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- May 19, 2001
- Messages
- 26,046
C&P from Burlington Free Press. Cool stuff! And here I am stuck in "physical drydock" myself 
'Monsters' star
angler Wade in
Champlain waters
The most famous face in fishing isn?t in
mag*azines, doesn?t own a glittering bass
boat, and never pitches products on
outdoor television. In*stead, it belongs to a
former fishing dropout who is as even
keeled as he is soft*spoken, yet who
nonetheless has come to represent the
term ?extreme an*gler.?
That?s why when Jeremy Wade was spotted
pop*ping in and out of Bur*lington area
tackle shops last week the local rumor mill
started buz*zing. Have your heard? The
star of the hit Animal Planet show ?River
Monsters? is in town. It?s true. I met Wade
at the Burlington waterfront Friday. Why he
is here, how*ever, is a puzzle, which is
very much in keeping with the ?River
Monsters? theme. As regular viewers can
at*test, each episode involves Wade
traveling to some far*flung corner of the
globe, where, rod in hand, he fol*lows up
on purported fresh*water attacks and
other al*leged aquatic mysteries. In the
process, he ?uncovers some of the world?s
largest, strangest and most danger*ous
fish,? according to the show?s website.
To be sure, Lake Cham*plain has some
large fish, at least by North American
standards. And among its 70-plus species t
here are some strange fish. But dan*
gerous? The lake?s mythical sea monster,
Champ, has never attacked anyone, and in
any case every show in*variably ends with
Wade gripping a living, writhing example of
his river-mon*ster quest. So if nothing else,
we can presumably rule out Champ. Wade
was understand*ably mum about the
reason for his visit ? the humane folks at
Animal Planet would probably fillet him if
he spilled the beans. But he did confirm
that he plans on spending several days ex*
ploring the Champlain basin and sampling
the lake?s pis*cine potpourri, from its
marshy, inshore shallows to its cold, clear
depths.
He also answered a ques*tion that surely
has many a wannabe rod star scratching
his head: How did a 56-year-old
Englishman and one-time biology teacher
be*come arguably the best*known angler
in America?
Turns out it was due to equal parts good
luck and good timing.
Wade began fishing at age 7 while growing
up in East Anglia, plying a local river for
small ?rough fish? that would be considered
bait in the states. He eventually moved up
to carp, which if not a game fish is very
much a glamor fish in England. But he soon
tired of the circus*like atmosphere at
Britain?s overcrowded carp lakes, and after
a brief stint with cat*fish he hung up his
rods in his early 20s.
That?s where they would have most likely
stayed were it not for some magazines that
he acquired at a rum*mage sale years
later. In them he found an article about
mahseer, the giant golden carp of south
Asia. It rekindled his angling desire and
spawned a string of an*nual trips to exotic
locations for even more unusual fish, which
he subsidized by writ*ing travelogues.
That led to an assignment with the
European Discov*ery Channel to do a show
about fishing in Brazil, which was followed
by a chance commission to do a five-part
series on fishing in India. He got started
late in the season while in India, and in a
rush to get more footage he followed up on
a report about a large aquatic beast that
was attacking bathers along the Nepal bor*
der. It proved to be the giant goonch
catfish, and ?in pass*ing? he included some
foot*age of it in the series.
That might have been the end of Wade?s
small-screen career, were it not for a girl*
friend who worked in televi*sion. One day
she was watching a DVD of the India series
when she saw the part about the man-
eating cat*fish. If he only featured more
fish like that, Wade said he told her, he
had the potential to appeal to a much
broader audience.
That led him to pitch the idea for ?River
Monsters? to Icon Films in Bristol, Eng*land,
which is home to the BBC and is the global
center of nature and travel docu*
mentaries. The reality TV craze was in full
bore, and Icon took the bait. The rest is
history, although the show isn?t quite as
originally con*ceived.
?The idea was to make it an underwater
?Who done it?? ? said Wade, a lithe man
with an angular face. ?The goal was to get
footage of fish people had never seen.?
That proved easier said than done in the
murky wa*ters where big, exotic fish of*ten l
ive, which led to more rod-and-reel time.
The show ?was not supposed to be so
much about fishing,? he said. ?It came as a
bit of an after*thought, as a means to an
end.?
In the first four seasons, Wade has traveled
from the Congo to Amazonia to Mon*golia,
and has caught every*thing from fearsome
goliath tigerfish to a 500-pound freshwater
bull shark. Which again begs the question:
What the heck is he doing in Vermont?
Director Dominic Weston wouldn?t say,
either. He did note that ?River Monsters?
had considered going to the Great Lakes,
but chose Champlain instead for its
manageable size and tre*mendous fish
diversity.
