I am RIVER MONSTERS' Jeremy Wade, speaking from underwater with the fishes. AMA!

Someone asked what was the most challenging and the easiest location to record RIVER MONSTERS in, but their question was deleted, so here you go:

Well, the hardest would have been Congo, in Central Africa.

Really because there's...no infrastructure there - there's no transport system. We had to be completely self-sufficient. We had to provide our own food, our own transport. We didn't have a translator, it was very hard work just traveling, and on top of that, I had to have the physical and mental energy to fish.

And the crew have to keep all the gear in good condition - electronic equipment, which you have to keep dry, free of dust. Congo was the hardest.

Easiest? Oh, I don't know. I've filmed a few times in the U.S. Normally, that's quite straightforward. We stay in a cheap hotel and they speak the same language, more or less, as us.

The first episode of the season is in Ontario, Canada, and we're mutually intelligible, more or less.

They do have some strange local customs, I believe, but we still managed to get along.

Thank you for your show and doing this AMA.

I have a six-year old little girl who loves watching River Monsters and is constantly asking to go fishing. What tips do you have for fathers without much experience teaching their children and preventing them from becoming discouraged they aren't landing "Monsters?"

Well, you have to start small. Learn to catch small fish first. And then just try to slowly start catching fish that are a little bit bigger. You have to walk before you can run.

And then some general tips, I would say - remember that fish are wild animals.

So being quiet and stealthy is very important. Don't scare all the fish away by making too much noise.

Number two: try to think like a fish. Most fish have very small brains, and all they think about, most of the time, is food and safety. So whereabouts in the water will they feel safe, and where they can find food.

And then the other thing, number three: it's not about fancy gear, but the equipment you have, it's about attention to detail. Make sure to tie very good knots, your hook is sharp- be ready for the opportunity you might get. If you hook something big, you don't want it to get away in case you're not prepared.

Would you rather fight 100 piranha-sized sharks, or 1 shark-sized piranha?

The very large thing. Yeh. Definitely one shark-sized piranha. That would be very impressive.

That's next season.

Hi Jeremy, big fan and thanks for doing this!
What is the strangest thing you've used to fashion yourself a hook/lure/bait?

Ehm... let me see... I'm not a great fly-fisherman, I'm not a very experienced one, but I've got into that a bit recently, and fly fishermen can use some very strange things to incorporate into their flies. And I have used yak hair, in Mongolia.

Ehm - I think I even used once the hair of a collie dog, some black hair from a collie dog.

People have been known to use pubic hair even. I have not done that. But people have used that before. I think they believe there might be some sort of pheromones attached? It's said that women sometimes outfish men, particularly when fly fishing for salmon. They say it could be because women are secreting, just from their skin, some kind of hormone that is attractive to the fish. My personal theory is that they are probably fishing better than the men, and the men have to make up some kind of excuse to justify their lack of results.

FISH ON!!!

Where has been your favorite place to fish?

Yeah, well, sort of a bit like the last question?

But one place I have liked a lot is Guyana - that's right on the northern edge of South America. It's quite a small country, but the fish populations are fairly healthy compared to the rest of South America. A lot of the Amazon, there's a lot of commercial fishing that goes on, so the numbers of fish are suffering, but in Guyana in the past few years, it's quite frightening how the fish population has declined in just a couple of years.

I love River Monsters! What is the scariest experience you've had while fishing?

I can't select one very easily. There was one scary experience this year - I wasn't actually fishing, I was going under-water, in Botswana, to look at Tiger Fish, and there are these big crocodiles under the water. Normally, if they're crocodiles in the water, you shouldn't be in there with them, but it is possible - if you know what you're doing, and the programme explains this - you can get very close to crocodiles in the water, and it won't end badly. And at one point, I was lifting up the tail of a crocodile under the water. So that was scary. But I was fairly confident that it would be okay. You'll find out how we did that in the programme.

What is your greatest fear when it comes to fishing these monsters? Which fish would you say frightens you the most?

My greatest fear is that in a few years, there won't be any left.

I won't find any.

The monsters themselves are pretty scary, but what is scary is a world where there aren't any.

