This week Bob heads to Pensacola, Florida for some early winter big bull red fishing. Joining Bob will be Captain Bill Willis with Lost Bay Guide Service. On the Sportsman’s Table, Jamie Saunders, Chef and owner of Johnny D’s Waffles and Bakery in Myrtle Beach shares her Fried Green Tomatoes with Shrimp recipe. (originally aired 1/2019)
Full Transcript
[Narrator] On this week’s show, Bob is fishing in Pensacola, Florida for some early winter big bull reds. Also, this week we feature a true Southern recipe, fried green tomatoes. All this and a whole lot more, and it begins all right now.
Beautiful right there. What I thought initially, he might’ve been a jenny. Fish on.
Double-barrel, it’s comin’ up, man.
Fish on, Bill!
There you go.
Oh man, mmm mmm mmm. Awesome. Awesome, my friend.
Gulp! jerk shad.
Woo yeah! He got a little bit of pull to him too, my friend. Well folks, listen, we are down in Pensacola, Florida, fishing with my good friend, Captain Bill Willis. Lost Bay Charters. And Bill, I’ll tell you what man, you’ve been living in these fish for what, a month?
Oh yeah, yeah we’ve had em good since…
Look at that fish man. Look at it.
Good pretty red fish. Oh, yeah.
These fish are in here spawning.
And he swallowed that gulp too didn’t he? Look at that man. Beautiful fish, Bill, beautiful.
[Bill] That’s a smaller one there, that’s nice.
[Bob] He is. But I’ll tell you what, he ain’t making a tight line, and that’s a good thing.
Oh yeah, yep.
You got him?
Nope, not yet.
[Bob] Awesome!
Alright, here you go.
Oh man. Man, that water is really nice and clear, gosh. Had him hooked up too, man.
Yep. Oh, looky there, folks, beautiful. Pensacola redfish.
Pretty dot.
Now, Bill, real quick, tell everybody where we are here.
We’re just east of Perdido Key. Perdido Key has became one of the hottest Fall/Winter destinations for redfish ’cause there are just so many that come in to spawn, and this Pensacola Bay is just east of there, just a few minute boat ride. And that’s actually one of the smaller ones. We’ve been catching 35, 45 inches, and hopefully today we’re gonna get on some of them big ones.
Oh man, there’s gonna be more.
[Bill] That’s a great fighting fish.
Oh yeah!
You did a good job.
Yeah, man, alright, well I’m gonna put him back for somebody else to get him. Get, be gone, right there. Woo! Right there, man!
[Bill] Here’s your towel.
Ah, thank you, brother.
[Bill] Alright, let’s get another gulp jerk shad out.
Alright, Bill. I can tell you we are set up for success for today. Well, folks, I’ll tell you what, we got more great action coming your way right here on Bob Redford’s Outdoor Magazine. Our destinations, fishing. That’s what we’re doing today. Alright, Bill, are you ready to do it again, brother?
[Bill] Let’s do it, let’s do it.
Alright, man.
Started the morning with Blue Angels flying over and now we’re on redfish. Doesn’t get any better.
Get him, Bill, get it man!
Hooked up. Doesn’t feel like a real big one.
Well folks, we’ve been down here fishing with Captain Bill Willis down here in Pensacola, Florida, our destination this week, and we are looking for the big gold beauties, the big redfish. And he has got one here. Get over here, so the boys and girls can see you. You got a biggin?
Got a Goodin.
Oh, man, let me throw up and see if I can’t get out there.
Yep, they’re there.
Come on!
Let her go to the bottom. Hooked to the freight train.
Yeah, man. Well, now, Bill, these fish, I mean, you fish around here Yeah man.
And ole Bob’s hooked up. There he is!
Oh man.
There he is.
These fish come in and out of here pretty much all the time, do they not.
Yep, there in here starting about the first or second week of November. And we have them usually, all the way to the first of March.
Oh my goodness.
