Fishing in Thailand: Too Many Fishing Shows?
Fishing in Thailand is fun. Totally fun. Ponds, canals, rivers, reseroirs, lakes and payponds. We have it all. But sometimes, an angler, for many reasons, can’t get to the water to get his/her line wet. Whether it is work, money, family, needy girlfriends or any other reasons, sometimes a hooker just can’t get his fix and has to resort to some home-based alternatives. Namely, fishing shows on TV.
On March 10 2011, the local National Geographic Channel unvieled its brand new TV show: Fish Warrior. The host, “extreme angler” Jakub Vâgner, starts out his debut episode with a trip to the Amazon river to land the legendary arapaima. Sound a little familiar? You bet your ass it does. On May 3, 2011, Jeremy Wade of Animal Planet’s River Monsters lands one on his show. Then a few months later on July 27, 2009, Dr. Zeb Hogan of National Geographic’s Monster Fish lands one too.
Sure there are some subtle differences among all three shows but what I really want to see is a River Monster VS Monster Fish VS Fish Warrior DEATHMATCH! Now that would be a pretty cool tournament.
In all fairness, I do appreciate there being so many fishing shows. You can never have too many and the efforts that they put in to raising awareness of environmental conservation as well as the fishing tourism that gets promoted out of it is more than anything a fisherman can ask for. So if you’re one of the guys of the show reading my little piece of writing on the big wide web, kudos!
Here’s a little flowchart I made for fun for comedic purposes:
As for fishing shows in Thailand, on top of the three aforementioned shows there’s also the Ultimate Fishing Show on True Visions 2, National Geographic’s (again?) Hooked and the occasional bass fishing tournaments on ESPN. I have yet to see a fishing show on the Thai channels.
Anyway, here are the summaries of the fishing shows I get to watch in Thailand and their (often subtle) differences.
RIVER MONSTERS
Original air date: April 5, 2009
Thai channel: Discovery Channel (True Visions 20) then Animal Planet (True Visions 21)
Host: Jeremy Wade.
Description: Marine Biologist and “Extreme angler” Jeremy wade goes to dangerous places to catch freshwater “river monsters” that are potentially dangerous to mankind. The overall tone of the show is dramatic and serious, always highlighting the potential danger some of these fish may pose. The intensity of the show is amped up by the suspenseful music combined with Wade’s observation of everything that could kill him including lightning, crocodiles, illegal poachers and so on. Of all the shows this one is generally is the most entertaining.
MONSTER FISH
Original air date: July 27, 2009
Thai channel: National Geographic (True Visions 19)
Host: Dr. Zeb Hogan
Description: Like Wade, Dr. Hogan travels to different places in the world to encounter monstrous freshwater fish. However, unlike its Discovery Channel counter-part, the show Monster Fish embraces large aquatic animals from a more scientific standpoint and has none of the dramatic tone. In a way this show is more like a documentary than a dramatic adventure show.
FISH WARRIOR
Original air date: July 27, 2010
Thai channel: National Geographic (True Visions 19)
Host: Jakub Vâgner.
Description: Another marine biologist and “extreme angler”, Jakub Vâgner basically does exactly everything Jeremy Wade of River Monster does, while mixing in some Man vs. Wild only with an incomprehensive accent. So while Wade narrates his own shows, Fish Warrior employs the help of another narrator. Like River Monsters, Fish Warrior also makes use of the dramatic element to push forward the story of pursuing large freshwater fish. Among the three hosts, Vâgner is by far the most serious angler being much more fisherman than biologist.
THE ULTIMATE FISHING SHOW
Original air date: October 2004
Thai channel: True Sport 2 (True Visions 102)
Host: Matt Watson.
Description: This Kiwi saltwater fishing show is marketed as a “show for fishermen, made by fishermen”. In every episode the host and his crew go about teaching the viewers some useful applications for saltwater fishing techniques in various situations as well as the occasional gratuitous shots of sexy women in bikinis fishing. They also sometimes do really crazy challenges like hand-line a shark. The overall tone of this show is light-hearted and sometimes almost comical in nature.
Posted: Monday March 14, 2011
7 comments for Fishing in Thailand: Too Many Fishing Shows?
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There’s another show, cant recall the name.. Hooked perhaps, has short clips of various catches, no presenter per se. One clip I recall had George Bush Snr recounting his catch of a huge Tarpon.
I watch them all of course, but it would be good if some went into a little more depth about the methodologies employed.
I also like the format of Mark Berg’s fishing addiction a show in Oz where they surprise an angler and take them on a trip of a lifetime, which is great but whilst there they have to complete a challenge and if they do they win a huge amount of tackle from the show’s sponsors. Shame you cant get it here though
yeah I’ve seen Hooked before but in a way I find that it is more like a documentary than a fishing show so I left it out.
I just youtube’d that fishing addiction show. What an awesome idea!
“Extreme Fishing” should be included, although personally I cannot stand the host (Robson Green…? or something like that). There was one episode in Thailand, also at Bungsamran…but strangely enough, the Giant Snakehead was not on the menu. Weird…
Btw, I am very glad to stumble upon this website! Really! I am still a big fan of siamfishing.com, but hate the fact that I cannot post anything on it (speak Thai, but sure as hell cannot write it).
what channel was extreme fishing on?
One more thing…there used to be a Thai fishing channel (channel 7 I think it was)…but very late at night. but this was also yeeeaaaars ago…but recently, there was a documentary on this Thai fishing pro, named ‘Prokik’ (I think he also makes lures now). I think you can even find this episode in youtube…
uuuhhh…I must have missed the part that the listed fishing shows should be aired in Thailand…sorry
I downloaded “Extreme Fishing” episodes from torrents…hehe.
Hi there, I am interested in attending this year’s TFTMA trade show in Bangna shopping center. Can you please provide me with the exact date of the show? Thank you. (Lufti- Indonesia)