03-18-2006, 03:44 PM
this was in one of my magazins about fishing t.v shows it, hits the nail on the head,well i think so.
GIVE ME A BREAK, by Zach Harvey
i seldom watch fishing shows on tv because nothing in life is quite as irritating to me as watching someone else who's somewhere much warmer than my living room catch oversized fish.call me grumpy,every winter,i catch a few minutes worth of fisging shows,and invariably wind up muttering to myself on the couch.
what makes for good fishing footage(as it has been defined by historical precedent) is long,protracted battles on gear thatis either too light for the situation,or drags that are set loose enough to make the prverbile moutain out of the mole hill.inevitable,after the battle,during which the drag clicker remained on so veiwers could hear the excitement,the fish comes alongside,the host hauls it out of the water,pokes at it,comments on how good life is,then preaches the gospel of catch-and-releas.
maybe it the inner meat fisherman talking,but my general attitude is that fish destine for release should come in as quik as possible,go back even faster,and then be the topic of discution.what drives me batty,is watching big bass or roosterfish or tuna or anything else make a sikly attempt to swim away after a drawn-out battle and two minutes on deck,then hearing someone extol the virtues of catch-and-release angling.i can practically see an armada of "next years fish" bobbing belly-up downtide and off-screen
"that fish is dead as a coffin nail" i yell at my televion,while my wife suggest maybe i need a hobby that dosen't make me foam at the mouth.in fairness,my 10 minute sampling of fishing shows doesn't represent an adequate cross section of whats on.still,the smoke and mirrors element of what i see-- i mean,what self-respecting fisherman leaves his clicker on 24-7,or requires five minutes to land a bass in the low 20s?--concerns mee
this "hollywood"approach to fishing is by no means unique to the boobe tube.every season i see loads of guys dragging out battles,finally landing the fish when its about two clicks shy of rigor mortis,then "reviving" it for 10 minutes and congratulating themselves on thier contriution to conservation.a few such fisherman have givin me a dirty looks for taking a fish for the table,which is anouther story all together
these days,technologicl advances like braided line and powerful rod blanks allow anglers to whip even sizeable fish into shape on suprisingly light tackle.there also plenty of heavy tackle on the market thats unbelievabley sensitive.i guess the point here is that theres no reason to "hollywood" a fish thats meant for release.if its going in thebox,by all means wax poetic on camera,if is headed back,give the fish--and the viewers---a break
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GIVE ME A BREAK, by Zach Harvey
i seldom watch fishing shows on tv because nothing in life is quite as irritating to me as watching someone else who's somewhere much warmer than my living room catch oversized fish.call me grumpy,every winter,i catch a few minutes worth of fisging shows,and invariably wind up muttering to myself on the couch.
what makes for good fishing footage(as it has been defined by historical precedent) is long,protracted battles on gear thatis either too light for the situation,or drags that are set loose enough to make the prverbile moutain out of the mole hill.inevitable,after the battle,during which the drag clicker remained on so veiwers could hear the excitement,the fish comes alongside,the host hauls it out of the water,pokes at it,comments on how good life is,then preaches the gospel of catch-and-releas.
maybe it the inner meat fisherman talking,but my general attitude is that fish destine for release should come in as quik as possible,go back even faster,and then be the topic of discution.what drives me batty,is watching big bass or roosterfish or tuna or anything else make a sikly attempt to swim away after a drawn-out battle and two minutes on deck,then hearing someone extol the virtues of catch-and-release angling.i can practically see an armada of "next years fish" bobbing belly-up downtide and off-screen
"that fish is dead as a coffin nail" i yell at my televion,while my wife suggest maybe i need a hobby that dosen't make me foam at the mouth.in fairness,my 10 minute sampling of fishing shows doesn't represent an adequate cross section of whats on.still,the smoke and mirrors element of what i see-- i mean,what self-respecting fisherman leaves his clicker on 24-7,or requires five minutes to land a bass in the low 20s?--concerns mee
this "hollywood"approach to fishing is by no means unique to the boobe tube.every season i see loads of guys dragging out battles,finally landing the fish when its about two clicks shy of rigor mortis,then "reviving" it for 10 minutes and congratulating themselves on thier contriution to conservation.a few such fisherman have givin me a dirty looks for taking a fish for the table,which is anouther story all together
these days,technologicl advances like braided line and powerful rod blanks allow anglers to whip even sizeable fish into shape on suprisingly light tackle.there also plenty of heavy tackle on the market thats unbelievabley sensitive.i guess the point here is that theres no reason to "hollywood" a fish thats meant for release.if its going in thebox,by all means wax poetic on camera,if is headed back,give the fish--and the viewers---a break
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to see a guy on TV that takes too much time bringing the fish in. It just takes too much of the fishes energy! Get em' in & get em' out if you dont intend to eat them! Thanks for the good article.