They come in to spawn and we got a bunch of bait in here that’s pouring out the bayou. So they’ll get up on the surface. Just thousands of fish so it could be an acre of surface activity.
You know, and I will tell you the fish are just awesome and beautiful.
I’m gonna come…
Gotta come under, all right.
Yes sir. The red fish shuffle.
Yeah man! Whoo hoo! Now what’s the slot limit in Florida?
18 to 27 inches.
Okay.
You can have two per person. Most of these fish are probably 35, 45 inches.
Yeah.
This one’s gonna run me around the back, so I’m gonna head this way.
[Bob] Whoo hoo! That’s what I’m talking about brother! Yeah man! Well you know Bill, I tell ya, it’s great that you have a kind of a little kind of a comradery network down here with all of the guys.
Yes.
The great working relationship.
And I tell you Bob, that makes me a lot more successful. We’ve got a lot of great guys in this area.
[Bill] Yeah.
We work really well together.
Listen, I’m losing more line than is coming on man.
[Bill] Did you see them busting on the surface when we were pulling up?
Yeah I did, I did. Whoo yeah! Come on slide up here so the folks can see. Let me see if I can slide down a little bit. Oh man! Awesome! Awesome!
[Bill] Bob, you got a spare hand you can hold that one second.
I do, I do, I do.
[Bill] Get this girl, get her picture and get her back in the water.
[Bob] Anything to do to help the guide. You know I learned a long time ago, never guide the guide. That is awesome! That’s awesome Bill. Oh man! Whoo hoo hoo hoo! Yeah man. This Revo SX30 is absolutely humming here. And you know folks, I’ll tell you what. We’re fishing…
[Bill] Get on that side for the sun. There she is. You got a measuring tape on here?
[Bob] Yeah man. Whoo that’s nice. That is nice!
All right, we let her go. She’s about 38 inches.
That is nice. All right man. And there busting again?
[Bill] Yeah.
Get it! Well you know folks, I’ll tell you what. When they start busting top water down here. This is just awesome. This is awesome. And I’ve fished in a…
[Bill] There you go, you can see the birds back here, Bob,
Yeah I do. And I’m fishing a… A Gulp 5/8 ounce jig head, okay. Ohhhhh! With a white plastic Gulp spin bait. Oh, oh, Jerk bait with a paddle tale. Man, I’ll show it to you when he comes up. Bill, I’ll tell you what. He is…
[Bill] You let me know when you get ready and I’ll help ya.
Yeah well, that may be a while. Look at that thing, beautiful gold color.
[Bill] Beautiful color.
[Bob] What do you think he’ll weigh?
[Bill] I’m gonna say that one there is probably going to be 18 to 20 pounds maybe.
[Bob] You think? Man that thing looks more like 25 to me, Bill. That’s my uneducated eye.
[Bill] Hey, we can round it to 30 if you want.
[Bob] That’s kind of where I was headed. Folks I’ll tell you what. My go to guys down here in our destination, Captain Bill Willis with Lost Bay Guide Service here.
That’s a good one.
LostBayfishing.com Man!
That’s a good one, Bob.
Oh, That’s awesome!
Ready for your picture?
Oh folks! That is a beautiful, beautiful, Pensacola red fish, right there. Beauty. The gold.
[Bill] Show them the dot on there, Bob.
Let me get my hand in the right place here. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
[Bill] That’s a purdy one. That’s a purdy one.
Beautiful fish. Folks, stay tuned. When we come back, we’re gonna have more red fishing action here with Captain Bill Willis from Lost Bay Guide Service here out of Pensacola Florida.
