(piano intro) - [off-camera] Make him bite.

-Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Look at him flippin' out of the water.

- Yeah.

- Oh, there he goes.

I almost hooked him that time.

(splashing) That's what's called up close and personal topwater.

(laughing) Oh!

(laughing) I turned my head!

- It quit!

You were pullin' your bait outta the water.

- Oh my God.

You got to be kiddin' me.

- [male announcer]: Th e 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] ♪ ♪ ♪ - Hello, and welcome to the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

Well, if you like fishing for stripers, you're gonna like today's show.

- You're right, John, we've got a real fun show today, and one that really developed this past winter when I got a call from Captain Richard Andrews who said, "You're not gonna believe "what we're doin' right now."

I said, "What?"

He said, "We're catching striped bass on topwater lures, "and they're very, very aggressive."

So I said, "Well, let's see if we can do it."

So we scheduled January 3rd, and showed up on the Roanoke River near Jamesville, and he was right, it was some really active striped bass.

Fact, the most active I've seen striped bass on topwater in the history of this show.

We caught some pretty fish on topwater.

- He's gonna have some good information in Geartime today.

- Well, we actually were using, I think we used two different types of topwater baits for this particular show.

It really didn't appear to be a matter of what you were using.

They were just really, really aggressive.

The water temperature was in the mid-50s, which, again, is unusual.

We just had a mild fall this past year and into the early part of the winter time, so the water temperature was right.

They were active.

- And, if you like fish, Donna's got a great recipe for us today, as always.

- [Joe] Got a special fish recipe that I think you'll like.

- All right, let's go to work on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- [Kurt] Had a major temperature drop last night.

You reckon these fish'll still be bitin' topwater?

- [Richard] I sure hope so.

It's been good the last couple days, but, you know, I think water temperature's up in the low-50s.

I think they're pretty jacked up.

They'll do it.

We're excited about havin' some topwater action this winter.

1st of January here.

- That's amazing to be havin' it in that late season, isn't it?

- Absolutely, it's very unusual.

I've never seen it like this.

So it's been a weird year, real mild winter, early winter here.

We're takin' advantage of it with the topwater fishin'.

All right, Kurt, what we need to do is we need to get these topwaters up into the trees, and once we cross that bank ledge, they're gonna blast it.

So you'll kinda wanna cross that plane of that bank ledge, and the fish are sittin' right there on the top of that ledge.

- Inside the trees just a little bit.

- Yep, ready to ambush these topwaters, okay?

- All right, sounds good to me.

- All right, and they'll follow 'em out, too.

They'll follow 'em out a ways.

It's an unusual situation where you might wanna stop your bait.

I don't stop my topwaters very often.

- Very seldom.

- [Richard] But here stoppin' 'em will get a bite.

- All right.

- All right?

Let's try it.

- [Kurt] Well, both of us startin' out good.

- [Richard] Yeah, that's beautiful.

- [Kurt] This reel's cold.

- [Richard] Right out in the tree.

- [Kurt] Yeah, it will warm up.

- [Richard] That's kinda where we wanna be though, isn't it?

Oh yeah, he's back there.

All right, I'm gonna stop it, see if he hits it.

There he goes!

That worked just perfect.

- [Kurt] That's a good thing about a rock.

He'll keep comin' after it, won't he?

- He will keep comin' after it.

There's no doubt about that.

(chuckles) All you gotta do is stop it.

Just kinda speed it up real quick, and just stop it, and he'll hit it.

- [Kurt] How you fixed for line or leader on there?

Do you wanna net that fish just to make him easy to get off so you don't get hooked?

- [Richard] Yeah, that'd be great.

Yeah, that'd be good.

- [Kurt] Just to make it easy.

- [Richard] We'll switch roles for a second here.

- [Kurt] What's that?

- [Richard] You can net my fish up.

- [Kurt] Oh, I'm glad to do it, man.

(Richard laughs) I enjoy it.

- [Richard] Let's see what he looks like.

There's been a pretty class of fish here, too.

- [Kurt] He didn't look like a real big one when he was hittin' it.

Little bit of a whirl there.

- [Richard] Um, um, wow!

- [Kurt] He's a rock, isn't he?

- [Richard] Goodness.

There was some pretty ones here yesterday, I tell ya what.

They had some up to about 25 inches here yesterday.

- [Kurt] Oh, that's a pretty fish.

Oh, he's a nice fish.

- [Richard] Yeah, he's fat.

(grunting) Oh yeah, look at that.

All right, we got the hook out of him.

- [Kurt] Yeah.

