Kudos for the kids episode!

[Valleye]

Just wanted to say that the kids episode was very informative for the kids and very entertaining. The childrens mother needs a shave!!!

Its great to know that you took time to make an episode devoted to the future anglers of America.

[LarryLaBallister]

I agree.
If you notice, this is the only "How to" espisode ever featured on HFBF - and more importantly, that it is aimed at youngsters. It's no accident. Kids are most likely the demographic that needs to learn the "how-to's" of angling.
I know the hosts of most "How to" fishing shows would have us believe differently, but the fact is, most adult anglers are far more savvy than many of these "fishing personalities" are willing to admit.
Listen to one of these "How to" hosts and you'll see what I mean. They'll quite often say condescending things like "You know, MOST people do not understand blah, blah, blah..."
I don't know why they think they are experts on "MOST people", but they are wrong or lying. Most anglers are quite good at catching fish. The concepts of "Fishing Pressure", "Catch and Release" and "Selective Harvest" are all proof of that. The basic concept of knowing a fish and it's environment in order to catch them is common knowledge and all that is needed for most anglers to be successful. Everything else...is incidental.
But then, if these hosts did admit that, they'd have no show to air which is why they continue year after year to produce yet another "Bass fishing on Lake Okie Mokie with a white spinnerbait" show. The same old "How to" with a little wrinkle added is all they have...

That's why Dahlberg's show is different and why so many of us like it. He takes us all over the world for bizarre species and places the focus on the species of fish foremost. The location and it's culture are important too, but the specifics - how he catches the fish - are only incidental. He is inventive with his methods and adapts to every situation only as much as necessary to catch the creature at hand.
Compare that with the "How to" shows that either bore us to death with the same old techniques and the same old 2 pound Bass, or to the pendantic "How to" shows that beat us over the head with endless, unneccessary (and usually egotistically driven) details.

Simply put, "The HUNT for BIG FISH" respects it's viewers.

So now you can see why, when Larry chose to do a "How to" show, he chose children - our future anglers as the targeted audience.
I think he did a great job. Although science does play a role in his delivery of information, it is from a "naturalistic observation" perspective and not cold regurgated scientific jargon from a textbook.
In seeing the creatures in our natural world that way, we become more of a part of it, and in a much purer form.
L

[dahlberg]

Hi all,
Glad you enjoyed it! I ran it as sort of a test to see if the approach would "fly". If I continue to get good feed back I hope to do a few more in the future.
Thanks for posting!
best,
L