[Narrator] Stay tuned, when we come back from commercial break. We take a look at another Bob’s top 16 destinations. This week we take a look at Lake Mead and all that it offers anglers and outdoors men alike. Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine is brought to you today by Chevrolet, the official vehicle of Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine. By the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. By South Carolina, it’s a matter of taste. By Pennington seed, the leader in outdoor forage products. By Browning, Browning, the best there is. By South Carolina Embroidery and Screen printing. And by Back Woods Quail Club. Offering southern style hunting and an array exciting and challenging clay target shooting sports. Chevrolet presents, Bob’s Top 16 outdoor destination of the week. A look at the best hunting and fishing destinations in the United States. Each week, Chevrolet will feature a new hunting or fishing destination. In conjunction with Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine. And Bob’s Top 16. Lake Mead is the largest Reservoir with maximum water capacity in the United States. It has a maximum depth of 465 feet. It has 150,000 surface acres. The majority of the water in the reservoir comes from melting snow from the Rocky Mountains. The lake is known for it’s striped bass, where a catch can weigh over 40 pounds. Other popular catches include, trout, crappie, blue gill, green sunfish and catfish. Fishing season is open year round. However, the best months for fishing are from July through December. Many people choose to fish at night for a relaxing evening. Boat, hike, cycle, camp and fish at America’s most diverse National Recreation Area. With striking landscapes and brilliant blue waters this year round playground spread across 1.5 million acres of mountains, canyons, valleys and two vast lakes. See the Hoover Dam from the waters of Lake Mead or Lake Mohave. Or find solitude in one of the parks nine wilderness area’s. For more information, log on to www.nvs.gov. For more destinations, be sure to visit BobRedfern.com. And click on Bob’s Top 16. And to get to your next destination, go online at Chevy.com. After commercial break we head to the Sportsman’s Table for a true southern recipe. A fried green tomato recipe with a twist. The Sportsman’s Table is brought to you by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. Whether you live in South Carolina or out of state. Be sure to buy South Carolina grown meats, vegetables and fruits. Make sure your food is South Carolina Certified. It’s a matter of taste.
Welcome to this edition of Sportsman’s Table with me is Chef and owner of Johnny D’s Waffles and Bakery here in Myrtle Beach. Chef Jamie Saunders. And she’s got something that has shrimp, green tomato’s, eggs, listen. Stay tuned and watch. This is gonna be awesome.
Yep!
Johnny D’s.
I’m so excited to be here, okay.
Wow, thank you.
First thing we’re gonna do, is I’m gonna get my shrimp cooking here. So I got a little bit of unsalted butter here.
Okay.
A little bit of onions. And I already cooked my fried green tomatoes earlier. So I used a little bit of buttermilk a little fry flour and a little bit of corn meal to get those nice breaded and nice texture for the dish.
You know, not everybody can fry green tomatoes.
And you know what I like about green tomatoes. They haven’t got that sweetness yet, so it’s little bit of better, I made a nice honey bacon jam here. So that’s gonna bring the sweetness to the dish and the saltiness like with the bacon. That everyone just loves so much.
So, we’re gonna make a little bit of benedict here, I mean, I am waffle, I mean breakfast expert, so.
There you go.
So we got those onions cooking a little bit. I just want to bring out the flavor, bring out some aroma. And I’m gonna get my shrimp cooking.
Well folks, if you want a copy of Jamie’s recipe just log on to BobRedfern.com go to the Sportsman’s Table and voila, it’ll be right there. And we are down in the Myrtle Beach area. Drop by Johnny D’s Waffles and Bakery and you’ll probably see Jamie in there doing this exact same thing.
So the best part of the dish is I got my beer here. So we’re gonna finish off with a little bit of beer. We’re gonna let that shrimp finish cooking in that braising.
The two B’s, beer for breakfast.
Exactly, why not? I mean, we do serve liquor at the restaurant.
Yeah, okay.
So we might as well. You know, beer, liquor, bloody mary’s what ever you want here.
Yeah, exactly.
[Jamie] So we’re gonna get that going. And I mean shrimp is pretty relatively quickly cooked so it’s only gonna take a minute or two.
[Bob] You just gotta let them get pink.
[Jamie] That’s it. We’re gonna let them curl up a little bit. But in the mean time here, I’m gonna start plating.
[Bob] Okay.