- [Richard] Look at that thing.

That's a healthy rock fish right there.

- [Kurt] Look at the dorsal fin on him.

Nice pretty fish.

- [Richard] Yeah, nice fat belly on him.

I mean, they're well fed this time of year.

They always look like that in the winter.

- [Kurt] That was your first accurate cast, wasn't it?

- Yeah, the first one went in the trees.

It actually landed where it needed to go.

There ya go, finally got on.

Lemme get you a little closer, Kurt.

Here, I'll go in there a little closer.

Whoa!

- [Kurt] I haven't got the range with this bait.

- [Richard] Lemme slow her.

- [Kurt] Just take your time with that fish.

- [Richard] Slow her down a little bit.

That's actually a little bit smaller fish.

- [Kurt] It looked like it.

- [Richard] No, he's about, yeah, it's a nice one.

That's a good one, little smaller than that last one.

- [Kurt] Pretty fish.

- [Richard] Yes, sir, look at that.

I'm gonna let him go.

Get another one.

Keep movin' it, keep movin' it, keep movin' it.

He's probably still keyed in on it.

(splashing) Oh, there he is!

See, I told you.

Who needs a trout when you got these guys?

A nice fish, too.

- [Kurt] When a rock gets missile lock on a topwater bait.

- [Richard] It's over, isn't it?

- [Kurt] He's on it.

- There we go, oh yeah.

Look at that guy, wow.

- [Kurt] It's a pretty fish.

- About a 20, 21 incher.

I mean, all you want on top, on these light rods.

Beautiful.

- [Kurt] Yeah, he's a pretty fish.

- Winter striper.

- [Kurt] Amazing, first week in January, and catchin' 'em on topwater.

- Yeah, isn't that somethin'?

- [Kurt] Yeah.

- We're just takin' advantage of the conditions.

So, let's catch some more.

- [Kurt] I'm for it.

(splashing) - They're probably all up in here, too.

I mean, all up in all these little holes in here.

They can be a little tricky, though.

No, it's still there.

Oh, there he goes, oh no!

(laughs) Don't ever give up.

He's still down there.

I think I missed him, though.

This is a spot we catch 'em on jigs a lot in the winter when they're down deeper.

They get on this bank ledge real good.

But, right now, they seem to be pretty far up in the water column.

- Pretty abrupt drop-off there, isn't it, once you come outta the trees?

- It's a very sharp drop-off, and there's structure right there.

There's a little channel in there that goes back in the trees, but there's stumps and logs and things like that.

It's perfect ambush point for 'em.

And they're ambushin' bait fish as they come and go in the flooded timber there.

- [Kurt] I've seen a fish or two break up there in front of us.

It's not that hard slap of a rock, you know what I mean?

- [Richard] Yeah, I don't know what those are.

Sometimes they're carp or, hard to say.

- [Kurt] You oughta pull one outta there.

Right along there.

- [Richard] Was it here or was it over there?

I can't remember.

- [Kurt] There he is.

- [Richard] There he is.

- [Kurt] Yeah.

I was thinkin' it was that one back there and this is a new one.

- [Richard] There he is, got him that time.

All right.

(splashing) (reel buzzes) - [Kurt] Isn't it fun when you're lookin' at him and knowin' he's right there, and you tryin' to finesse him into a bite?

- I saw one the other day that was back there followin' and as the bait would go side to side, the fish was moving side to side right behind it like that, it was funny.

The water's clear enough, you can pretty much see 'em come up behind it.

Wow.

- [Kurt] You've kept him ahead, too.

You wanna try and lift him?

- [Richard] I'm gonna just sling him I think.

Hopefully it won't pop off.

17 pound fluoro here.

All right, we got the hooks out.

- [Kurt] Yeah.

- [Richard] Look at that fat belly on that fish.

He's well fed.

- [Kurt] Yeah, that's a good healthy fish.

- Typical Roanoke striper right there.

Probably about 20 inches or so.

I'm gonna let him go and maybe we'll see him again in the spring.

Or maybe tomorrow.

(chuckling) - [Kurt] Maybe in a minute 'cause he's liable to come right back, 'cause he wasn't scared.

- [Richard] That's true.

(laughs) Why don't you get you one?

- I'll try.

(gentle instrumental music) - [Richard] There he goes, there he goes, there he goes, he's all over that thing.

Look at him, look at him swarmin' back there.

Oh!

- [Kurt] Now if he wanted that bait, he'd take it.

- [Richard] I think you're right.

I think you're right.

I think he's just playin' with it.

Well he took it that time, there you go.

