(WASHINGTON, D.C. - OCTOBER 9, 2009) Lurking in the murky depths of our oceans, rivers and lakes are some of the most mind-boggling and gargantuan fish in the world. This fall, the National Geographic Channel (NGC)'s popular Hooked series returns with an awe-inspiring look at some of the biggest catches and the unusual methods anglers use to reel them in. We'll journey across the globe to see the most intriguing and sometimes terrifying encounters in megafishing, and the groundbreaking research being done to protect these monsters of the deep.
From the peculiar creature that looks like a combination of a stingray, shark and chainsaw to the prehistoric river monster of North America that is dangerously close to extinction, each adrenaline-filled episode examines the environmental challenges these megafish face -- including climate change, pollution and overfishing. Some of these goliath fish have been around since the dinosaurs, now they face potential annihilation in our modern age. With each capture, conservationists and biologists are unraveling the web of mystery surrounding these elusive creatures and uncovering the keys to protecting their future.
Premiere episodes include:
HOOKED:
EXTREME
ANGLING
Sunday, October 18,
2009, at 9 PM ET/PT
Meet daring
anglers who use a variety of nontraditional
methods to hook the biggest, baddest sea
creatures. We'll travel to
Australia to see a marine biologist and his team
lasso an injured
-- and angry --
sand tiger shark with a 6-foot hook lodged in its
throat, and then perform on-the-spot emergency
surgery to save its life. Then,
we meet up with an expert angler in the Seychelles
who literally dives off a cliff into treacherous
rocky surf to catch a giant trevally, a fish that
can grow to bathtub proportions.
Next, we follow a daredevil California
fisherman in a face-to-face showdown with a
massive thresher shark ... from his
surfboard! And we watch a man
swim-wrestle a huge bass in the open water of the
Atlantic with nothing but some snorkel gear and
his trusty fishing pole.
HOOKED:
MONSTER FISH OF
AUSTRALIA
Monday, October 19,
2009, at 10 PM ET/PT
Join fish
biologist, conservationist and National Geographic
Explorer Dr. Zeb Hogan in his scientific quest to
preserve the world's biggest freshwater
fish. As part of his Megafishes
Project, Zeb heads to the Australian outback on an
expedition to find the elusive and highly
endangered sawfish, which appears to be a
combination of a shark, stingray and chainsaw that
can grow over 20 feet long.
Together with local scientists, Zeb embarks
on a dangerous journey 150 miles up the Fitzroy
River, encountering saltwater crocodiles, bull
sharks and giant stingrays along the way, as they
seek to tag, study and protect this
bizarre-looking predator that is nearly extinct in
the rest of the world.
BEST OF: MONSTER HAULS
Monday, October 26, 2009, at 10 PM ET/PT
Take a look at some of Hooked's most amazing catches and the unusual methods anglers use to wrangle record-breaking fish. We witness how two anglers on North America's Fraser River come face-to-face with a prehistoric goliath -- a white sturgeon over 11 feet long. In Panama, another fishing team battles a monster marlin over 1,200 pounds and hatches an impromptu, daring plan to tag and release it safely. Fighting a goliath grouper from a small boat, another angler's adrenaline is pumped to the max as he reels in the 7-foot-long, 500-pound beast. And finally, we witness a heart-pounding showdown when the ocean's speed demon alpha predator -- the mako shark -- charges the boat, and the hunter becomes the hunted!
HOOKED: MONSTER FISH OF AMERICA
Monday, November 2,
2009, at 10 PM ET/PT
Dr. Zeb
Hogan goes in search of North America's
prehistoric river monsters: the
white sturgeon. Many of the
fish Zeb encounters on his trip are not only
bigger than he is, but have lived the better part
of a century. To find them,
he'll travel to the Pacific Northwest and team up
with scientists, divers, fishermen and a Native
American tribe who are all trying to figure out
why the white sturgeon is disappearing and whether
dams may be putting these monster fish in danger.
Finally, Zeb hooks exactly what
he's been searching for -- a
250-pound, 8 1/2-foot sturgeon ... but he may be
in for the fish fight of his life.
-press release
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