By Susan Cocking, The Miami Herald
PARK CITY, UTAH — You’ve probably watched them on ESPN2’s Saltwater Sunday — the crew of the Go Fisch exploring remote fishing destinations from Alaska to Ecuador in Offshore Adventures. And maybe you’ve also tuned into another Fischer Productions show as host Matt Eastman selects an unsuspecting pedestrian from a crowded city street to go on an exotic fishing trip in Wanna Go Fishing?
Chris and Melissa Fischer, baby daughter Sarah, captain Brett McBride and chef Iverson Brownell certainly lead an exciting life, chronicling their experiences aboard a 72-foot long-range sportfishing yacht. Eastman’s lifestyle is plenty exhilarating, too — accompanying starry-eyed fishermen on the trip of a lifetime.
But when the Fischers and Eastman have downtime after traveling and taping their popular shows, they spend it just about as far from saltwater as they can get — on the remote, private Upper Provo River that flows through the mountains just outside Park City, Utah.
“It’s got to be one of the best rivers in the world in the lower 48,” Chris Fischer said.
Located only a few miles from the Fischer Productions studios, a five-mile stretch of the Upper Provo belongs to the developer of the Victory Ranch Club — a planned, upscale housing enclave with river and mountain views. (Unlike Florida, a landowner in Utah can claim the river bottom as private property).
GUIDED TOUR
Eastman’s job when he’s not taping television shows is to entice prospective buyers by guiding them to fat trout — brown, rainbow, brook, and cutthroat — on fly rod for catch-and-release only. Recently, the landowner gave permission for Eastman to guide Fischer, McBride and visiting husband-and-wife Key West charterboat captains Steve Magee and Linda Luizza on a fishing trip on foot.
Clad in neoprene waders against the 40-degree chill and armed with 4-weight rods with double-nymph rigs of stone flies and midges on 4x tippets, the group walked along the banks and through the shallows, trailed by Eastman’s mixed-breed dog Kona. They were looking for what the guide called “pocket water — where it’s a little deeper and moving slower.”
No television cameras trailed the group; this was strictly for fun.
On his first couple of casts, Eastman hooked what looked to be a 20-inch rainbow — considered a trophy by Western freshwater standards. The colorful fish dashed, jumped and headed downriver, finally using a submerged rock to free itself from the hook before Fischer or McBride could grab a landing net.
Following a few more unsuccessful casts to the same spot, Eastman decided it would be best to give the fish a break and head elsewhere.
TARPON WOES
During the short hike downriver, Eastman surprised his guests by revealing that in six years of guiding, and despite hosting a hit TV show that features big fish in exotic locations, he had never caught a big tarpon.
Magee and Luizza, who have lost count of how many tarpon they’ve caught and released in the Keys, were amazed.
In a recent Wanna Go Fishing? episode that began at the Miami International Boat Show in February, Eastman plucked Bryan Ridgely — a computer guy from Melbourne — off the boat show floor, bought him some fishing clothes at the West Marine booth, then whisked him off to San Juan for a weekend of chasing snook and tarpon.
In 2 1/2 days, Eastman reported, Ridgely caught and released a dozen snook to 8 pounds and several tarpon to 30 pounds.
But Eastman had to forgo his fishing ambitions for the sake of the show, which is scheduled to air this spring.
Magee was sympathetic, advising Eastman that if he encounters a large tarpon, to let the fish engulf the hook rather than jerk on the rod to set the hook in the fish’s jaw.
“That way, he’s less likely to spit it when he comes up to jump,” Magee said.
Eastman was born and raised in Utah. The Fischers relocated here two years ago after living on the Go Fisch for a couple of years and selling their home in California.
“I had two brothers who settled here and we were looking for a good place to raise a family and have a healthy outdoor lifestyle,” Chris said. “There are great winter and summer activities.”
Determined to prove this, the TV guys scanned the cold, shallow waters and Eastman directed Luizza where to cast.
She promptly hooked a healthy brown about 20 inches. Angler and guide(s) posed together with the fish before releasing it.
“You had an absolutely perfect drift, that’s what you have to have,” Eastman told Luizza.
The group continued fishing for another hour or so until a snowstorm caused ice to form on their rods. By that time, everyone had caught and released a fish.
BACK TO SEA
The next time the South Floridians saw the Fischers and McBride was on last Sunday’s premiere of the new ESPN2 show, Ocean Hunter, where the crew held its breath, dived down and speared wahoo and yellowfin tuna for dinner 300 miles southwest of Cabo.
Unlike most television viewers, the Key Westers watched with special insight.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald
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