[Jamie] So I got my fried green tomatoes that I made.
All right, let me get this out of the way a little bit.
We don’t want to block it.
There ya go.
All right.
Oh yeah.
We’re gonna take little bit of this bacon jam.
And that’s got honey in it to.
Yes.
Wow, that’s awesome.
[Jamie] Local honey, fresh local honey right out of Conway.
[Bob] Certified S.C. grown folks.
[Jamie] I’m not gonna be to cheap because let’s face it, it’s bacon and everyone loves it.
[Bob] Fresh on the menu at Johnny D’s.
[Jamie] Yep. So as soon as this shrimp is ready here we’re gonna take it and put two or three on there. How ever many you want. I’m gonna go for three because I’m pretty hungry this morning.
There you go.
We’re gonna take this right on here.
No, you told me you were vertically challenged, okay. You’re not that short. No, you’re standing on a box.
[Jamie] I’m standing on a box, I don’t want to look like a midget compared to you.
[Bob] Oh my goodness. You gotta laugh, it’s breakfast.
It’s breakfast and we’re having shrimp and we’re getting a little fancy here for breakfast.
[Bob] Wow!
We’re gonna do our poached eggs.
Oh wow. And you know not everybody can poach and egg either.
No these are pretty good, I did a pretty good job with these ones.
Yeah, you did, man that’s fantastic.
[Jamie] I get a lot of practice though, we serve a lot. And you want to do the honors?
[Bob] You do I’ll get it out the way.
[Jamie] This is a nice little hollandaise I made.
[Bob] There we go.
[Jamie] I’m just gonna spoon it over the top. And that’s it.
[Bob] Look at that.
[Jamie] It’s all ready for ya.
Wow, fried green tomatoes, fresh South Carolina shrimp, eggs right there. You knocked it out of the park, Jamie.
Thank you so much, thank you.
Thank you. Well listen folks, that is another great recipe on the Sportsman’s Table. Log on to CertifiedSCgrown.com and see what’s fresh on the menu. And hey, when you’re in Myrtle Beach, stop on by and see Jamie, Johnny D’s Waffles and Bakery right there on Myrtle Beach.
[Narrator] To find out more information on food that’s fresher and tastier go online at certifiedscgrown.com. Buy certified South Carolina grown products,. It’s a matter of taste. Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine brought to you today by The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Life’s just better outdoors. Brought to you by Abu Garcia. Abu Garcia for life. By Ranger Boats, still building legends, one at a time. By Browning ammunition, Browning, the best there is. And by Southern Woods Plantation. A place where the grandeur of times past ]can still be experienced today.
Whoo hoo
He thump it?
Yeah.
He thumped it.
Yeah, he thumped it. There he is.
Bob’s on.
Oh yeah man!
There you go, red fish shuffle.
Yeah man, hot dog! He’s on!
Good job, Bob.
All right man, we need another double here. This is awesome. You let that old berkley trilene braid just sing right off that Revo SX30 right there folks. That’s the gear I’m fishing with today and I got volatile seven three rod here from Abu Garcia. Spin cast. Fishing a Gulp 5/8 out keeper jig head with a paddle tail. Berkley power bait, swim bait actually. White with red eyes.
Ope! Doubled up!
This is exciting.
You got it boy!
Doubled up! Here we go!
Now folks, my guide today again as I’ve introduce previously is Captain Bill Willis, from Lost Bay Guide Service. Remember his website, Lostbayfishing.com. You can go to Bob’s top 16 right on our website at BobRedfern.com and Bill’s gonna be right there. I’m tellin ya.
I think we gotta switch sides, Bob.
All right.
They got us doing the…
All right, go ahead Bo.
Red fish shuffle.
And you know folks, our technique today has just been looking for these big, golden beauty red fish just bustin top water. And all you go to do is just kinda, well it’s almost kinda fishing for dummies.
Yeah, there’s a lot of places I’ve fished. Louisiana, different places that have incredible red fish fishing.