'Monsters' star
angler Wade in
Champlain waters
The most famous face in fishing isn?t in
mag*azines, doesn?t own a glittering bass
boat, and never pitches products on
outdoor television. In*stead, it belongs to a
former fishing dropout who is as even
keeled as he is soft*spoken, yet who
nonetheless has come to represent the
term ?extreme an*gler.?
That?s why when Jeremy Wade was spotted
pop*ping in and out of Bur*lington area
tackle shops last week the local rumor mill
started buz*zing. Have your heard? The
star of the hit Animal Planet show ?River
Monsters? is in town. It?s true. I met Wade
at the Burlington waterfront Friday. Why he
is here, how*ever, is a puzzle, which is
very much in keeping with the ?River
Monsters? theme. As regular viewers can
at*test, each episode involves Wade
traveling to some far*flung corner of the
globe, where, rod in hand, he fol*lows up
on purported fresh*water attacks and
other al*leged aquatic mysteries. In the
process, he ?uncovers some of the world?s
largest, strangest and most danger*ous
fish,? according to the show?s website.
To be sure, Lake Cham*plain has some
large fish, at least by North American
standards. And among its 70-plus species t
here are some strange fish. But dan*
gerous? The lake?s mythical sea monster,
Champ, has never attacked anyone, and in
any case every show in*variably ends with
Wade gripping a living, writhing example of
his river-mon*ster quest. So if nothing else,
we can presumably rule out Champ. Wade
was understand*ably mum about the
reason for his visit ? the humane folks at
Animal Planet would probably fillet him if
he spilled the beans. But he did confirm
that he plans on spending several days ex*
ploring the Champlain basin and sampling
the lake?s pis*cine potpourri, from its
marshy, inshore shallows to its cold, clear
depths.
He also answered a ques*tion that surely
has many a wannabe rod star scratching
his head: How did a 56-year-old
Englishman and one-time biology teacher
be*come arguably the best*known angler
in America?
Turns out it was due to equal parts good
luck and good timing.
Wade began fishing at age 7 while growing
up in East Anglia, plying a local river for
small ?rough fish? that would be considered
bait in the states. He eventually moved up
to carp, which if not a game fish is very
much a glamor fish in England. But he soon
tired of the circus*like atmosphere at
Britain?s overcrowded carp lakes, and after
a brief stint with cat*fish he hung up his
rods in his early 20s.
That?s where they would have most likely
stayed were it not for some magazines that
he acquired at a rum*mage sale years
later. In them he found an article about
mahseer, the giant golden carp of south
Asia. It rekindled his angling desire and
spawned a string of an*nual trips to exotic
locations for even more unusual fish, which
he subsidized by writ*ing travelogues.
That led to an assignment with the
European Discov*ery Channel to do a show
about fishing in Brazil, which was followed
by a chance commission to do a five-part
series on fishing in India. He got started
late in the season while in India, and in a
rush to get more footage he followed up on
a report about a large aquatic beast that
was attacking bathers along the Nepal bor*
der. It proved to be the giant goonch
catfish, and ?in pass*ing? he included some
foot*age of it in the series.
That might have been the end of Wade?s
small-screen career, were it not for a girl*
friend who worked in televi*sion. One day
she was watching a DVD of the India series
when she saw the part about the man-
eating cat*fish. If he only featured more
fish like that, Wade said he told her, he
had the potential to appeal to a much
broader audience.
That led him to pitch the idea for ?River
Monsters? to Icon Films in Bristol, Eng*land,
which is home to the BBC and is the global
center of nature and travel docu*
mentaries. The reality TV craze was in full
bore, and Icon took the bait. The rest is
history, although the show isn?t quite as
originally con*ceived.
?The idea was to make it an underwater
?Who done it?? ? said Wade, a lithe man
with an angular face. ?The goal was to get
footage of fish people had never seen.?
That proved easier said than done in the
murky wa*ters where big, exotic fish of*ten l
ive, which led to more rod-and-reel time.
The show ?was not supposed to be so
much about fishing,? he said. ?It came as a
bit of an after*thought, as a means to an
end.?
In the first four seasons, Wade has traveled
from the Congo to Amazonia to Mon*golia,
and has caught every*thing from fearsome
goliath tigerfish to a 500-pound freshwater
bull shark. Which again begs the question:
What the heck is he doing in Vermont?
Director Dominic Weston wouldn?t say,
either. He did note that ?River Monsters?
had considered going to the Great Lakes,
but chose Champlain instead for its
manageable size and tre*mendous fish
diversity.
