Wild Fish Wild Places: How it All Began
Wild Fish Wild Places 02.10.12
The “wild” side
Alan and I met during a fishing trip to Lake Athabasca. The fishing trip started like any other, with a heart-pounding float plane ride from Fort McMurray accompanied by my friends. As we approached the 7th largest lake in North America, we witnessed one of the most unbelievable sights I have ever seen: the whole lake (with the exception of the bays) was frozen solid!
The next few days of fishing turned out to be epic as the pike became more aggressive with every warming day, chasing top water baits and just about anything you could throw their way. We would finish each day with a couple boats chipping ice from the main lake for use in cocktails that night and sharing stories of the day’s adventures. We were being invaded by a large Canadian black bear every night getting into everything, including stealing a dry bag that had a very expensive pair of Swarovski binoculars attached to it.
The owner of the business was excited to be away from the main lodge for a while, where his wife was keeping his compulsive drinking to a minimum. He was getting lazier and more out of control every day, with our evenings turning into a series of stressful debates that never went anywhere – much like talking to my ex-wife. The week finished, my friends left and a new guy from Ireland arrived. A pike expert by the name of Alan Broderick was looking to invest in the lodge and was staying for a month with his guests fishing the following week. The stage was set, I was to fish with Alan and show him what I had learned the previous week and explore some new areas in search of lake trout spots and pike staging areas.
Jeff, the owner, was so drunk every day that we would have to come back from fishing, cook dinner, clean and prepare for the next day. One night in the middle of our trip we found Jeff face down blowing “dirt bubbles” passed out and oblivious to what was happening. It is a wonder he was never violated by that pesky black bear that was in the camp every night. The next week Alan and I fished, explored, talked business and became great friends. This is when the concept of Wild Fish Wild Places was born, and the next summer we were on a plane with a film crew 50 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Who would have known this chance encounter would lead to a life-changing adventure in search of the people who live to fish and the people who fish to live? Check out and “like” Wild Fish Wild Places on Facebook for updates and pictures and follow us on Outdoor Hub for exciting fishing stories!
FISH AND FISHING. TWO WORDS HAVING A MYRIAD OF MEANINGS TO A MYRIAD OF PEOPLES. TO FISH FOR FOOD, FOR LIFE, FOR SURVIVAL; OR TO FISH FOR FUN, FOR SPORT, FOR MONEY.
When, almost 5,000 years ago in China, man first attached a hook and line to a bamboo rod to catch carp a little further from the river’s edge, little did he know that this creation would evolve into an industry which at the early part of this, the twenty-first century, is worth over $108 billion annually to the US economy in terms of sport fishing alone!
The variety of fish species is infinite. From cold water inhabitants such as members of the Salmonidae family, to warm water, tropical dwellers like the Cichlids. From the gigantic Tarpon of the Florida Keys to the gentler Arctic Charr spectacularly attired in their vivid courtship colors in the frigid rivers and streams of the arctic tundra. Take the celebrated Coelacanth, over three hundred million years old and still found today in the warm seas of the Indian Ocean around Madagascar, or the seemingly ubiquitous Golden Orfe, or the goldfish, which completes endless circuits in so many glass bowls in family homes in every corner of the world.
In this series, we will seek out great predatory fish. Fish that are much revered, fish that strike terror at the very mention of their name and fish that are the staple diet of many peoples subsisting along the shorelines and riverbanks of the great waters we will visit during our odyssey. Positioned at the very top of the food chain, these apex predators reign supreme in their own domain, be it mighty river, great lake or ocean.
Our quest will take us across cultures and continents to exotic locations of immense beauty and wealth as well as lands poleaxed by poverty. We will explore not just these wild and wonderful places, but the significance of our target species to the different groupings of peoples in terms of social, economic and cultural values.
Our travels in search of extraordinary predators will take us from the cold, unforgiving waters of the West of Ireland to the steaming jungle swamps of India. From the frozen, pristine wilderness of the Canadian subarctic to the sun-baked backwaters of Northern Australia. This will be a series of contrasts and comparisons where we will meet people who live to fish and people who fish to live.