Yeah.
But here, we’re blessed to have these big bull red fish spawning acres of them on top all the times. And it’s great for everything from the novelist to the experienced fisherman to fly fisherman. I take a lot of fly guys that absolutely love it.
Well listen, and I know you love to get the snow bird folk from the north down here in November, December, January, February. Tell everybody about Lost Bay Guide Service, Bill. Because I tell you what, it is… And folks, you need to pay attention here because Bill’s got it going on down here in Pensacola Florida.
I’ll tell ya, I based out of Perdido Key and I take a lot of people from Orange Beach, Golf Shores, Pensacola, I’m kind of in the middle of all that. And the snow birds that come down in the fall/winter have found that there here really for the best fishing of the year. And… We gotta do it again.
Gotta keep talking.
But yeah, everybody else wins the best fishing in this area, hands down. It’s from second week in November until about the first of March. After that, we’ve got different species throughout the year that come in really thick. But if you want to get in on some of these big bull red fish on light tackle artificial baits, that’s when it is.
See this is just awesome, I’m tellin ya. And folks, I’ll show you the Berkley jig head and the power bait that I’m using. Here he comes! Oh man! Whoo hoo hoo! Whoo! Hot dang!
You can tell they got us dancing with these doubles. Imagine when I have three or four clients on the boat.
Oh yeah.
Everybody hooked up.
That’s a good thing man.
[Bill] Oh yeah it’ get…
[Bob] Look at that…
[Bill] That’s a pretty fish there, Bob.
[Bob] Oh yeah, look at that.
[Bill] I’m gonna come under ya and get out of your way.
[Bob] I just love the beautiful golden color, Bill. I mean, that’s just, just really awesome.
This one’s trying to run me back in the motor here.
[Bob] That is awesome. Come here hummer, come here.
You got her?
I think so, we’ll see.
Just grab her by her tail or gill, what ever you got. There you go, there you go. You got her? Good job, Bob.
Oh, beautiful. Folks, you might be able to hear that red fish drumming a little bit.
[Bill] Yep.
And right there is what we’re fishing. It’s that Berkley Gulp keeper jig head. With the power bait, power tail, red eyes. I know you all love to see what I’m fishing with in the bait. Well today, this be the deal, right there. Mmm hmmm whoo hoo!
This one’s taking as much line as I’m getting here, Bob. I’m telling you, you’re doing good man, you’re doing good. Tell you what folks, again right down here in Pensacola Florida, Lost Bay Guide Service. Captain Bill Willis, all right. Here we go, let’s go back in my man. Yeah! All right, Bill. Get him up here and I’ll help you land him, Bub. I got my union card, no net. Keep handlin him. Tell you what, you do like, you do that like a pro man.
That’s a pretty fish there, pretty fish. I never get tired of seeing them.
[Bob] Oh yeah, I believe you, you got me on that one. I believe you got me on that one. Here let me help you. If I can get his tail here. Come here boy, come here buddy. I gotcha, don’t do that, don’t do that. Come here.
[Bill] Grab that tail. Hang on Bob.
Well I said I was gonna get it, hang on.
[Bill] There ya go, that’s a big girl now.
Oh my goodness. That line wrist made it…
Here you go, hold that for me.
He aint grabbin it, he wants to go back there.
Yeah, let me see her, I’ve got it back here.
Be careful. There you go, oh yeah. All right Bill, there you go.
Here we go,
You’re ready to roll man.
Here we go.
Whoo yeah! Look at that. Lost Bay Guide Service folks, Pensacola Florida. Tell them all again about your website.
Lostbayfishing.com is where you can check out the website. Most all the fishing pictures you can find there’s a link on the website to the Facebook page. You can see where we’ve been catching them for about 30 days now. Just trip after trip, so.
Give me a knocker, buddy. All right, we got more where that came from. I gotta catch it on this Seville, man. Folks I’m gonna try on this one. Gotta happen, whoo hoo! We’ll see.