- [Kurt] No, he let go.

- [Richard] Evidently he wanted it.

He's still back there.

- [Kurt] He's a rock, he don't care.

You know what I mean?

- [Richard] There he goes.

- [Kurt] Is that amazin'?

- [Richard] That net and this trailer don't go well together.

- [Kurt] I'm gonna bring him right over there to ya then.

- [Richard] All right, all right.

Good fish.

- [Kurt] He grabbed the line.

I'll probably lift him in.

If he breaks off, don't worry about it.

Look how black his tail is.

- [Richard] Yeah, this is one of those creek fish right here, he's been up here in the swamp.

(chuckles) Doesn't take long for 'em to change color either.

They turn black, their backs'll get kinda dark brown and black.

- [Kurt] Black dorsal.

Yep.

Gosh.

- [Kurt] I bet there's some more fish right here 'cause we just made one cast.

- We've had a double.

- [Kurt] Yeah.

- Let's get another one.

Oh, look at that, boy, oh!

He's on you, oh!

- [Kurt] He's not after that bait or he'd have it, you know what I mean?

He's just slappin'.

- [Richard] He could easily put that bait in his mouth.

- [Kurt] He could easily eat that thing.

- [Richard] Yep.

Look at that, look at that.

- [Kurt] Gonna act like I'm scared.

(splashing) - [Richard] Oh, he finally ate it!

- [Kurt] Nah, I don't think he did.

- [Richard] Nah, he didn't eat it that time.

That is hilarious.

- [Kurt] Chunk right out there in front of that wood duck box.

It's a good flat there.

- [Richard] Yeah, I think we're gonna try that again.

Oh.

- [Kurt] That's as good as catchin' a fish, seein' him come up slappin' that thing.

- [Richard] Oh yeah, that's very entertaining.

- [Kurt] He was not out to grab that thing in his mouth.

He was just hittin' his head, playin' with it like a cat.

- [Richard] I think he was just mad at it.

- [Kurt] If he'd of wanted it, he'd have had it.

- [Richard] After these topwaters.

They really do.

- [Kurt] Look at that bowl.

- [Richard] Now why in the world would he hit that thing?

Oh!

(laughing) Oh!

(laughing) - [Kurt] He's got it.

- [Richard] I got it, I got it.

He was still with it, he was still with it.

Oh my goodness gracious.

- [Kurt] Is that an aggressive fish or what?

(laughing) - [Richard] Oh my goodness.

- That fish needed a catchin' lesson.

- Wow, wow, unreal.

- [Kurt] What other fish is that aggressive on a topwater plug?

- I never seen one.

- What other fish?

- Maybe a snook, I don't know.

- [Kurt] I don't know.

- I've had Florida anglers compare 'em to snook.

They're a lot like a snook.

Their body shape and everything.

Wow, that was awesome.

- [Kurt] That fish born to be caught, won't he?

- Well, yeah, he wanted that bait.

He ate it, he sure did.

That was fun.

- [Kurt] That's what topwater rock fishin' is right there, man.

When you get him on, he's gonna give it a bust.

- What's the date?

January?

- [Kurt] 3rd I think.

- January 3rd, here we are.

Topwater rock fishin'.

52 degree water.

- [Kurt] And they aggressive.

- Oh my goodness.

Good as it gets.

- [Kurt] You gave up on him twice and turned around the top, and he jumped on it.

- [Richard] Yeah, that was good stuff.

- Lemme see if his brother's in there.

- [Richard] Go ahead, fire one in there.

Oh there he is, got him on again.

Good gracious, he caught me off guard.

- [Kurt] Yeah, he had landed on top of him there.

- Yeah, that was like first couple of twists and I let my guard down.

I wasn't really payin' much attention.

- [Kurt] Good thing about the way they come back, you don't have to pay so much attention.

- [Kurt] Sometimes they either want it or they don't, and then you can kinda coerce 'em, the ones that don't want it end up bitin'.

- [Kurt] Yeah, that's fun.

Like that last one.

- [Richard] This one feels like a heavy one, too.

Whoa, he's takin' some drag, too.

Good gracious.

Whoa, boy, that's a nice fish right there.

- [Kurt] Lemme get ready for ya.

- [Richard] Might need a net on this one, whoa.

Good grief, he's goin' where he wants to go.

He might be hooked funny.

We'll find out in a second, wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

Hurtin' my arms.

Under the boat, there he is, oh yeah.

- [Kurt] Oh, he's thick.

- [Richard] It's a good one.

- [Kurt] Good shoulders on him.

