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00:00I'm Nick Hanushevsky. As a professional saltwater fishing journalist I've
00:04explored the world's wildest fishing destinations. Now I'm bringing you there
00:08into the saltwater underground.
00:30This episode of Saltwater Underground is going on a southern road trip. There's a secret treasured
00:48stretch of coastline along the southern outer banks of North Carolina. A quiet stunning area
00:54aptly named the Crystal Coast. Sleepy and sublime the Crystal Coast is often overlooked in the
01:00shadow of the outer banks. Its naturally charming state beckons redfish and sea trout anglers
01:06from all over the world to come sample its bounty. With redfish on my mind I hooked up with some
01:12die-hard local captains and brought along good local friend Wayne Justice to guide us into
01:18the treasure trove of backwater opportunity. The only question was how successful can
01:24a Jersey guy like me be fishing these southern waters?
01:30The Crystal Coast spans from Moorhead City down through Emerald Isle. Wayne and I hooked
01:35up to fish the upper stretch of the Moorhead City waters lined with its myriad bountiful
01:39back creeks, oyster bars and flats where redfish and speckled sea trout stage to gobble down
01:45shrimp and peanut bunker on the shifting tides. After a solid night's sleep at the Basque Hotel's
01:51most comfortable suites and rooms overlooking the famous Big Rock Landing I grabbed a warm
01:56breakfast at the Basque then headed out to meet up with Wayne to get the game plan together
02:00for redfish.
02:02All right I am super jazzed to be here in Moorhead City North Carolina right now specifically
02:08because I'm meeting up with one of my old school buddies Wayne Justice who works for
02:12the North Carolina Aquarium System. Now Wayne says he's going to guarantee that he's going
02:17to put us on some redfish today so let's meet up with Wayne. Hey buddy!
02:22Hey! My man! What's up brother? How you been? All right?
02:27Man, everything's good. Glad to finally get you down here to the Crystal Coast again. It's been a couple years.
02:31That's right. We've been looking forward to this day for a while. What's the plan? What are we going to do?
02:35We're meeting up with Captain Joe Tunstall, one of my best friends down here. He runs a
02:38Carolina Traditions Guide Service. All right.
02:41It's been a pretty good redfish bite. You know, we're just coming into the beginning of our fall season.
02:44We've had that north wind switch. A little bit of a mullet run starting up already and there's a lot of bait
02:49moving in the backwaters though. So I'm confident we'll be able to find some red, maybe some trout.
02:53All right. Never know. We've got a beautiful day to start. Yeah, it should be just right before
02:57the system comes through. All right, let's get out. Get rid of rock and roll. Yeah, let's do it.
03:05What's happening, guys? What's up, sir? Hey guys, how y'all doing? Wayne, good to see you again, brother.
03:11How you been? Just some last minute rigging in, man. Slide that right in there, dude.
03:19Yeah, man. Looks like we're about to get set up, dude. Looks like the right kind of place. Okay.
03:36Yeah. There might be something busting on mullet over there. Probably is, dude. Should be anyway.
03:41Let's do it. What do you think's first? Spoons or? Um, on this deeper edge, try it. You can try that
03:47topwater plug. And then my second go-to would be, uh, spoons or a popping cork, man. All right.
03:54Woo! There he is. Fish on the Island X Sidewinder. Yeah, Doug. Woo!
04:01It didn't take long. We weren't out here but about five minutes drifting this bank.
04:04That's about it. He crushed that one, man. Look at him out there.
04:08They're still pushing shrimp by them egrets, Wayne. Oh yeah.
04:11Yeah. Got him, man. Woo! Damn, boy. Look at that beauty, man. That is a beautiful Carolina red right
04:19here up in, uh, Moorhead City, right? Yeah, man. I don't know. He put up a heck of a fight,
04:24that's for sure. How about it? Nice, man. Get him back in. We'll make him groceries if you want.
04:30Oh yeah. All right. Woo-hoo! Wayne on? Wayne is on. Look at that beauty red.
04:39That's good. Top-water redfish, baby. It don't get much better than that.
04:45That's it. Just how you're working it across the surface pretty slow, right?
04:48Yeah. When they're fired up, it doesn't matter much. Yeah.
04:49I think they need a dug on wrench if you threw it out there. Yeah, yeah.
04:52At the same time, uh, yeah. At the same time, there's times when cadence matters.
04:57I don't think color matters as much as just being able to work that lure and getting rattled.
05:00Right. Being in the right place at the right time, man. That's exactly right.
05:06All right. Well, we got a neater. Joey. Yeah, man.
05:08Woo! Rockin' and rollin'. That's two down, more to go.
