Press Releases
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (June 12, 2018) – After commissioning research that reveals fishing is a life skill that modern dads are no longer teaching their children, the market-leading video on demand platform for high quality fishing content, Fishing TV, is set to hold the first ever World Fishing Day on Saturday 23rd June 2018 in a bid to unite the angling community, bring new people into the sport, celebrate the joys of angling and highlight the incredible power of angling to make positive changes in the world and in people’s lives.
For World Fishing Day, fishing organisations around the world will be hosting public participation events in partnership with Fishing TV. The video on demand broadcaster will also be providing a free 24-hour live TV show of incredible fishing action through their platform. The live filming will be hosted in a news-anchor-style from a London based studio, featuring pre-recorded VTs and link-ups to live content from 24 locations around the world.
Fishing TV have appointed the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF), whose mission is to increase participation in recreational angling and boating thereby protecting and restoring the nations aquatic resources, as supporting partner for World Fishing Day in the U.S. RBFF’s recently announced 60-in-60 effort strives to attract 60 million anglers to the sport by the end of 2021. To help recruit, retain and reactivate participants, RBFF developed the award-winning Take Me Fishing™ and Vamos A Pescar™ campaigns creating awareness about boating, fishing and conservation, and educating people about the benefits of participation. The Take Me Fishing™ and Vamos A Pescar™ digital assets, are the most comprehensive fishing and boating websites nationwide and are key destinations for individuals to learn, plan and equip for a day out on the water.
Here's what will be happening at six North American events, as part of World Fishing Day on the 23rd June 2018:
1. Texas
Bubba Bedre is one of the finest (maybe even the finest) alligator gar fishing guides in the world, with clients flying in to Texas from all over the world to fish with him. He’ll be fishing in the Dallas area, and trying to bring some of these prehistoric beasts to the boat for the live cameras. We’ll also meet a scientist, Dan Daugherty, who has been studying these amazing creatures.
2. Florida Keys
Brazilian fishing TV presenter Luana Pigatto and her husband Marcos will be setting out from Edgewater Lodge in the Florida Keys. They’ll be fishing these productive waters for what might be the most popular sportfish in the world - tarpon. She’ll also meet Dr. Ross Boucek from the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust to learn about their pioneering work in the Keys and their efforts to conserve these amazing fish. Andy Newman from the Florida Keys Tourism board will also be on the boat to talk about what makes the area such an amazing fishing destination.
3. Tampa, Florida
Husband and wife team Jason and Jennifer Schall, who hold a hatful of IGFA World Records between them and are currently ranked by IGFA as no.1 and no.5 in the world. They’re heading to the St. Petersburg area of Tampa Bay to target snook, redfish and tarpon, all big, hard-fighting species and among the most popular with American anglers.
4. Ontario, Canada
Fishing writer and Ontario native Ashley Rae (shelovestofish.com) will be joined by YouTube Kayak fishing superstar Robert Field (YakFishTV). Ontario is one of the world’s fishing meccas; it is home to around 20% of the planet’s freshwater, and contains more than quarter of a million lakes. Ashley and Robert will be targeting North America’s most popular freshwater species, bass, in the amazing Bay of Quinte. These aggressive predators may not be the biggest fish in the world, but they just love to smash angler’s lures and are known for explosive strikes. Along the way Ashley will be talking to Robert about his epic ‘Field Trips’ project which has seen him undertake a huge fishing road-trip around the USA and beyond.
5. Colorado
Our host Corrine Doctor (RepYourWater) will be in Denver. We’ll highlight the exciting revitalization of downtown Denver’s South Platte River and specifically the work done by Denver Trout Unlimited and partners to restore stretches of trout habitat in an urban environment. Amazingly, there are now trophy-sized trout being caught in downtown Denver, and good fishing for a variety of species, which we hope to showcase during the live broadcast. Corrine will be joined by representatives of TU and the local chapter of Project Healing Waters, which uses fishing to help veterans and injured service personnel.
6. Alaska
Alaska could not be a more perfect location in which to close the WFD live broadcast - true wilderness, all five Pacific Salmon species, rainbow trout and more. We’ll be fishing near Anchorage with pro guide Dallas Baldwin, who will be joined by Austin Williams of Trout Unlimited. As well as celebrating the incredible diversity of the fishing in Alaska, we’ll also be highlighting the very real threat posed to this incredible ecosystem by the proposed Pebble Mine project.
