[Narrator] On this week’s Bob Redfern’s Outdoor Magazine Bob heads to Bienville Plantation in White Springs, Florida for some early winter bass fishing. Plus on this week’s Sportsman’s Table we feature a pork wellington recipe using South Carolina-certified pork. All this and a whole lot more, and it all begins right now!
Oh, he dropped it. Come on, fish! Oh, there he is, okay, hang on. Okay, alright. Yeah, there we go! I put the havoc on him, Mike. Well folks, welcome to our show this week. We are in north Florida back down at Bienville Plantation. We’re fishin’ one of the 27 lakes on this property. I’ve never been on this one, okay, and so my guide and the go-to guy showin’ us how to do it today is Mike Sloan. He’s one of the professional guides down here that you’ll run into. Mike, you think I put the havoc on him, brother?
You got him
Yeehaw! Oh my gosh, look at that, well okay. That’s a healthy fish right there. Let me put my worm up there, okay, and I’ll tell y’all what I’m fishin’. ‘Kay, we’re fishin’ half ounce weights on this Texas rig and this Havoc worm, it’s a biggin and that’ll bring him in just like that. Now Mike, you know, let me let this thing go here. Let’s talk just a couple of seconds here, and I know you’re interested in getting guides, okay, I mean gettin’ fish, but listen, when you come to Bienville, what can folks expect when they come down here? I mean, this is a great fishery.
It is a good fishery, we’ve caught a lot of fish, and the biggest fish I’ve had a client catch out here was 12.5 pounds, and it was on Thomas Lake. But you can catch brim, speckled perch, bass, catfish, we have an assortment of fish that they can catch. We offer, really most of it is all artificial fishin’. We don’t do any shiner fishing or anything right now.
[Bob] Yet!
We did it one time, but we don’t right now.
Well, I’m hopin’. Folks, I’m talkin’ to Tia Rodie, the manager down here, we’re gonna try to see if we can’t do a show down here doin’ some shiners. But that’s another subject for another day. With that, brother, I tell ya what. Now out here and fishin’, this is a relatively new lake out here, it’s what, four or five years old?
This like’s about four, four and a half years old and has really no grasp, but it has more humps, more points, more structure as far as trees and stuff in the water, and that’s basically what we’re fishin’ today.
Well, I’m gonna date this, okay, ’cause I don’t normally do that. But it is 70 degrees, will be 80 degrees today. It is mid-January, okay, so listen, you don’t have to go to South Florida to catch trophy bass. You can come right here, White Springs, Bienville Plantation Log on to bobredfern.com, go to Bob’s Top 16 and you’re gonna find it right here. You love to quail hunt, you love to bass fish, okay? You’re gonna get guides like this gettin’ you on the water, and you’re gonna have a great place to stay, five star, great facility. With that, I’m gonna shut up. I gotta get this Havoc back in the water, right? Alright, Mike, I got another one planned with my Havoc there, the 10 inch.
[Mike] A 10 inch Havoc, huh?
Yep, great brown belly, mm-hmm. Oh, there he is, alright, come on. You know, he’s right over that, oh. Right over that hump, aw man! He took me all the way back to the boat. Alright folks, I’m gonna tell you what I caught the last fish on. 10 inch great brown belly Havoc. It’s a Skeet Reese design, and it’s by Berkeley, okay. Very, very simple Texas rig. The line that I’m usin’ today, I’m usin’ a 12 pound Berkeley braid. I’ve got a Venerate Abu Garcia, and then of course, you know as always, Abu Garcia and a bait caster, so. That’s the combinations today that we’re fishin’ with, and thus far I’m havin’ a lot of fun, how ’bout you?
Havin’ a great time.
Yeah, man, woo hoo!
Catch a few more.
Yep. Come on, take it! It must be somethin’ about that long tail.
Yeah, they’re grabbin’ hold to the end of it.
Yeah, he’s kinda battlin’ a little bit so oughta have to, I gotta be patient. Man, it’s hard to be patient when you’re worm fishin’, you know that? Oh my gosh!
[Mike] It’s easier when you’re crank bait fishin’.
Crank baitin’, that’s fishin’ for dummies. This actually takes a little bit of skill. I don’t know, maybe uh, I don’t know. Of course we got the sun comin’ up a little bit, so that’s gonna change the light. Now, have you noticed any differences in light patterns as the day goes on when you’re fishin’?
