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Our regional editor Jamie Pistilli landed the big one: his own TV fishing show.
Kayak Angler magazine’s Eastern Canada regional editor Jamie Pistilli says it was his childhood dream to appear on a TV fishing show.
 The dream came true, and then some, when he became the host of the upcoming WFN show Big City Fishing.
He says it's not about kayak fishing but it draws on the same inspiration: getting back to basics.
We caught up to Jamie between shoots at his home near Ottawa.
Tell us, how does one go about getting on TV?
It was right place at the right time. I’m in the process of writing a book with Henry Waszczuk and he was approached about a great show idea…and next thing I know I was down in Toronto auditioning for it. We busted out the camera right then and there and went down to the local water and just pretended we were doing a fishing show. A week later I had a contract in the mail. It’s a dream come true. It will be pretty weird flipping through the channels and seeing me on there.
What’s the show all about?
It’s big city fishing. Basically what we do is we’re bringing everything back to basics. The guys were flipping through TV stations and thinking things are getting too species-specific or too technical. What we’re going to do is just put on a basic show where a guy watching the show with his daughter or son can say “Hey, we can do that.”
 That sounds kinda like kayak fishing!
The reason why I got into kayak fishing is because it was pure too. There’s no gas, you control your own destiny. Like shore fishing. It’s just you, the fish and that’s it. That really excited me. That’s where I had my roots. I spent my childhood getting on the bus after school with my rod, net and tackle box.
What’s it like fishing for TV?
I find it a lot like tournament angling and I love fishing tournaments because you have that little bit of pressure, little fire behind you. We even got skunked one show—7-hour drive both ways and lots of casting for no fish. We got footage and tips but we’ll have to go back and add fish to it. You can’t have a fishing show without fish. But we plan to make it a real fishing show. It won’t just be trophy fish. Sometimes we’ll catch big fish, sometimes we’ll catch little fish, and sometimes we’ll actually lose fish.
Will there be kayak fishing on the show?
I’d like to do at least one episode. We’ve spoken about going to Jamaica Bay and doing the tournament down three in New York City. But right now it’s nothing official. The show is about easy fishing and you don’t need a $40,000 boat to get it done, so it might be something we’ll touch on.
You can read Jamie Pistilli’s Local Knowledge column in Kayak Angler magazine. Big City Fishing airs on WFN starting June 2010 (BigCityFishing.com).
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