05:18This episode of Saltwater Underground with Nick Honoshefsky is brought to you by
05:22North Carolina's Crystal Coast, Fisherman Supply, Grumpy's Tackle, Island X Lures,
05:28Nick Honoshefsky on Instagram and YouTube, and these fine supporting sponsors. This episode of
05:34Saltwater Underground with Nick Honoshefsky is brought to you by
05:37North Carolina's Crystal Coast, Fisherman Supply, Grumpy's Tackle, Island X Lures,
05:43Nick Honoshefsky on Instagram and YouTube, and these fine supporting sponsors.
05:52Right there at the boat. Dude, three feet from the side of the boat, man.
05:59That was sick. That was sick, dude. That is sick.
06:02Nick, I don't know if you know, man, but that's what, like, my mantra is, man. I like to think that
06:06I put people on the fish that have never been caught before.
06:09Well, I know Wayne probably hasn't caught a red fish yet.
06:13Nice. Another one on the deck. Carolina traditions, baby.
06:19There's certain things that we try to do to make sure the ones that we do release have the highest
06:23chance of survival. First thing first is having a rubber net to land it with, handling the fish as
06:29little as possible with wet hands, and then using the pliers. Appreciate the time that you've got with
06:34it. This is what you're out here for, but when it comes time for the release, you just want to make
06:38sure that you're here boatside with them. Catching them is fun, but letting them go and watching them
06:41kick out of your hand is just as good as possible. Man, look at there. He went that way, too,
06:46so they just want to work this whole section. Yeah, he's telling his buddies to come back.
06:52This is a rule out of my kayak playbook, Nick. I go where the wind sets me, and I sit there and
06:57fish as long as the fish are there. Yeah, no reason to move if the fish are slapping these
07:01poppers. What they're probably doing, based on them birds, is they're doing a loop in this bay right here.
07:05Redfish, their spawn is controlled by the moon. They'll start moving in with the July moon, and August
07:11moon will trigger their spawn, and then a September moon will trigger the end of their spawn, and then
07:15they know it's just time to eat. Uh-huh. Uh, you know, I suppose it's in their DNA. They know it is.
07:20Oh, Wayne's on another one. I'm gonna have to switch up to a smaller foot.
07:23We got a pretty decent group of fish moving around in here, Wayne.
07:26This is sick. We got a sea trout here, man. This is so awesome.
07:29Bring it a little bit closer. Nice. We got speckled trout right here.
07:34This is so sweet. This is, you know, you got the redfish and speckled trout here in the backwaters for the most part.
07:40So, we're gonna tag this one, you said, for conservation efforts?
07:42Yeah. North Carolina Department of Marine Fisheries has had a tagging program for these fish for a number of years.
07:46Uh-huh.
07:47It's given us a lot of information on where they're going and their movements.
07:49So, we're gonna get this done real quick and get him running back out in the water.
07:52Let's get him in. Nice catch.
07:54Having the research that we get from tagging studies like this is really important from a management perspective,
07:59especially for spotted sea trout in our area. We're, you know, North Carolina's towards the northern end of their natural range,
08:05and we see cold kills some years when it gets really cold where some of the fish will stun,
08:09some of them will die, and they have to manage these areas and have closures for some of those fisheries.
08:14So, having a better understanding of the resident fish and the migratory fish and some of their migratory
08:19patterns, that's what we get from these tagging studies. So, it goes a long ways to helping to
08:24gain a better understanding of their movements, their migrations, and better management strategies, too.
08:29Captain Tunstall put us on the first reds and specs of the day with some more surprises to come.
08:35But Wayne also had something up his sleeve to put together a true backcountry meal.
08:43Wayne's feeling hungry. He's gonna grab the cast net and try and get some shrimp for the grill.
08:52Yeah, I see him bump popping away.
08:54Yep, got him in there.
08:57Got some shrimp. Oh, Wayne's got some shrimp.
09:00Nice shrimp.
09:01How about that?
09:02Check these out, what Wayne-O just got us.
09:04We'll put these shrimp right on with the redfish, depending on how Costa's gonna cook them up.
09:10Maybe blackened redfish with shrimp.
09:14That's money.
09:15Nice work, Wayne.
09:16Shrimp sandwich.
09:19With a full morning of fishing behind us, Wayne and I decided to break for lunch at the down-home
09:24Big Oak Barbecue to order up some of its famous shrimp burger sandwiches and pulled pork barbecue.
09:30When we got intel of another backwater area that was producing bigger redfish on live shrimp tossed
09:36behind clacker floats, Wayne made a call to Captain Chris Kimney of Mountmaker Chargers to dial it in
09:42as we hopped on board to explore a secret spot.