Commercial Director of Fishing TV, Ed Burgass, said: “By holding World Fishing Day, we are able to combat the fact that families are no longer fishing together like they once did. As a child, I went fishing with my father regularly and some of my fondest memories are from the river bank. As someone whose second child arrived recently, this is something that I am keen to pass on to future generations. Fishing TV’s ultimate goal for World Fishing Day is to bring more people into the sport of angling, particularly women and children, whilst also shedding a light on the conservation issues surrounding fishing and highlighting fishing’s power to improve people’s lives around the world.”
Television journalists and presenters Fiona Armstrong, Keith Arthur and Matthew Wright have been confirmed to host the 24-hour World Fishing Day live stream, with keen anglers and influencers such as Jasper Paakkonnen, Bubba Bedre, Ashley Rae, Jennifer & Jason Schall, James Murray & Marina Gibson also lending their support.
Fishbrain, the most popular app and social network for anglers, being confirmed as the official app partner, The Angling Trust, The Wild Trout Trust & Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing are just some of the other organisations confirmed as World Fishing Day collaborators to shed light on environmental issues, sustainable fishing and the positive influence angling can have on wellbeing.
Fishing TV’s World Fishing Day will take place on Saturday 23rd June 2018.
Register to watch the free live broadcast here: http://www.worldfishingday.com/
Fishing TV’s content (some content is free, some is paid for) is available via www.fishingtv.com. The Fishing TV app can also be downloaded through the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon Fire TV, EE TV and is compatible with many Smart TVs. Annual Fishing TV passes are available for just £60 per year.
For all media enquiries relating to World Fishing Day, please contact Katie French and Tom Baxter at KPPR on
0203 137 6499 | katiefrench@kppr.tv | tom@kppr.tv
For all media enquiries in relation to the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, please contact Bruna Carincotte on bcarincotte@rbff.org
About Fishing TV
http://fishingtv.com/ | https://www.facebook.com/fishingtv/ | https://twitter.com/FishingTVapp | https://www.instagram.com/fishingtv/
The seeds of FishingTV were sown when lifelong angling fanatic Rae Borras teamed up with actor Geoffrey Palmer and producers Dave Hatter and Tim Jones at Oval Films, who were producing content for Discovery Real Time’s 10-part series The Compleat Angler at the time. The show’s positive reception convinced Rae, Dave and Tim that there was a market for high quality angling programmes and this led them to create the website onlinefishing.tv, a subscription video-streaming service aimed specifically at anglers. Although there was also some third-party content, onlinefishing.tv original series like Game Fisher’s Diary, Chilly on Carp and Boat Fishing with Barham established the team’s reputation as producers of great fishing television and formed the backbone of the service. In 2011, OnlineFishing.tv moved into the emerging world of SmartTV apps. This necessitated a name change, and FishingTV was born. In 2014, the team began planning a move into the world of mobile technology, and so began the process of redesigning the service from the ground up, including developing apps for a range of devices including Smartphones and tablets. The new platform was launched in the summer of 2016 and at the same time the subscription model was replaced with a pay-per-view model and an expanded library of content from around the world to supplement FishingTV’s own productions. FishingTV’s app is now available on all major smartTV brands, as well as numerous set-top boxes and Blu-ray players around the world, including Amazon FireTV. Since 2016, FishingTV has continued to produce ground-breaking fishing content, including the popular Sky Sports series Carp Wars, now back for a second season, and the acclaimed fly fishing documentary CHALK.
About RBFF
RBFF is a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase participation in recreational angling and boating, thereby protecting and restoring the nation’s aquatic resources. RBFF’s recently announced 60-in-60 effort strives to attract 60 million anglers to the sport by the end of 2021. To help recruit, retain and reactivate participants, RBFF developed the award-winning Take Me Fishing™ and Vamos A Pescar™ campaigns creating awareness about boating, fishing and conservation, and educating people about the benefits of participation. These campaigns help boaters and anglers of all ages and experience levels learn, plan and equip for a day on the water. The campaign websites feature how-to videos, information on how to get a fishing license and boat registration, and an interactive state-by-state map that allows visitors to find local boating and fishing spots.
