Is there a more varied, challenging sport in the world than angling?
If the viewer was in any doubt about that statement, a single episode of ‘King Fishers’ ought to be living proof. The essence of the show, however, is not so easy to define. Is it a globe-spanning fishing match? A celebration of great travel destinations? A window on accidental friendship and rivalry?
The answer is ‘all of the above’, but perhaps the most exciting element is the sheer surprise factor. All credit in this regard goes to National Geographic, who ran the whole operation with a secrecy akin to the FBI. At times you’ll see this sense of sheer surprise slapped all over contestants faces; like the look on an African beach angler’s face when you tell him he’s about to fly north of the Arctic Circle to swap his t-shirt for a set of thermals.
Your typical fishing match this definitely isn’t in fact. After all, angling competitors usually do what they’ve excelled at for years. They practice at the venue. They certainly don’t get bundled on a plane and turn up in an icy field two thousand miles from home.
Even en-route, we were banned from conducting any research. In fact, the closest Tony, from Africa, and I got to finding out about our first fishing task was a conversation with a barman in Norway’s far north. He had repeated the name of a fish we couldn’t pronounce. Sensing our confusion, the guy just smiled and said: “It’s a big, ugly motherxxxxxx!”
And that’s the thought I’ll leave you with for stage one, where we tackled up for some serious sea fishing in the Fjords. The first leg was epic – although in true Sod’s Law style, we actually had some of the best fishing just a stones throw from the hotel. Norway is an incredible place. The 21lb cod I had on a ‘fun session barely raised an eye-brow from the skipper.
Fjords to Floods
If I had ever assumed taking part in a TV show was a walk in the park, ‘King Fishers’ soon told me otherwise. Endless lugging of gear, changes of scene and long hours accompanied our every move. In a short time you get incredibly close to cast and crew. Friendships are formed, but personalities can also jar and added to this tension was also my forthcoming job as host.
With the worst flooding for fifty years in Somerset, I was bricking it quite frankly. Scouting missions had revealed lakes where rivers should have been. And I was meant to be taking two strangers pike fishing here in just a few days? Plan A was out of the window. Plan B had been drowned. Thank goodness for the more sheltered local canal is all I’ll say on that note.
How was I to play my own leg? It was a quandary. I wanted to win, but not at the cost of my guests, or indeed the pike. Where you have two anglers totally unfamiliar with the species, there’s no way you can leave them to unhook and release fish on their own. I had nightmares that TV cameras would be witness to two anglers struggling with thrashing pike. Albeit for all the right reasons, I couldn’t let this happen, and this was to seriously cut into my own fishing time. It was a brilliant feeling to hear the shouts of joy and see your new friend from the other side of the planet land their first ever pike – but every time this happened, you also had a job on your hands. Could I make my experience tell in the limited time I had? If you watched the show you will know, if you didn’t you’ll have to wait for the re-run!
I can’t begin to express how proud I am to have represented England. Far flung destinations are fun, but we also tend to forget that our own country is a unique place. I had worried that the visitors would make nothing of it, but they absolutely loved rural Somerset. The Crossways Inn at Highbridge was the perfect country pub setting to entertain them. We had a feast of local fare, devilishly good cider, slightly deranged pub games and folk music from ‘The Drystones’, two phenomenally talented young musicians. Why is it we’re always slightly sheepish about showing guests our own country I wonder? The evening was a great celebration of rural England and the warm feeling I had that evening was more than just the local scrumpy taking effect.
A Heated Finale
Where would the adventure end? Once again I had only the vaguest idea what we might be fishing for and where. I knew it would be ‘interesting’ given that my arm had been used as a pin-cushion with vaccinations in the build up.
After delays we hit Banjul Airport at four in the morning, a sprawling place of bodies, bright colours, rattling suitcases and unfinished building work. What a welcome though! While Somerset Tourism had provided the sum total of an automated ‘out of office’ email in England, the Gambians were fantastic. I went to sleep bleary eyed to the sound of crickets, as I watched a gecko crawl across the window outside my hotel room.
Tony began the final leg in fine style as we were greeted with a ceremonial war dance from the Jola Tribe. In fact, the one thing I’ll remember most about Africa is the sound. The night air echoes with the sound of drumming and chanting. This is the total antithesis of our consumer, X-Factor culture: music is something that every man woman and child is a part of. It is a truly magical, intoxicating place.
In terms of fishing, myself and Norwegian Geir were simply desperate to start. Every man and his dog on the beach had offered to take us fishing and yet we were forbidden to even entertain the idea before the day of the contest! So instead, we drank cocktails, spied on monkeys and invested in good luck charms from local craftsmen.
Words like barracuda, shark and captain fish had us in a state of frenzy in the build up, but where would the final leg take us? There is no short answer. It involves mangroves, an ornate boat and possibly the world’s longest beach, all wrapped into the most testing day of fishing of my entire life. The approach here was rather like British sea fishing, only stepped up a few notches with the formidable creatures we might encounter.
Who was to prevail in the African heat? Suffice to say that your man from the Westcountry put in a serious shift. The three competitors gave total commitment and were so closely matched that just a single bite, in any one of the three stages, could have shifted the entire balance of the contest.
While we may have been rivals, it’s the feeling of camaraderie that stands out over all the near misses and hard won victories of the contest. The whole journey still seems brilliant and unreal, but the underlying message is simple: wherever you travel in the world, if you’re an angler you will always find friendship. Across thirty destinations worldwide, ‘King Fishers’ is the perfect celebration of a shared passion that exists from Somerset to Sydney.
I hope you have enjoyed the shows!
