About Wild On The Fly Television

Welcome to a New Kind of Angling TV Show

Wild on the Fly Television was actually born in 2006 when we signed up to do a special series on adventure fly fishing for the Men’s Channel, a cable television station owned by Turner Media Group (not “that” Turner, these guys were based in Los Angeles, Denver and New York and they turned out to be total chumps). This was right at the beginning of the first new technology linking television with the Internet and while Turner’s idea was terrific (use your remote to identify and instantly order any gear you saw being used during one of the shows) the bandwidth really wasn’t there yet and the basic technology was still very buggy.

The deal eventually fell through and we were left with some Standard Definition egg on our face. But we also had a dozen really cool fly fishing videos we had shot all over the world. Trailers of some of those shows can still be seen on this site.

At about the same time, High Definition video was just getting a toehold on broadcast TV. It was amazing but the conventional wisdom then was that it would many years before the technology was adopted on a general level. And besides everybody still had the old kind of TV. Keep shooting in standard def was the suggestion of most of the pros. Bo were they wrong!

Skip ahead a few years and once again a television broadcaster came knocking at the door, this time the World Fishing Network out of Canada. They were starting a 24/7 pure fishing channel and did we want to produce a High Definition show series for them. Still licking our wounds from the Turner fiasco we invested in a couple of new cameras and shot a couple of episodes but we never could find common ground on content or even schedule. As disillusioned as we were becoming with angling TV, we were in love with HD video, and we just knew intuitively that it would soon become the media of the future, online, on air, on everything. So we kept the camera’s rolling.

Then in August of 2010 we got a phone call from the Outdoor Channel which had recently made the impressive decision to not only up the ante on the quality of outdoor broadcasting but they were going to do it all in High Definition. And by the way, were we interested in translating the Wild On The Fly travel-documentary style of print and Internet media into a television show? Here we go again. Only this time it stuck.

Four months later we were on TV, on a real channel that has 37 million viewers, producing a show for broadcasters who encouraged us to think outside of the box. It was an insane schedule, a near vertical learning curve, and an absolutely wonderful experience. Our good friends at the Grizzly Hackle in Missoula, Montana signed on as the title sponsor providing a lot of the funding needed to make the whole thing happen, and even a couple of brave fly fishing manufacturers tested the television waters again. Thanks to Hardy USA and Templefork Rods for that support.

So, Grizzly Hackle’s Wild On The Fly has re-invented the conventional fishing show, evolving it from its cliched, worn-out format into a vibrant travel program so interesting and visually appealing even non-anglers want to watch. We produced 11 episodes our first season (two from guest producers Mikey Wier and Chris Bailey), all un-staged and genuine, sometimes edgy and often humorous, and always rich in culture, lore, food, scenery, wildlife, critical conservation, and of course, cutting-edge angling.

Each show ended with a short, popular gear review by Grizzly Hackle's Dan Shepherd and Drew Miller filmed at the fly shop in Missoula, Montana. These two extremely experienced adventure anglers provided valuable insight on the best equipment and clothing for each particular destination.

From Alaska to Argentina, Mexico to Mongolia, this was a piscatorial production of epic scope! Nearly two years in the making, over 200 hours of video shot, 83 flights and more than 90,000 miles traveled to seven countries and four states, six broken rods, four lost bags, two ruined cameras, countless hours of editing, and not one fake fishing scene! If you missed seeing it on Outdoor Channel you can click here to watch a 10-minute trailer of the Best of Wild On The Fly – Season One. And if you’d like to own the entire first season (with bonus footage even!) on DVD click here.

We’ve signed up for season two of Grizzly Hackle’s Wild On The Fly on Outdoor Channel, which will begin broadcasting in January 2012. In the meantime we’re hard at work producing 13 new episodes, so check back here frequently for updates and news on this exciting production.