It’ll start movin’ a little bit more.
Will it, oh, there he is again. Oof, come on. I wonder if that just ain’t some smaller fish just messin’ with me. You know, these bass like to mess with me, okay. I’m not sure why, but they do. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, come on, take it, take it!
[Mike] You’ve got it.
Aw, take it. There he is, okay, okay.
Alright.
Woo hoo!
[Mike] He played around with it long enough that time.
Yeah, he did! Yeah man, he’s lovin’ that curly tail. Yessiree. I got the Havoc magic. Woo. Those are nice, chunky bass.
Yeah, they’re good little ol’ fish. They’re strong in this lake.
Yes sir, they are. You know, and that’s the great thing about Bienville down here, with over 27 lakes available to catch fish. I mean, look, I can’t, why would you want to go any place else, to be honest with you. Now I can see, and folks, Mike actually lives in Jacksonville, Florida, about an hour, a little over an hour away, but that doesn’t keep him from comin’ over here to guide for you folks two, to three, to four times a week. And hey, he gets more folks seven days a week, he’ll even bring his motor home over here and he’ll be here 24/7, 365, woo hoo!
[Narrator] Stay tuned, after commercial break we have more bass fishing from Bienville Plantation. Plus we’ll introduce you to Bob’s Top 16 Destinations of the Week. Lake Guntersville, the mecca of bass fishing in Alabama. 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, buy 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 of exciting and challenging clay target shooting sports.
Alright, another Havoc. Ah, yeah, oh yeah!
[Mike] That’s a good fish.
That’s a nice fish, yeah. It’s okay. Man, oh man, mm mm mm. You know, and the good thing about this Havoc, I know I keep raggin’ on it, but that’s the same worm and I caught four fish in row! And I ain’t changed him out yet. Hoo hoo, mm. Now that’s a little bit bigger.
[Mike] Yeah, that’s a good fish right there.
Gosh, they’re nice and healthy, mm mm mm. Now you can tell it’s wintertime, though, ’cause they’re a little bit lighter in color, but that’s okay, you know, that is okay.
They get a little bit lighter in color when the water’s got a little bit of tint to it. Get out in the clear water and they turn just black as they can be.
Well, remember that, and begone, brother. Yeah, yeah, aw now he’s a runner. Let me get out of the way. He is a runner! I think that’s a little bit bigger fish.
[Mike] Nope, it’s about the same size fish, he just thinks he’s mean.
[Bob] Get him over here, I’ll get him out for ya. I got my union card, brother, huh.
[Mike] He just thinks he’s mean.
[Bob] Ah, there you go.
Yeah, that’s not a bad little fishy.
Well folks, we’re hump fishin’ out here, actually. And for all you all that bass fish, and you know, what Mike has located out here for us is basically a gravel point. This is a relatively one of the newer lakes, about four or five years old here at Bienville, and it has not had the opportunity to pick up hydrilla and a lot of the lily pads yet. And that’s the great thing when you come down here. Of the 27 lakes that are available for you to fish, there’s just every single type of basically water types that you can fish down here. And again, crank baits, spinner baits, and of course as we’re doin’ this morning on plastics. This is just one of those places that you can kinda do it all, okay? And with that, the only thing you need is a good guide, and they got lots of ’em down here. So just again, log on to bobredfern.com, go to my Top 16, and you need to connect. If you love fishin’, fine, if you love to hunt quail when it’s in season, man, Bienville’s your place. Or you just want to bring the family down and spend a weekend. It’s one of those places you can do that. Alright, Mike, come on, get out there. Get another one, brother.
You can fish from a foot deep to 35 feet deep. Just depends on what time of the year and what you want to throw.
[Narrator] Chevrolet presents Bob’s Top 16 Outdoor Destination of the Week. A look at the best and 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. If ever there were a classic bass town Guntersville is it. It sets on a peninsula in northern Alabama. Surrounded by its namesake, 69,000 acre Lake Guntersville. A regular stop for many professional bass tournaments, with 950 miles of shoreline, Lake Guntersville is to bass fishing what Augusta National is to golf. Steeped in old south tradition, picturesque and uniquely challenging, yet rewarding. It can get hot in the summer, but the climate is pretty mild and falls are colorful. Guntersville was ranked among the 100 best places to live in America by relocateamerica.com in 2002. Thanks to its excellent schools, artsy culture, and relative proximity to major cities, like Nashville 150 miles to the north, Atlanta 160 miles east, and Birmingham 70 southwest. For more information about Lake Guntersville, log on to www.alapark.com. 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. Stay tuned, next we head to the Sportsman’s Table to show you how you can make a pork wellington that will impress your family and friends. 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 by South Carolina-grown meats, vegetables, and fruits. Make sure your food is South Carolina certified, it’s a matter of taste.