09:47All right, Captain Chris, tell us what we're doing today.
09:49Where are we at?
09:50How are we gonna fish for these reds?
09:52So we're fishing out of Moorhead City area.
09:56Kind of some backwater situations of headwaters of some of the smaller rivers in the area and creeks.
10:01We're lucky we hit early morning, high tide, getting ready to switch, and we're gonna do some
10:10poppin' corking and some slip bobber corking.
10:12Okay.
10:13Live shrimp.
10:15Throw a little topwaters first thing, mainly targeting redfish, speckled trout.
10:20All right, let's get on with it.
10:22Let's go.
10:28Oh, see that back there?
10:29Something's checking him out.
10:33He's running for dear life.
10:35Right on time, 720.
10:38There you go.
10:38Got him.
10:39Got him?
10:39All right.
10:40Good job.
10:41A little wings on him?
10:41Yeah.
10:42What do you got?
10:42A little trout.
10:43A little small trout, I think.
10:44It looks like.
10:45Put up a good show.
10:46Still came up and slammed that hot water.
10:48Let it go.
10:49See if you can't find one a little bit bigger.
10:51You know they're hungry when they eat a lure half the size of their body.
10:56Oh, went down.
10:57There he is.
10:58Got him.
10:59Got him.
11:03That's your trout.
11:03Yeah, that's your trout right here.
11:06Nice trout.
11:07Look at a sweet old trout here, man.
11:10Yeah, Cap, you said it right.
11:11Right next to the grass points over there, where the ambush point is.
11:15Came off, hit that shrimp.
11:17Oh, that is a beautiful fish.
11:22Swim a little.
11:23Oh, he's quick to go.
11:24Woo-hoo.
11:25Big old chunky trout.
11:27There's going to be more of where he came from.
11:37There he goes.
11:41There he is.
11:43Got him.
11:43Oh, that feels like a red.
11:49That is a red.
11:50Yeah.
11:50All right.
11:51Just want the doctor older.
11:53Yeah.
11:54You got to love a popping cork in a circle hook.
11:58Get him in there.
12:05All righty.
12:07Good job, man.
12:10Good job.
12:11That's a beauty.
12:12Beautiful redfish, man.
12:14Hit that shrimp.
12:15The shrimp was jumping out of the water around the popper.
12:18Then we saw that boil.
12:20After we boiled, then the popper went down.
12:23The clackflit went down and reeled up really slow and tight.
12:27And the circle hook works.
12:30All right.
12:31Carolina red right there, man.
12:41Oh, yeah.
12:43There he is.
12:44He's lit.
12:49Yeah.
12:50He's lit, Chris.
12:52This is going to be a bigger fish here, guys.
12:54Nice.
12:55Let's see it.
12:56This is going to be a much bigger fish if we can get him out of them oyster.
12:59Get him boiling back there.
13:00He is trying to get in that grass.
13:05Should have brought a bigger pole for this one.
13:07I don't know how he's coming toward your length.
13:09That's a nice fish.
13:10Yep.
13:11Yeah.
13:12Tournament grade fish there.
13:15All the cool markings that people love about redfish, this guy has it.
13:19Yeah.
13:19The standardized single spot, blue tail, the true copper back, and the bright orange fins on it.
13:24They are a pretty fish, man.
13:26All different shades of that color of red, you know?
13:29Brings out the bronze, the gold, all of that.
13:32He's a good looking guy.
13:33That is wonderful.
13:34I say we let him go.
13:35Yeah, let's do that.
13:37There he goes.
13:38Releasing the reds, man.
13:42Yeah, man.
13:43All right.
13:52He's doing his thing, that's for sure.
14:06He might be a better fish.
14:09Yeah, that one, Eric.
14:11I think he's going to be over.
14:16He's very close.
14:18That's a nice fish.
14:20That is a nice fish.
14:22Oh, we're going to double net, why don't you?
14:32Two in there, baby.
14:36Look at that, man.
14:37Doubled up.
14:40Good job, guys.
14:41Okay, I'm Chris putting us right in the drum honey hole right there.
14:45Look how beautiful that fish is, man.
14:47That is stunning.
14:48Stunning fish.
15:00All right, there he is.
15:01There he is.
15:04It's nice when you see him coming.
15:05Yeah, it's cool, man.
15:08That's a bigger one, too.
15:09Yeah, nicer one.
15:10Yeah.
15:11Woo!
15:16That is another beautiful redfish here in Carolina.
15:20All right, buddy.
15:23Thanks, Captain Chris.
15:24You know it, man.
15:29Captain Chris, why was that spot so hot for us?
15:32So, that's a fairly unique spot.