They're already MUCH harder to find than they were even 50 years ago. And the reason I say that is because these local monsters - they are mostly apex predators.

They are the creatures at the pinnacle of the food pyramid. And if you catch a BIG predatory fish from a river or a lake, it's a really good indicator that that whole ecosystem is healthy.

If you don't find any big predators - it might because they've all been fished out, but it might be a symptom of something else. It might be that the water is polluted, or it doesn't support life, it could be the whole cycle of water level is out of whack... the reason this is important is because water is very important to human beings. We depend on clean water to survive. And not having enough water, or polluted water, is bad news for us. I mean, look at California at the moment - where's the water gone?

And I'd say the electric eel is pretty scary.

It doesn't have big teeth, but it has this invisible power. It can zap you with 500 volts in the water, which can be fatal in certain circumstances.

Hi Jeremy,

What's the biggest fish you've ever caught? And where'd you catch it?

Thanks in advance!

That was a 500 pound male bullshark. And I caught that in a river in South Africa. It was a very big male bull shark, up a river. And even though I know bull sharks can swim upriver, when you see one that big coming out of a river, it can give you quite a shock.

It was just under 10 foot long, total length.

Big fan, Jeremy! When you're not out fishing for river monsters, do you get much time to fish recreationally? What's your favorite fish to fish for?

The answer is no.

I think I managed one day, last year. And that was in England, where I live, and I was catching - what was I catching? Just very small, I think, Crucian Carp.

And they were literally a few inches long. There's also a place I want to fish near where I live, where they've got brown trout there - they're not very big, but it's a very overgrown river, and you have to crawl through the bushes to get to the river, and you catch these fish right under your feet with very light gear. I haven't managed to do that yet. That's what I want to do, if I have time this year.

It's an antidote to what I do. I'm usually using very heavy, durable gear. And this is an antidote to that.

But no. Just once last year I managed to fish for fun.

Hi Jeremy,

What is your overall favorite type of fishing? Noodling, fly, top water, etc.

Ooooh.

Noodling is an interesting mention there.

This is what they do in Oklahoma, using their hands to catch catfish. And I'm very pleased that I did that once, but it was - at the time, I wasn't particularly happy about it. I had somebody hold my ankles, and then push me in a dark hole, where I couldn't see anything and there was something in there, the size of a dog, that was going to bite my hand. So I was glad when that was over.

Top water, actually. Fishing an artificial lure on the surface. It seems to make fish respond very aggressively, and there's something very exciting - to see a fish appear from nowhere and attack a piece of wood that you're pulling across the surface.

Are you phoning from a secret location, deep in the jungle as you pursue your quarry?

I am deep in the concrete jungle of New York. Actually was fishing day before yesterday, in Jamaica Bay. The fishing is not very good there at the moment, it's a bit cold, but I'm told it gets good in a month or so.

Jeremy, I'm a big fan!

What's your favorite food?

Oooh! I like avocados.

Hahaha. I have fairly simple tastes, let me see... I like muesli and rice milk. I like fairly hippy foods. I'm into healthy eating at the moment, when it's possible.

Sometimes, if i'm in the middle of a jungle somewhere, drinking muddy water and eating boiled fish, the absolute best thing someone could give you would be a glass of cold water.

Sometimes - the VERY BEST THING - you don't want a gin and tonic, or a beer, or a donut - you want a glass of very cold water.

It's the best thing when you can't get it.

Hi Jeremy Where would you say was the best place you've ever fished? Thanks in advance

Oh! SO hard to answer.

Ehm - prettiest scenery by far, Mongolia.

Just at the time of year I was there. Any other time of year, and it's under a layer of ice, but it was very pretty when I was there. They have a very short spring, I can't remember what month that is, but you suddenly just have amazing expanses of greenery. It looks too pretty for a RIVER MONSTERS Program. You expect Julie Andrews to appear over the top of a mountain, singing at any moment.

Have you caught any large snapping turtles (alligator or common) in North America? How do they rank to other monster turtles of the world?

Ehm - I've not caught a snapping turtle. I've handled a big one, which was in captivity. And yeah, they are very impressive beasts.