Folks, my guest this week is culinary student Dan Portrello here. He’s a senior at Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Myrtle Beach. And I’ll tell ya what, you got a great recipe for us. I can’t wait to get started with this one, Dan.
Alright, so today we’re gonna be makin’ a wild boar wellington. So we’re gonna start off with a sheet of puff pastry here. It’s been defrosted and laid out. This right here is about a six inch chunk of wild boar tenderloin that I seared off with a little salt and pepper, cut it to size. So we’re gonna take a little bit of this egg wash here.
[Bob] And folks, if you want a copy of Dan’s recipe you can log on to bobredfern.com and his wild boar recipe will be right there. Listen, you know, and this is getting to be a mainstay, a lot of folks are usin’ their wild boar meat.
It’s very versatile, and if you get it in the right time of year, I prefer the flavor to pork.
Awesome, okay. Okay, Dan, we’re gettin’ ready to roll it here. What are you gonna add to this next?
Alright, so the next thing that goes on is a little bit of sauteed spinach. This and a little olive oil and garlic, gonna wring it through a towel to get the liquid out. If it’s too wet the puff pastry won’t rise. So we just put a little bit of that on there. Just enough to cover that up, and then after that we put a little roast red pepper, lay that over the top.
[Bob] Again, certified SC grown right there, awesome.
[Dan] Alright, so the next step, simply tuck this in, and you want to roll this as tight as you possibly can. And when it starts to overlap, you’re gonna want to take a little bit more of your egg wash, hit that there, roll that up, and you’ll want to crimp those edges. So I take my knife, with the back end of my knife crimp it down, and cut the excess off.
Just kinda finishes it off.
Yep, and it seals all that in so the liquid won’t fly out in the oven. Put a little crosshatch on the top. Now, you’re gonna want put this in the oven at 350 until the internal temperature of the pork’s at around 145. The temp will right it to 150 from there and it’ll be completely safe to eat.
Well great, I can’t wait ’til this thing gets done, awesome.
Alright, Bob, I just took this out of the oven. I’m gonna garnish it with a little roasted orange pepper sauce. Little bit of drizzle.
And again folks, if you want a copy of the recipe just log on to bobredfern.com, and Dan’s recipe will be right there, that’s awesome. Man, that really adds a lot of color to it, okay. And the flavor, you know, I tell ya I can tell that this is awesome, mm. Oh, that sauce is awesome, yeah, there you go. And remember, nothin’s fresher, nothin’s finer until it’s certified South Carolina. Log on to their website at certifiedscgrown.com and see for yourself.
[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. By Shakespeare’s Ugly Stik GX2 rod, Ugly Stik, America’s strongest, most sensitive rod. 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 passed can still be experienced today.
Ah, there we go, okay. You know now, Mike, it was a little different on that one. He was actually up on the bank. Mm-hmm, up there in that gravel, yeah. Mm-hmm, alright, here we go. Come on up here, oh yeah, he got a little size to him. Listen, I take these all day long, okay? Oh my goodness, mm mm mm. You know, I’m not so used to havin’ somebody kneel down to get my fish, oh my gosh, yeah.
Pretty little fish.
Now, he’s a little cool. What’s the water temperature, I didn’t even check. What is it, in the 60s?
60, about 63 degrees.
Yeah, well it’s just over the threshold for plastic baits. Well, I’ll tell you what, I wrecked havoc on him, too.
Yeah you did, there ain’t no doubt about that. The Havoc’s been workin’.
Get on back in there, buddy, woo hoo!
[Mike] You have worked the Havoc over today.
All my friends at Berkeley will be happy, brother.
[Mike] And the funny thing is that’s two baits, two worms, and six fish.