15:36It's surrounded by a huge marsh system that has
15:40basically three creeks.
15:41Right.
15:41And that marsh system is really vast and it has small pond areas that you can't access by boat.
15:46Not even a technical skill can get in a lot of it.
15:48Those redfish, they will swim just about as shallow as they can.
15:52We call it belly crawling, where they're almost running the ground.
15:56So, as the tide gets high, they go in that grass and they can meander and feed.
16:00And that's where you hear all the tales of tailing redfish and, you know, you see the big schools.
16:05So, as the tide starts out, it forces those fish to come out of that flooded grass and those shallow
16:12ponds back to the edges of the marsh system where there's little deeper areas.
16:17And where we were at was the farm farm.
16:19And so, as they're coming out, it basically funneled them right to us.
16:23And we caught them really good.
16:24Yeah, I'll tell you what.
16:25So, I got to thank you so much, Captain Chris, for taking me and Wayne out today, brother.
16:29Outstanding.
16:30You're dead redfishing, man.
16:31With plenty of scrumptious redfish fillets in the cooler,
16:34it was time to drop by the Catch 109 restaurant to see what magic Chef Anthony could conjure up.
16:50This episode of Saltwater Underground with Nick Honoshefsky is brought to you by
16:54North Carolina's Crystal Coast, Fisherman's Supply, Grumpy's Tackle, Island X Lures,
17:01Nick Honoshefsky on Instagram and YouTube, and these fine supporting sponsors.
17:14What's going on, brother?
17:15What's up, man?
17:15What's up, Joey?
17:16All right.
17:18Rocking and rolling.
17:19So, can't wait for this, man.
17:21We're sitting here at Catch 109.
17:23We're going to see what Chef Anthony can cook up for us today, right?
17:27We got Captain Joe doing a little fillet job on the redfish right now,
17:32and we're waiting for Captain Chef or Chef Anthony here is going to cook them all up for us.
17:37Perfect tag team right here.
17:39You got Captain and Chef working together side by side, making the redfish beautiful for us.
17:46So, what you got going on, you're going to start tossing these together in the marinade?
17:49Yep, we'll toss these together and let that soak in real good.
17:54Get that nice fillets right onto the hot cast iron.
17:59Wow, look at that.
18:01You know a lot of people overlook that when cooking that redfish. You got to make sure the pan's hot.
18:06You got to have that hot skillet, man, when you put it on there. That's the key to searing the flavor in,
18:11getting the texture and the color right, and making sure that all the goodness doesn't just come right
18:15out of there. Absolutely, no doubt about it. Get a nice little marinade on them.
18:19We'll hit them right here on our other hot cast iron.
18:29So, the redfish, probably going to take about four to five minutes each side.
18:36Make sure we still got it nice and juicy in the center. Shrimp, very quick. You just want to flash
18:42those in the pan because you don't want them, you know, nobody wants an overcooked shrimp. So, we got
18:46cilantro, parsley, a little bit of cumin, some salt and pepper, a little bit of red wine vinegar,
18:54and some olive oil. We'll take the rest of this back, cook it up on the big grill, get it all nice
18:59and plated for these guys, and bring out some more food. All right.
19:02Here we go. On point, man. How about that? We got the red drum, we got some potatoes,
19:11gratin, some sauteed broccoli, the rest of your shrimp. Oh my goodness. Wow. That's our chipotle butter
19:20sauce, and that should go great. That's amazing. And the cool thing about this,
19:24chef, is that anybody who can really, you know, catches their fish, they can come bring it to
19:29catch 109, and you guys can basically chef it up in whatever style they kind of want? Yes, sir.
19:33Wow. That's impressive. Yes, where is that? This is so solid, man. This is so solid. I can't
19:39believe how good this tastes, because I'm not used to eating redfish, eating all striped bass and
19:44flounder we have up north. Light and flaky, like flounder almost. I got a little bit of striped bass kind
19:49of texture to it. The absolute tanginess of this, you know, complemented with the shrimp,
19:55is just that it's over the moon. Time and time again, the crystal coast of North Carolina draws
20:02me back to its hallowed waters. Centuries of storied, salty history permeate the region,
20:08with spirits of down east baymen plying the bountiful backwaters for oysters, shrimp, and clams to make a
20:14living. And now, in modern times, we descend upon the area to pull on redfish and sea trout in a
20:20seemingly endless paradise to fulfill our passion to sport fish. Along the crystal coast, it's not
20:26just all about the fish, but the people, the eclectic charm and character of the place that
20:32truly drives its soul. Visitors come here with expectations of catching a dream fish, but the
20:38real treasure of this special place is that you'll leave with friendships and memories that last a lifetime.
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