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“I thought, we
fish, we freedive, and we explore local culture. We should do our own
show,” Fischer says with confidence, adding, “and we just decided
we would make a pilot.” Knowing he’d need a vessel with range,
Fischer bought Go Fisch; her derated 550-hp Detroit Diesel 8V-92s
provide her with a 1,500-mile range. Once he had the boat, Fischer went
back into his pocket and funded the pilot. That’s confidence, especially
considering Melissa, a former actress, was also the only one with TV experience.
The foursome got some video equipment, hired a couple of cameramen, and
went fishing. They didn’t just film 30 minutes of the back of an
angler’s head while everyone watched a bent rod; they shot extensive
underwater freediving and spearfishing segments, out-of-the-way landlubber
spots, and excellent gourmet galley pieces, too.
With McBride’s
and Traylor’s extensive knowledge of the “in-between” places
and Fischer’s new take on the fishing-show format, the pilot must
have made quite an impression, as restaurant giant Red Lobster signed
on to sponsor a full-blown series. With a budget, the foursome lived aboard
Go Fisch for two years, searching for angling adventure. The first
season’s segments aired on the Outdoor Life Network, but were quickly
picked up by ESPN2. It became obvious that viewers appreciated both the
content and the crew’s chemistry.
Some segments show the
anglers catching giant halibut and king salmon in front of jaw-dropping
Alaskan landscapes, while others provide an underwater up-close view of
freediving and spearfishing yellowtail, pargo (a.k.a. dogtooth snapper),
dorado, and wahoo in the surreal blue Pacific off Mexico and Central America.
And then there are the billfish battles that make you jump out of your
chair like a last-minute touchdown on Super Bowl Sunday. Take, for instance,
Melissa’s black marlin, which she almost caught on the Hannibal Banks
off Panama. When the 100-pound mono on her 50-wide standup outfit started
tearing off, she grabbed the rod and locked up. Melissa knew she was in
for a ride. “It was a tough fight, and it took me to physical places
I didn’t think I could go,” she recalls. “After almost
two hours of fighting (later edited down to fit the half-hour time slot),
I’d gotten almost all the line back.” But when the boat suffered
an engine problem and couldn’t chase down the fish, the estimated
800-pound black marlin broke free. Yet even this lost-fish segment aired,
further endearing the Go Fisch crew to its audience. After all,
every angler has at least one “big fish that got away” story.
Having been up, down,
and under the waters from Alaska to Panama, what’s next for the crew
and show? Fischer was off to Ecuador the day after we spoke (he and Melissa
now commute to Go Fisch about 12 days a month to film the show).
Ultimately, Fischer says he would like to get a bigger boat—possibly
a 100-footer—and do two years nonstop around the South Pacific, fishing
and freediving where few, if any, anglers and divers have tread.
Sounds good to me. I
wonder if they need a cabin boy.
Check www.offshoreadventures.tv
or your local TV guide for air times.
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