When I put it down, it started walking away, and the guy who was looking after it told me to just put one foot on it to stop it moving. And the turtle still carried on moving, so I stood on top of this turtle, and it managed to walk several paces with me on its back.

This turtle weighed 105 pounds.

I caught a very big turtle in India, a soft-shelled turtle, which was probably about 200 pounds.

Yeah, you've got to be very careful handling those. They have very - it's almost like a parrot's beak? But much bigger. They have a very serious mouth on them.

So I think maybe the Indian soft-shelled turtle - you've got to be a bit more careful of that even than a snapping turtle.

Are you legitimately underwater right now? If no, is that better imagery than where you actually are?

I'm not underwater at the moment, no. I'm just mentally underwater. I spend a lot of time imagining I'm a fish. But I'm physically several floors above the ground.

Hey Jeremy! How will this season of River Monsters be different and/or more exciting than what you've done in the past?

Also, Do you recall what the first "big" fish you caught was? I'm a huge fan so thanks for coming back for another AMA!

Right!

There's a couple of things. One is I dip my toe a little bit further into saltwater. In the "Alaska" episode, and the "Fiji" episode, I'm going not very far, but off the shore - I follow the river down into the sea, and go a little bit further rout.

I also go more under the water. Normally, there's no point in freshwater because you won't see anything. But sometimes - sometimes you CAN see under the water, in rivers, so I go a little bit underwater. And in one of the episodes, we travel back in time, we bring some prehistoric River Monsters to life!

What type of fish is the best?

The best?

I quite like ugly fish. A lot of people like pretty fish, but I think ugly fish are more interesting.

And a very good candidate, actually, the very first episode we filmed - the Goonch Catfish, in India, it's got tentacles on its mouth, but also its fins, its dorsal fin on its back, it's got tentacles everywhere, for feeling its way around in the muddy water.

Hi Jeremy, How did you feel being in the water with all those Lamprays? I remember them in the River Elwy North Wales, when I was a child. They still make me shiver errrr. I love the way you deliver River Monster, always sharing your knowledge. ~Thank You & Crew ~

Yeah, I think of all the fish that we have featured, the lampreys - they are the ones that make people squirm the most.

And I did have this - sort of shiver running through me quite a lot.

They're slimey. And one thing that's quite creepy about them is that they have quite cute little eyes, and they're looking at you.

Yeah.

They're almost like little human eyes, if I remember rightly.

They're quite creepy, the eyes.

The eyes suggest much greater intelligence than what's actually there. Their brain is almost non-existent. But they have these intelligent-looking, quite cute little eyes.

Long time fan here, what would you say is the "holy grail" of catches? Also, what's the one tip you would give to any beginner fisherman if you could?

Oh! Ehm... well, until last year, I really wanted to catch a big Piraiba Catfish from South America.

And I think in some ways this is possibly the ultimate River Monster.

It grows very big, and they just are very elusive. And they're hard to get in, as well. They're very strong fish. But for a long time - I caught quite a few of them, but nothing particularly big, nothing over 100 pounds, which is - by normal standards that's a big fish, but as far as THEY go, not very big. But then for season 6, I caught one that was 251 pounds.

They probably grow bigger than that, but I don't know when I'll get the opportunity to try again.

Hi Jeremy, is there any giant river monster you haven't caught yet that you really want too?

Ehmmmmm - if there is, it would be a trade secret, and we will keep that for a future episode!

But some of the fish that I've already caught for the programme, I want to go back and catch a bigger one, there are some bigger one. But if I'm with the crew, and I catch a big fish, they won't let me stay and catch a bigger one. We have a fight sometimes, where the director has to pull me away from the water, because I want to catch another fish, and they want me to do all the other things which made the programme interesting and fun to watch!

Do you enjoy fishing for fish that aren't monsters? Like trout, bass, walleye etc?

Yes I do.

Every RIVER MONSTERS episode, it has to be a fish that somehow is dangerous to people - so they bite them, they pull people under, whatever. There are some fish that we haven't made programs about because they don't bite people.

Like trout.

But if somebody told us a story about a trout biting somebody, or decapitating somebody, then we could make a program about trout.