- [Richard] Yeah, he's just one of-- - [Kurt] Turn him around.

- [Richard] One of them fatter fish right there.

- [Kurt] And you had that double hook on the side.

Yeah, that's a nice fish there.

- [Richard] Yeah, a pretty fish.

- [Kurt] See if we can get this one out without gettin' stuck.

I'd say that's as big as any we've had today.

- [Richard] Yeah, that might be-- - [Kurt] Look how thick he is all the way down to the tail.

- [Richard] That might be the fish of the day there.

Good grief, look at that thing.

Yeah, he's got a big old tail on him.

- [Kurt] Look how thick he is all the way down to the tail there.

- That's why he fought so hard.

- [Kurt] And look, his tail's not black like that last one.

On one we had that I said that one.

- Maybe he just came in from the sound, who knows?

- [Kurt] Pretty fish, pretty fish.

- Golly, it doesn't get any better than that topwater.

- No, no, that's good.

- All right, let you go and catch you again.

- [Kurt] Make him bite.

- [Richard] Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Look at him flippin' outta the water.

- [Kurt] Yeah.

- [Richard] Oh, there he goes.

I almost hooked him that time.

(splashing) That's what you call up close and personal topwater right there.

(laughing) Oh!

(laughing) I turned my head!

- It quit!

You were pullin' your bait outta the water.

- Oh my God!

You got to be kiddin' me.

You have got to be kiddin' me.

(laughing) That's not much of a fighter right there.

That's what you call bailin' rock fish.

- [Kurt] Look, your leader's in the end of your rod.

- Bailin' rock fish.

Right off the end of the leader, how 'bout that?

- [Kurt] What was he thinkin'?

- Good gracious.

- [Kurt] Huh?

Watch yourself there now.

- He was fired up.

- [Kurt] I bet you got a thumb grip on him.

- [Richard] I got him.

He was fired up.

Wow, that was unreal.

January 3rd, here we go.

Gettin' that kinda action on top, that's somethin' else.

Wow.

Thank ya.

Appreciate that, that was fun.

(chuckles) - [Kurt] He said, "Not so much."

- Not for him, but for me.

- [Kurt] Now how deep was the water there where he was hittin' that?

- Like eight or 10 feet probably.

- [Kurt] 15.

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Kurt] 15.

- He came outta the trees.

- [Kurt] But he stuck with it, didn't he?

- [Richard] Yep, he did.

And that's what they'll do.

- Joe, you were 100% right.

They were active.

- They're very active.

Most of the time when you were workin' the bait back, they'd hit it six or seven times before they decided to grab ahold of it.

And you saw right there beside the boat.

It was really an interesting morning, and we shot it in two hours, maybe a little less than that.

Very aggressive.

And, if you've never caught striped bass on topwaters, topwater baits, give Richard a call.

He really, between the Pamlico River and the Roanoke River, he's got it dialed in on how to catch 'em.

- Topwater bait, let's join our team now in Geartime.

(gentle instrumental music) - Richard, topwater action just doesn't get any better than that.

- [Richard] Here we are, January 3rd, and we're catchin' 'em on top.

- [Kurt] Can you believe it?

Some of those fish were so aggressive, and comin' after the bait.

I mean, they were hittin' it 10 times, and then when you would try and pull your bait out of water on a couple of instances, he fell right on it.

- Yep.

- Topwater baits.

I was usin' a skitter walk, isn't that what that is?

They seem to like it orange and chartreuse combination.

But anything would work.

You were usin' a Spook.

- I was usin' a black and gold Spook Junior here.

You know, color does matter.

I tend to stick with the natural colors, more natural colors.

The orange belly seems to make a big difference in this black water and this river water that we fish.

The style of bait, you can fish with walk the dog style bait or a chugging bait, like a traditional plug.

- [Kurt] Spits out front.

- Yep, yep.

Mine are all beat up.

They got teeth marks all over 'em.

Variety matters with the topwaters.

Use different types of baits, use different colors.

They all have little different sound dependin' on what beads are inside.

- These Spooks rattle, got a big thunk to 'em like a buckshot in 'em.

And the rattlin' Chug Bug, on one occasion, we had picked out a hole with the walk the dog thunker base, and you picked up the rattlin' Chug Bug with the BBs in it.

And it picked up two or three more fish out of that hole just 'cause it was somethin' different.

- That's right.

What kind of rod you usin' today?

- [Kurt] It's a Temple Fork, 'bout a medium six, nine.

I use a bait caster, and it's just 15 pound test mono on it.

- [Richard] I have a medium light spinnin' rod here.

