INTERVIEW: Anglers on ‘Fish or Die’ in search of the next big one
Photo: Chris Owens, Brian Jay, Thad Robison and Jay Johnson star in Fish or Die. Photo courtesy of Animal Planet / Provided with permission.
TV viewers may think they’ve seen dedicated fishing, but they haven’t seen the fishing adventures of Chris Owens, Brian Jill, Thad Robison and Jay Johnson. The extreme anglers travel the globe searching for elusive fish that always seem right around the next bend in the river. Their exploits are the subject of the new Animal Planet series, Fish or Die, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 10 p.m.
On the inaugural season of the series, the guys head to some remote locations to find big fish. One of the episodes charts their travels in a Bolivian jungle to find the legendary giant golden dorado. Another episode finds them in Zambia searching for tigerfish, and another episode focuses on a large, ferocious salmon in Mongolia.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with the four stars of Fish or Die. Here’s part two of that email conversation, featuring the stories of Robison and Johnson. Click here for part one. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
How long have you all been fishing together?
Robison: I’ve been fishing with Chris and Brian for 12 years and Jay for about 10, but it feels like we have been together forever since we spend so much time with each other.
Johnson: I’ve been fishing with these guys longer than I wanted too but still not enough.
What are some of your favorite memories from this first season of the show?
Robison: There are so many to choose from. Sitting around the campfire at night with the native people passing around the local hooch telling stories and singing is one of the greatest. Somehow we always end up singing ‘Country Roads’ by John Denver. For me personally Borneo stands out as one of the greatest memories. We were searching for a fish called a Mahseer. It literally felt like we had just arrived on Kong Island. It’s definitely the most beautiful remote and unforgiving jungle environment I have ever stepped into. There’s not many places I’ve been when you wake up in the morning and find cobras in the camp. You’re constantly hearing the sounds of monkeys and exotic birds in the background. Our guides were the Dayak head hunter tribe; this was their territory. We were able to explore an area of the world so remote that it has only been seen by the local indigenous tribe or quite possibly by all of us for the very first time.
Johnson: People always ask this question, and I always give the same answer: ‘the next one.’ My life has been shaped by new peoples, cultures, sights, sounds, smells and feels. Since I was little I’ve always been obsessed with things new to me and different. That’s the kick in the pants with exploring and pushing the fly fishing bag, it scratches the burning itch and makes the memories that stay in my soul.
What is it about fishing that you love so much?
Robison: I love everything about fly fishing, but first and foremost it is the connection with nature. It’s a visual emersion that encompasses all of your senses. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the wildlife. When you open your eyes and see everything that is surrounding you, it goes way beyond the fishing. And then there is that moment when you see a fish taking dry flies off the river’s surface. You go into stealth mode and have to calculate how you’re going to approach and present your fly. From your cast to your presentation, to your fly selection, everything needs to line up perfectly so that when your fly drifts over that fish and you watch it slowly come up to the surface, there is that split second where you’re waiting to see if it’s going to eat it or refuse. But when that line goes tight, it’s game on, and it’s one of the greatest feelings in the world. I never get tired of watching that.
Johnson: It’s very rare to interact with nature in such a directly deep and methodical way. To understand fish means to understand their environment that they live in. You must understand why they do what they do for good success, and you don’t always win. That takes study, thought and understanding. It’s like environmental chess, and when the game plays through, you then receive confirmation if your brain is screwed on right and you made the right plays. Being immersed in a wild system … takes all the pressures and trails of life away, and my brain feels free and at peace with nature. Hell, I’d buy it in a bottle if they sold it, and I’d stay drunk on all that love all of the time.
When did you get your start in the fishing world? Is it a love that goes back to when you were a child?
Robison: I started at a very young age — 5 or 6 years old. I can still remember catching my first fish, a beautiful rainbow trout in a high alpine lake in Utah. From that moment, I became obsessed with fishing to the point were it literally took over my life and was all I could think about.
Johnson: Man, I [got] hooked on this drug too late. Prolly my mid 20s. But when I felt the power of nature the way I needed to feel it, I sold all my junk and lived in my rig fishing everyday for years. My people thought I lost it, but I knew I found it. It’s been interesting.
How difficult was it to film some of these adventures in such remote locations?
Robison: Well, as long as Jay has cigarettes, [it’s] not too difficult (joking). You’re dealing with all the elements Mother Nature throws at you. One week you’re facing extreme heat, humidity and torrential rain in the tropics, and then the following week you are on the steppes of Mongolia heading into the Siberian front with sub-zero temperatures snow and ice. We pack a lot of gear with us, from camping to fishing to camera equipment. The areas we go are so remote that you’re transporting everything by boat or horseback, and we are moving camp almost daily, which means everything has to be packed and repacked multiple times on a single expedition. There is also the element of going into unfamiliar territory looking for these fish based on stories or rumors. Not gonna lie, there’s been times when we get all the way to our destination only to find that the fish aren’t there, and we have to regroup and come up with a new plan. But that’s all part of throwing the dice on these remote locations. That usually means we just have to push further and harder, but that’s what exploration is all about.
Johnson: Getting to wake up in a new spot all the time surrounded by the remote wild has been a life saver. The wildlife and conditions can make rough stuff more tough, and it scares some people away from having a true adventure into the unknown. To me staying at stagnate and not having these experiences is more dangerous than anything I’ll find out there. No one is gonna make out of this world alive. When it’s my time, I’ll have no regrets.
What’s the one fish that has evaded you so far in life — a fish that you really want to catch?
Robison: There’s a fish out there called a Napoleon Wrasse. I’ve only seen a handful of them in my lifetime, they are so elusive. Their color reminds me of a glossy tarnished copper, and they get big. I would give anything to feel the pull of that fish on the end of my line.
Johnson: This is the toughest question. There are so many different fish that I still have to catch. I have memories of ones that got off and have made me start work on a time machine. (It’s a slow process, and it prolly won’t work as planned). But it’s ‘the next’ fish that drives me. My dream fish is one that plays a major role in an ecosystem that is unknown to the fishing world or better yet undiscovered by science. I just might saunter on into a new sunset after that.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Fish or Die premieres new episodes Sundays at 10 p.m. on Animal Planet. Click here for more information.