In one episode of river monsters you described a giant snake that scarred villagers, and tracked it to a hole... How much of that was just trumping up local legend for the show? Do you think it really exists?

Oooh. Yes. You know, there is definitely a case that - real animals do tend to shade into myth.

The question for us is: at what point do they become mythological?

Those stories in the Amazon were about - extremely large snakes. Ridiculously large snakes. To date, there is no evidence of anything the kind of size they were talking about. BUT real snakes grow very big. Anacondas grow well over 20 foot. And that's big enough for me. I've been very close to a big Anaconda on the water.

It's very easy to dismiss a lot of mythology. And I think sometimes people know it's mythology, but it's just - you know, something to make life a little bit more colourful.

Have any of the fish that you have encountered been rare or new species?

I caught a species of... Arapaima, in Guyana, which was a new species.

I believe not many of those have been studied by scientists.

The Sawfish in Australia, those are very rare. The Glyphis Shark I caught in Australia - I believe only about 20 of those have been caught on a line? So sometimes we do catch some fairly rare stuff.

We also work with scientists, sometimes, because scientists want to study rare species but sometimes their expertise isn't really being able to catch the fish. So that's where I come in. I will catch the fish, and maybe they will fit a tag on a fish, or clip a fin for DNA analysis, that kind of thing.

Jeremy, Have you heard about the Musky skull found on the red cedar river, in Wisconsin? Estimates put the fishes total length at over 6 ft.

Right. Because I did have a look at a Muskie scull or the lower jaw of one which could've been close to that.

Muskie are very interesting because I've spoken to people who have seen - and maybe this happens just ONCE in their lifetime - people who have fished a lot for Muskie - and they see something surface alongside the boat, bigger than anything they've ever seen.

Muskies are really mysterious fish. I would love to know what is the biggest Muskie down there. But that is one of those fishing mysteries that will never be solves.

Mr. Wade, what was it that got you into fishing?

My parents gave me a fishing rod when I was a small boy. Nobody in my family fished. But I think they thought it was just a way of giving me something to do, where I wouldn't get into trouble. And that didn't work, because it got me in a lot of trouble over the years.

And I lived in a village in England near the river. I could go on-foot and spend all day, away from home, not seeing anybody, and later on, I would go on a bicycle, go a bit further away... and once I started catching fish, which took a little while, then that was all I wanted to do, really.

Love the show Jeremy. What do you think is the most important scientific or conservationist thing people should take away from your show?

Ah!

Just about every programme, at the end of the programme, I put the fish back in the water.

A few people have asked me why do you do that? why do you put dangerous fish back in the water?

And the message that the programme gives, although we don't spell it out, is: If somebody has been injured by a fish, it is not the fish's fault. It's the person's fault for being in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

So the way that we should deal with scary animals, of any type, is not to kill them.

But to understand their behavior, and that way, we can co-exist with them. Safely.

Hi Jeremy, in your opinion what is truly the deadliest fish of the freshwater? Would it be the wolf fish? Northern Pike? Something else?

Something else.

MAYBE Goliath Tigerfish in the Congo.

They certainly look the scariest.

What's the best way to cook fresh caught salmon?

I think the thing with fish is to, you know, don't put too much with it. I think a lot of restaurants feel obliged to cover fish with raisins and cheese and goodness-knows-what.

Fish is very subtle.

Mind you, I think salmon is something that... I think smoking salmon is really good. I think in Alaska they smoke it and put honey on it? And I think if you've grown up with it, that's fine, but it seems so weird to me, to have that sweet taste. I think subtle smoking, and a tiny bit of salt MAYBE.

Keep it simple.

Greetings from Sacramento, CA, Jeremy! Any chance we can lure you away for some big mama Sturgeon or Sharks in the Delta?

Well, this is not part of the world I am familiar with. The world is too big and life is too short. But this sounds interesting.

Hello Jeremy, What's the strangest fish that you've caught and where was it?

Ohhhhh.

I still think the electric eel is quite amazing? And what I don't understand - why the electric eel doesn't shock itself. But the reason I don't understand is I'm a biologist, not an electrician.

I am an avid fisherman as well. Me and my father have always wanted to take a trip to South America to fish for peacock bass, do you have any recommendations on a great place to go?

