So for the show’s eighth season, Wade has taken his expertise to the ocean, where the realm of monsters and creatures runs wider than anywhere else on earth.
“There’s a finite number of large, interesting freshwater fish,” Wade said regarding the changed focus of the new season. “It was also a case of, ‘Let’s try something different.’ We wanted to bring our approach to the ocean.”
The eighth season of the show sees Wade travel to numerous exotic locations in search of deep sea killers, and as he recently told Ticket, the experience brought him face-to-face with an entirely new set of aquatic monsters.
Q. Did you find that your expertise and methods in fresh water environments worked for the ocean?
A. “It was a bit daunting. I’ve done a bit of ocean fishing in the past, but I find big bodies of water intimidating. The whole process of locating the fish can be tricky. Having said that, years ago I had this idea that fishing in the ocean was completely random, but actually it’s not. There’s a lot that’s similar to freshwater, you just have to look in a slightly different way. Fishing in the ocean, you’ve got clarity there. One of the reasons I fish in ‘River Monsters’ is partly because I’m an angler, but also if you want to see the fish in rivers, putting a line in the water is normally the only way you get to do that. If you were to put a dive mask on and take a camera under water, you’re not going to see anything. But in the ocean, it’s totally different. You’ve got the option of fishing, but you can also get in the water, as well.”
Q. Is it more frightening to clearly see what you’re up against as opposed to when you’re fishing murky waters and don’t necessarily know what you’ve hooked?
A. “I think certainly if you’re in the water with it, it can be quite scary just by the size of some of the creatures. I was in the water with a tiger shark at one point and was swimming off with it as we released it. I suppose it’s the scale of the ocean as well. In one of the episodes, I wasn’t actually fishing, but I was in a mile and a half of water. You don’t get anything like that in freshwater.”
Q. Is it challenging to wind down after you’ve had an intense encounter with some of the monsters you’ve done battle with over the years?
A. “That’s an interesting question, because the thing about fishing is it’s long periods of nothing happening. Then suddenly, things do get very intense. The emotional ups and downs get very compressed. Then that is over, and you’re left with a feeling of achievement that is proportional to the difficulty. It’s a good feeling having actually caught the fish. Sometimes the actual process of catching it can be scary and exciting, but you have to go through that to get to the satisfaction afterward. Some of the underwater work I did was similar. At the time, it’s almost too intense. Sometimes you just almost want it to be over with so then you can look back on it with a bit of comfort.”
Q. Did you have to do anything physically this time around to prepare for the ocean?
A. “It was certainly different. One quite big element was the underwater side of what I did. I’m having to drive this new equipment and at the same time be thinking about the animals that I’m looking for and what I’m going to say. That was pretty strenuous on occasion, and we had some very intense encounters where I was just getting into the actual process of the dive. Then you encounter something that’s quite out of the ordinary and have to deal with that as well. It can be very overwhelming.”
Q. What has been the most intense encounter you’ve ever had?
A. “We did a program looking into the history of sea serpents. There’s this fish called the Oarfish, and it lives in very deep water, more than 3,000 feet. The only time they’re ever really seen is when they wash up dead. They’re never really filmed alive in the ocean. We had a bit of a tip-off where there was a place we might be able to encounter one of these creatures. It was a big gamble, but we were in the water when one of these things appeared. It’s something very few people have ever done before. This was at night and in a mile and a half of water. It’s quite spooky. Because we’re filming it, and I’m the host, I’ve got light in my eyes, so it’s very disorienting. We also went to Australia looking at the variety of life there. I was handling some very venomous creatures, which is a very intense experience. Once it’s over, you’re looking back thinking it was quite special but you’re relieved that you’ve done it and survived!”
Q. Have there been any requests to handle or encounter a creature that you’ve flat-out refused?
A. “There wasn’t actually, but there were a few things that were close to that. The producers, they know me quite well now. They pitch it at a level where it’s, ‘How close to that line can we get?’ There were certainly a few moments where I was certainly close to that line. I was in the water with a very large saltwater crocodile in Australia, and there was a bit of a screen between us, but I’m so close I can see the algae on its teeth! There’s part of your brain which is just telling you to get out of the water. You should not be close to this thing!”
Q. This has been your passion and life’s work, but do you do anything else for fun outside of it?
A. “I wish I had a good answer for that. This is pretty much what I do full time. I get home, and I collapse for a certain period of time to recover, then I do it again. I live in a very old house in England which is a bit of a ruin. I suppose one thing I’m sort of doing is trying to make the house habitable. When I get home, the garden is completely churned up, but I need to go plant some grass seed and try to make that look nice. I’ve never been a great gardner, but I suppose I’ll be doing a bit of that over the next couple of months.”
bj.lisko@cantonrep.com
