Tucked away on the west side of the small town of Broad Channel in the middle of Jamiaca Bay is a narrow, dead end, street that goes by the name of West 12th Road. Those of us who live there know that the nice part about living in a small town is that when you are not quite sure what is going on, someone else always does!
[Peter J. Mahon West 12th Road, Broad Channel]
The “River Monsters” host just has to smile and shake his head. Cause he’s hearing a roar that’s so unlike the ones he’s heard while angling for exotic, man-killing fish in jungles across the globe.
“Now there’s something that’s certainly unique,” says Jeremy Wade, tightly gripping a fishing rod. A massive jet airliner screams slowly over us on a final approach to JFK airport. Water spouts erupt as the jet wash whips across the water’s surface.
Wade, a craggy-faced Englishman, with shock-white hair and glacial blue eyes, is what’s called an extreme angler. He’s fought hundreds of the world’s most feared fish.
On Thailand’s Mekong River, he hooked a 700-pound freshwater stingray. In Africa’s Rift Valley, he took on the dreaded Nile perch. And in India he tackled that massive goonch.
These are just a handful of the scaly terrors Wade has brought to the surface on his Animal Planet show, “River Monsters.” The program kicks off its seventh season on April 5 at 9 p.m..
Jeremy Wade of “River Monsters” fishes Jamaica Bay, looking for some early stripers.
Filmed in some of the world’s most remote and picturesque locals, “River Monsters” is gorgeous to look at. “We try and make each episode as if it’s a film,” Wade says. He travels with a five-man crew.
Today in New York City, though, Wade pitches lures under a trestle as the A train rumbles overhead. And he hooks... nothing.
“He’s got one of the most honest fishing shows around,” insists Capt. Bryan Goulart of Brooklyn’s Point to Point Charters. We drift, lines in the water, just a few hundred feet off runway 4R, and we’re hunting for striped bass.
“You see him struggling. You see him striking out,” Goulart says. “It makes the catch so much more rewarding at the end.”
Today in New York City, though, Wade pitches lures under a trestle as the A train rumbles overhead. And he hooks... nothing.
Wade agrees. “Fishing is not always about catching,” he says.
Just weeks from now Jamaica Bay will be teeming with schools of stripers, but right now it’s still early. Too early. And at 38 degrees, the water of Jamaica Bay is far too cold for much life to be visiting yet.
Still, we had set out to catch a fish that is usually as abundant in these waters as pigeons in Central Park. For us, though, it’s as elusive and rare as Congo’s Goliath tigerfish.
“I spent about five years chasing that one,” Wade remembers.
Don Kaplan (left) of the NY Daily News went fishing with “River Monsters” star Jeremy Wade right next JFK Airport.
Later, Wade stands at the edge of the dock as Chet (he doesn’t give his last name), a long-bearded worker at Gateway Marina in Brooklyn, slams on the brakes of his banged-up golf cart. He’s startled to see the famous extreme angler.
“You look a lot like that shark guy!” Chet says, complete with a heavy Brooklyn accent. “No, I mean that ‘River Monsters’ guy. Anyone ever tell you that? I was just watching that show last night.”
JULIA XANTHOS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
JULIA XANTHOS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
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