

He's still feisty.

- Awesome.

- Notice I'm not trying to squeeze him I'm just gonna wait 'til he stops thrashing.

Okay, alright, I know.

He's lively, he's still got a little more fight left in him.

- Yeah, we got over here pretty quick - Okay, alright, I'm using hemostats.

I don't like using hemostats on dries because it tears them up.

- Right.

- So I try to do it by hand if possible.

Tara, I'm gonna let you release your first fish - Thank you - On the dry.

- Thank you, wet my hands.

- And you just kinda stick his chin upstream.

Swash him back and forth a little bit.

He'll swim off when he's ready.

Slimy, aren't the?

- They are slimy.

Come here, buddy.

That's a good feeling there.

Ready?

- There you go.

- You want me to take him out over the net or you want to lower it?

- I'm just gonna dip the net down and you can push him out.

- He's ready to go, there he goes.

- You'll never forget that.

You're gonna dream about that take tonight.

- I will.

- That was a great cast, perfect hook set.

- Awesome.

- Great way to spend a spring afternoon.

- I know.

- Yes!

- Thanks, Ollie.

- Needless to say, Tara had a good day and made the transition quite smoothly.

- Oh absolutely.

And Ollie's so easy to work with, too.

He's really good, when you take a trip with Ollie Smith, you're gonna catch fish number one and you're gonna learn something.

He is just really good.

He's a trout stream educator, that's what I like to think of him when I think about him and of course Tara having the ability to catch fish in saltwater, bringing that knowledge up the mountain stream made it that much easier, but they both had a great time and we had a great time being with them.

- Let's find out more.

Let's go to Gear Time.

[relaxing music] - Tara, that was amazing.

That was a great way to spend a Spring afternoon.

- I agree.

- And I have to admit, you made the transition from saltwater to freshwater look effortless.

- I tried.

- We had the right skill level and we had the right tools.

- These are a lot different than what I'm used to using.

Just a lot lighter and shorter.

- Well we have to.

The environment around here is much smaller.

Our flies are much smaller so instead of using your standard saltwater eight weight and nine weight, I like to use four weights in this type of stream.

When we're dry fly fishing, you have to air the fly out with false cast so I like a rod shorter than eight foot.

This is a seven foot eleven full weight rod.

Perfect for dry fly fishing.

It's a little bit short though when we're trying to throw that first rig with the weight indicator and two flies so I like the longer rod.

Eight and a half foot full weight.

What I don't like on these streams are the really light rods, the ones and the two weights.

When you're after these really big fish with a light rod, you have to wear them down to almost death to get them in, so I don't like the one and two weights I think a full weight's perfect.

Another thing that helps us get the fish in quickly and not take the slime off is these rubber nets.

- Right.

- This is relatively new.

Now it's not practical for a weight fisherman to carry this big net with him but they do make smaller version of this net with the rubber bag that will fit on the back of your vest.

Get the fish in as quick as you can.

Get them back in the river because we want to catch them again later.

- We use those also just because of how it does help the fish.

- So it doesn't take the slime off.

- Exactly.

- But I think the most important piece of gear we have out here: polarized glasses.

Helps to see the fish.

Helps to see the fly.

- Right.

- Helps to see where the slick rocks are so we don't fall down.

- That's important.

- So this is actually the most important piece of gear we have.

If you didn't have these glasses on, you wouldn't have seen that fish take the dry fly.

And we have the all important felt to keep us from sliding around as much on the streams.

If you were at the ocean, you would have rubber bottom duck wading boots, duck boots, but here we gotta have the felt.

So we had the right tools, we were able to catch fish.

- I had a great day.

- Now what do you think fresh verse salt?

- I think both.

Fishing is tops.

- That's the correct answer.

- Can't pick one over the other.

- There is no one best.

They both have a challenge.

You met the challenge perfectly.

- Thank you.

- And now when I come down the beach you're gonna help me learn how to do the saltwater thing.

- Certainly, of course.

- Looking forward to it.

- Me too, Ollie, thank you.

- That was awesome!

- Thanks, I had a great day.

- You bet.

- Thanks for that valuable information.

Now let's catch up with Donna.

She's in the kitchen and this is a recipe you're gonna want to keep on hand.