Temple Fork Outfitters.

2500 Series reel.

Spooled with 10 pound braid and 17 pound fluorocarbon leader.

Pretty standard in-shore set-up for a lot of what we do.

But it can handle this rock fish just fine.

- One thing about these rock fish, he's got a tough mouth and he's a thorny, hard fish.

This bait here even has a hook missin' off of it.

They broke off.

You better be careful when you get him in the boat, and havin' a pair of pliers to protect your hands 'cause gettin' hooked'll ruin a day.

- Yep, worse thing you can do is reach down there in his mouth and try to lift him with those treble hooks hangin' out there.

All he has to do is move, and that hook'll go right in your hand.

It's happened to me plenty of times.

- [Kurt] Some of the most awesome fishin' I've seen today, when these topwater hittin' like that, comin' after it, man, I enjoyed it.

Just in the first couple hours of the day.

Not even that long, hour and a half.

Lot of fish, man.

- [Richard] We got a mild winter.

Topwater action here in January.

- Thank ya, thank ya.

It was just fun.

- All right, we'll do it again.

- Thanks for that valuable information.

Now, if you wanna go fishing, give Captain Richard Andrews a call.

He'll be more than accommodating, that's for sure.

Now, Donna's got a recipe.

If you like fish, you're gonna like this one today.

(gentle instrumental music) - Hey, today in the kitchen, we're making a Mediterranean Fish dish, and it so good, so quick and easy.

We're gonna use a lot of convenience items, which you know is one of my favorite things.

So we've got our jarred, favorite pasta sauce.

And I like the kind that's kind of chunky and has some spice in it.

So we're going to put that in our pan.

I'm gonna add to mine some minced garlic.

And I like to use my micro plane for that.

And we're gonna just mince that into our sauce.

It's gonna give it some great flavor.

We're gonna do two of those.

And if you don't like garlic that much, you can use it or not.

It's up to you.

You can put more in if you want.

So we're gonna put that in there.

We're gonna add a little crushed red pepper to this, or red pepper flakes to this, 'cause I like mine a little spicy.

Then we're going to add some chopped zucchini to this.

And then we're just gonna give this a stir.

And we're gonna let this start to bubble.

And then we're gonna add in our speckled trout.

Now you can use sea bass if you like.

I just happen to have some speckled trout.

You can use that.

Any type of fish that you like, basically.

So we have our fillet here.

And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna place it into my pan, skin-side down.

And then I'm just gonna sprinkle it with some salt and pepper.

And then you can put your lid on if you'd like, and just kinda poach this.

There you go.

That's all you do.

You put your lid on, poach it, the steam will cook your fish, which is kind of poaching, and then you can kinda put sauce on top of it if you want, kinda baste it a little bit.

Push it down in there.

So, good to go, quick and easy, okay?

And then what we're gonna do over here is we have about two pounds of spinach in our pan, and I'm just gonna basically wilt this, or steam it up a little bit.

I like my spinach a little still crunchy, so we're not gonna cook it too much.

So we're just gonna give it a couple turns in our hot pan.

And this is gonna be our base for our dish.

We're gonna put this on the bottom.

You can also use, which would be really great, I think, would be collard greens.

If you like collard greens.

Or you could do a mixture of spinach and kale if you like, that would be great, too.

So once this is just kinda wilted, you're ready to go.

So this is how we're gonna plate it.

We've put the greens, or the spinach, on the bottom.

Then we've topped it with the tomato sauce with zucchini.

And then the fish on top.

It is a great meal.

It's great left over.

It's wonderful, you're really gonna enjoy this.

So I hope you enjoy the Mediterranean Fish.

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

- Donna, you never cease to amaze us with some of your recipes.

Joe, let's go back, it was a big day.

- It really was, it was everything that he had promised it would be.

I mean, really aggressive fish in a great setting.

I mean, it's winter time when we're fishing, so there's not very much foliage on the trees, but a really wild part of the river between Jamesville and Williamston.

Just really, I think, one of the wildest sections of the Roanoke River.

Richards usually used to catch striped bass on topwater in the spring, later in the season.

So this was really a unique bite.

And I'm glad he gave us a call, and we were able to capture it.

So it can happen through the winter time if we don't have real cold temperatures through the winter, and that water temperature stays that mid-50 range.

They're real active, and you saw it for yourself.

- And it was a great day.

- It really was.

- There's no doubt about it.

For Joe Albea, I'm John Moore.

We thank you for joining us today on the Carolina Outdoor Journal.

- [male announcer]: Make sure to visit our website fo r 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.

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