Yeah, exactly, you know? There’s something to be said for longevity for plastic. I’m tellin’ ya, you know but, ah, a 10 inch. You know, folks, just a little bit about the bait selection here today. I just thought that that long, curly tail Havoc 10 inch worm, not much underbrush, mainly gravel high points. I just thought maybe that might be the ticket today, and you know, that’s one of the keys to fishin’. Whether you’re fishin’ in Florida or wherever you’re fishin’, you just gotta try some different things, you know? And I’m always, most of the time you’ll see I’m on the down end, the guide’s always beatin’ me, but that’s okay, it ain’t about me. I want our viewers to see guys just like Mike Sloan and all the rest of the guides down here at Bienville. I want ’em to understand that their whole focus is to put you on fish. Again, it’s a destination, and we want them to get in the boat and catch fish. And they’ll put you on the right stuff to do it with. You just gotta be patient, but if you wanna bring your own stuff and you know what the deal is, you could do that, too. But if you’re comin’ down here just havin’ a family fun time you don’t get out on the water very often, these guys, they’ll put you on fish. And especially if you’ve got kids. They love kids in the boat, as we all do. Again, the future of the outdoors is with these youngsters.
[Mike] Yeah, it’s with the kids.
Yeah, get ’em off the iPhones, get ’em off the iPads, get ’em out from behind those godawful video games, and get ’em out breathin’ a rod and reel.
Out in the wide, open spaces.
Alright, I’m gonna try the middle of that cut right there, we’ll see what happens. Now, I love the structure on that bank there, the rock, goodness, mm. I’m tryin’ to be extra careful.
You don’t want to lose that Havoc, now.
No, man, this might be the money fish! Might be the money fish. You know, the bites kinda changed, though, just a little bit. The sun’s come up now, but they’re still comin’ off these little humps and points. He may have dropped it right there. Maybe. I’m kinda stringin’ him along. Eh, I still feel a little weight there, no he’s still there. Oh, come on, I hate gettin’ ’em this close to the boat! You know what it is? Dang it, do you want to play the gator chomp?
Go ahead, hit him.
[Bob] Could I just get you to, I mean, one rendition of rocky top! Yeah, man!
Alright!
Yes sir! I’ll do that one for you. Yeah man, mm, mm, mm, okay. Well, he ain’t the biggest, but I’ll tell you what. Took me a little while to play ya there, little fish. Woo, well folks, listen, I will tell ya, this is been an awesome trip. I come down to Bienville a lot. Quail hunt and really just to come bass fishin’ and hang out with these guys because I learn so much when I’m here. And you know, Mike, you’re one of those exceptional guys. I tell ya, folks tell us all the time, you know, Bob, what’s really special to us when we see your show is these guys that you go with and fish, that they just act like we could spend all day with ’em. And I said, well yeah, that’s part of the deal. And you’re one of those special guys.
Yeah, it’s like everything else. You want to have people have a good time, you want ’em to enjoy themselves. You want ’em to catch fish, you want to be able to teach them something that’ll help them catch fish. And that’s really what I’m here for.
Well, and you know, and that’s very special, because I mean it takes a certain amount of temperament to be able to spend eight to 10 hours, especially when you’ve got a family and that sort of thing, and you guys do it so well down here. And the other thing, with Ranger boats, I know you’re still buildin’ legends one at a time. Yeah, there you go. Well folks, that’s our show this week. It has been, well, one for the books. I just really, again from one bait right here, the Havoc, man, this is the ticket. Log on to our website, go to the Pure Fishing website, go to berkeley.com, and Abu Garcia and all the great folks that sponsor our show. I know I’m not tryin’ to make this an infomercial, but I tell you what, when you want good gear to come down to Bienville to fish with, Abu Garcia, Berkeley, Shakespeare, it’s the best on the market. And with that, as I always like to say each and ever week, the outdoors’ my passion, I want it to be yours, too. We’ll see you next time. Alright, man, we have got to get, and I got one more in me, Mike. One more, beau.
[Mike] Let’s get one more.
Alright.
This weeks episode takes us to Naples, Florida as we head offshore to do some bottom fishing with Bassonline.com guide, Captain Mark Rodgers. Not only is Naples a beautiful vacation destination but it offers some of the best fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.
This week, Bob is fishing for smallies on Lake Erie!
Tune into the show this week and catch us in Florida at Bienville Plantation for an incredible experience.