It's ducks and tomatoes.

[relaxing music] - Hi!

Today in the kitchen we're going to be making a duck and tomato pie.

It's great, the flavors mix together and it just is wonderful.

So let's go ahead and get started.

We're gonna take our pie plate and I'm just gonna dust it or spray it with a little bit of oil or nonstick spray and then I'm going to dust it with some cornmeal and this will help give your crust a little bit extra crunch and it also has some great flavor to it so we're just going to sprinkle that around, that's good.

I might knock that over so then we're just going to shake it around and then we're going to take our pie crust and this is just a store bought pie crust if you make your own, that's great.

But I like to do things that sometimes I don't always plan so this is a good thing to have.

Keep in my freezer and then I just pull it out.

You can also use a frozen pie crust if you want and to do that, you still get your cornmeal on the bottom just pop it out and sprinkle the tin and then put it back in if you want.

So and I don't even do anything to the edge of my crust.

I kind of like it to look a little rustic.

If you like to make flutes and all the decorations that's great.

Then we're going to take some Dijon mustard and we're going to about a tablespoon and then we're just going to brush that in the bottom of our pie crust.

So this will give you some flavor, too.

We're just gonna brush that around until it's coated well.

And then we're going to put some shredded cheese on this and I like to mix my cheeses, not just do one type of cheese.

We're going to do some shredded mozzarella cheese and this is just something I bought at the store already shredded and I like the fancy shred because I think it melts a little bit better and then we're gonna add some sharp cheddar to this as well.

So you know this isn't going to be too bad.

How bad can it be with tomatoes and cheese, so.

Then what I did is I took my duck breast and I grilled them and so I'm gonna layer those in the bottom of my pie plate.

And then I just sliced it.

And then I grilled my tomatoes instead of sauteing them in the oven- you know on top of the stove, what I did is I just took them and sliced them you know about a quarter inch slices and I just put them on my grill and grilled them while I was doing my duck.

So they add nice flavor, too.

Then I'm just going to pop them out of the rings and you can slice these up if you want.

I kind of like them whole.

And it takes less time as well.

So, we're just gonna put those in there.

And these are nice vedalia onions so they're nice and sweet, too, which adds some great flavor, too.

Then what we're going to do then, we're going to take our tomatoes and if you have some great homegrown tomatoes or some that you like, I have a certain flavor, or type that I like out of my grocery store.

Or in the summer time I like to use the ones that my children grow in their garden.

And we're just going to slice these and place these on top, and you can arrange them in a nice pretty fan if you'd like, or just place them on top.

We're going to use about three or four decent sized tomatoes, because you want to do a single layer of your tomatoes but I like a little bit more, so do however you like.

So, then we're going to make our mixture which is fairly simple, too.

It's going to be one egg and about a third of a cup of half and half and we're just going to mix that together.

You can add some salt and pepper to this if you'd like.

We're just gonna mix this together.

And then we're going to pour it over the top, add some more cheese of course, and we're going to bake this at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until it is firm and nice and bubbly.

Then I would let it sit for probably about ten minutes just to firm it up a bit before you cut into wedges and it will be great, you can serve it with a salad you can serve it with another type of either green salad or some fresh fruit would be great, too, or some additional tomatoes if you really like those.

So, this is what it looks like.

I just topped it with a little bit of basil, too, you can chop some fresh basil on the top and then put your cheese and then bake it if you like as well.

So, I hope you enjoyed the duck and tomato pie.

And I look forward to seeing you next time here on Simple Cooking.

- Thank you, Donna, as always another tasty recipe.

Joe, let's go back and talk about Ollie and Tara.

She had a good time in the mountains of North Carolina.

- No question, we all did.

We had a perfect day.

We shot this in March and anyone that knows North Carolina weather in March it's usually associated with wind and up and down temperatures and we had a seventy degree day, the stream was perfect, the fish were on, really pretty rainbow trout and of course having Ollie there to explain how things are done and Tara has an experience level going into it that really made it quite easy and she's very proficient with a fly rod as you can see, and we just had a great time.

- I think we could catch up with her later on and do a show saltwater fishing.

- She, again, she spends most of her time in saltwater that's what her first love is, saltwater fishing, so I hope we can do it.

- Alright, 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] ♪