Oooh. Ehm - let me see - I've fished a river called Teles Pires, but I think they're building a dam there, so that's going to spoil the fishing. They weren't the biggest peacock bass - they were about up to 10 pounds - but the thing with peacock bass is you try to catch them on surface lures. It's so dramatic seeing those fish come up and hit something on the surface.

Hi Jeremy, hope you're well.

I came to one of your live shows in Manchester last year and really enjoyed it, I was wondering if you had plans to do anything similar again, perhaps in more of a Q&A format? It's great hearing more of your stories!

Ehm - well, thank you for coming on!

And I enjoyed doing that, but it was a lot of work. And the problem is my filming schedule doesn't really - there's not really any time, between everything else, to fit that in again, unfortunately.

So for the time being - certainly this year, I won't be doing anything more like that.

How much do you generally know about the beasties you're looking for before you get to the location?

Ehm - we actually do quite a bit of research.

The thing is - if we don't catch a fish, we don't have a programme. So there's a lot of pressure to get a result. But often, during the course of filming, we find out a lot more because we talk to more people. And I genuinely learn more when I'm there filming. And a lot of these fish - if you go online, and you try and find information, there's often not very good reliable information, say, on the internet. You have to get it from the riverbank, from the people who know the creatures.

Particularly the size of fish. The maximum size of fish. Particularly river fish. Is something that you'll find numbers in encyclopedias, and on the internet, but the information is normally quite unreliable.

Hi Jeremy,

Are you ever worried that something will go up your private part or that you will cat a skin eating bacteria?

Thanks!

Hahaha! I have caught lots of exotic tropical diseases. The last time I went for a check-up, I had nothing at all. Which was surprising, because... one of the directors that I worked with, and one of the cameramen, had caught some quite nasty diseases. Though - touching wood here - my resistance seems to be quite good for that kind of stuff. And I make sure I wear very tight underpants.

Hi Jeremy, I live on the North Carolina coast and am an avid duck hunter. The waters we hunt here are the Currituck Sound and are brackish. When fishing we often catch rays, speckled trout, red drum, flounder, and have even had a pod of dolphins sneak in. My question is do you think there's a danger from Bull Sharks here? We break every rule in the book in reference to preventing shark attacks during hunting season... entering the water at dawn, leaving blood on the water when we harvest ducks... is this an accident waiting to happen?

I don't know the geography there very well. I would imagine the likelihood of bull sharks is very low. Somewhere like Florida, there are lots of bull sharks. But as soon as you get up into cooler, coastal water, the likelihood really falls off. What I would do in that situation, I would research and see if anybody had caught or seen any bull sharks in recent years. If they have, be more careful. I would't like to comment more details without having seen the place.

You should do a raffle/give-away where every season, one fan wins a trip with you on a fishing expedition and you take them with on a trip! Would you support this?

I wouldn't have time to do that, unfortunately! My time is completely full doing the programmes. It is a nice idea.

Maybe we do that, and we wait until I retire, and I can take somebody along!

But when I retire, it'll probably be someplace like a golf club, and very boring.

Hey Jeremy, my Dad and I are big fans of the show. We both think you're damn crazy for doing what you do, but please keep doing it - it's highly entertaining.

I just wanted to ask, if you could fish anywhere in the world that you already haven't, where would it be and why?

Oooh! Ehm... there is an island near Papua New Guinea, called "New Britain." And there's a fish there, called the New Guinea Black Bass. And people tell me that this fish is just ridiculous. It will smash - it's hard to believe what people tell me- these are people who I believe, people who are reliable. They're just incredibly strong fish. We haven't made a programme about that because these fish don't bite people, and nobody's been injured by them, but it does sound like an incredible fish to go fish for. I think they're about 40 pounds, for a very good one. So a decent size. But not as monstrous as some of the other stuff I get.

Jeremy,

Huge fan both my daughter and myself love your show. My question is what do you to take care of your gear when traveling and what do you to make sure that everything is top notch for your next catch??

Yes, it's very important to look after your gear. To make sure that your line is in good condition, that's one thing. Hooks are sharp. Yes, so for me, that is... it's preparing your gear, that's very important. You don't want anything to fail. Sometimes I might just have ONE opportunity when we're on a film trip, and I don't want that fish to escape. And so it's absolutely about attention to detail.

Jeremy! Huge fan, love the show.

What is the best dish you've had while visiting different countries?

Well, normally the food is quite basic. Fried locusts are quite interesting, in the Congo? Very nutritious. Quite tasty.

Insects, I think, are the food of the future. Quite seriously.

Hi Jeremy, thanks for doing this again.

Do you have any advice for someone who would like to do what you do? Maybe not on TV though.

Well, in my case, I really struggled. I spent about twenty years traveling. Spending maybe 3 months every year. Doing it on a very low budget. And I was trying to earn money from writing at the time, not very successfully, so I had to get other odd jobs to pay the bills. So it's not something I would really recommend, unless you're really devoted. I'm very lucky I landed this TV job. If I hadn't been so lucky, I still would be traveling on my own, maybe a few times a year, just selling an article to a magazine, which doesn't bring a lot to live on, really. I think it's great to - the thing is, I found what I needed was time. And it's very hard to find the time, it's very hard to take 2-3 months to go somewhere, and if you want to do that regularly, it's impossible to be employed somewhere. So if you really want to do it, good luck - but it's really been a struggle.

Hi, fan and fellow angler from central Canada.

I love how you have gone across the world and experienced many different cultures and fishing techniques. Have you ever tried ice fishing before though? It's a pretty common activity here and very enjoyable and there are occasionally some monsters to be found under the ice.

No, I haven't tried that!

Yes, it's something a lot of people have talked to me about. I would be interested in doing that some time. When I was young, I caught fish in England when there was ice on the water. But it's not the same thing, of cutting a hole in the ice the way you do in Canada.

Hi Jeremy,

First off, you're my hero. Second, I have question pertaining to leaders:

Have you ever tried incorporating spinner blades into the leaders you've used while targeting certain species of catfish? I fish for flathead catfish exclusively, and I'm curious if the vibrations from the spinning blade could be beneficial with respect to attracting active fish. Do you think this could be an effective technique?

That sounds very interesting. And what I like about this question is - I think when you fish, trying something different, something new, sometimes is very important.

I'm very keen on experimentation. Even if you try something, and it doesn't work, you still learn something.

And so it is the fisherman who will try something different who will be the most successful, and in fact, some of the techniques - there's a technique that they use in Europe, for catching carp, it's called "The Hair Rig," the hook isn't even inside the bait. It's really successful, but the people who invented that - it's one of those things that in theory, shouldn't really work, but actually works really well.

So fishing really does, sort of foster inventiveness. Don't be afraid to try something different, even if it seems a bit crazy, since it could be quite successful.

Is there a personal story of 'the one that got away' that you can share with us?

Yes... it's very painful, telling these stories, but the first episode that we filmed, the Goonch Catfish in India, a couple of years before that, I hooked a very big Goonch Catfish but cut my line on a rock.

And I recon that fish was significantly bigger than the one I caught in the programme - and that one was six foot long, 160 pounds. The one that I lost was actually in STILL water, and it was stronger, so I think it could've been - 300, 350 pounds. I don't know.

When we made the RIVER MONSTERS program, when we went underwater with cameras to see if we could see any fish, and the camera guy came up and he said "I saw one down there the size of a horse" - that could be the one I lost. But the memory stays with you forever.

What is the strangest thing you have ever caught that was not a fish?

That was NOT a fish?

I've caught some quite big trees.

I'm not the kind of person who claims world records. But I could probably claim the world-record tree. I caught a very big tree in the Congo, which I got into the boat. I caught some quite big trees in the Amazon, and I caught quite a big tree in the "Cambodia" episode we have coming up - but the trees are normally not getting away, because I use very strong gear!

I get the tree up to the surface!

Hi Jeremy, firstly just love your shows....never miss them and so excited for the next one!!! OK this may be a weird one BUT as you travel so much - you obviously have to pack light most of the time - what is the one thing you would never be without in your luggage - no matter where you went? Thanks so much Janey <3

A pair of scissors. Very important.