Return of the River Monsters

From the ‘ball-cutter’ to the ‘silent assassin’ – British explorer, author and adventure fisherman Jeremy Wade is back with another exceptional series of River Monsters and a book to match…

Put simply, Jeremy Wade does not make traditional fishing TV shows. Not for him the balmy waters of a bonefish-filled Caribbean flat, the gentle twinkling of a trout stream or the comfort of a guide’s boat off the Florida Keys. This is a man who has dedicated much of his life to the pursuit of some of the world’s most fearsome underwater inhabitants in some of its most inhospitable regions.

It’s a journey that has put his life in danger one more than one occasion, but has brought him face to face with species that most of us will almost certainly never encounter – indeed we might never have heard of some were it not for his pioneering work.

Just look at some of the stars in his latest series of River Monsters. First up he meets the pacu (above). Originally a native of South America, the pacu has existed for millions of years on a diet of nuts and fruit that fall into the river from overhanging branches. However, this particular strain of fish, transplanted to the waters of New Guinea, has developed a taste for human flesh (a certain delicate, pendulous area of ‘gentleman’s flesh’) and earned itself a grisly nickname along the way – the ‘ball-cutter’.

Elsewhere in the series, Jeremy travels to Argentina in search of a colossal freshwater stingray, thought to be responsible for the mysterious death of a young girl. Little does he know what’s in store when he finally hooks up to something…

After a 4-hour battle, he comes face to face with this 20-stone monster, measuring 53 inches in diameter.

And if that’s not weird enough for you, the series also features a fish that eats piranhas for breakfast, the show’s soundman getting struck by lightning in the remote jungle of Suriname, and an encounter with the friendly looking fella on the right, in the Fitzroy River, Australia.

For Jeremy, it’s precisely these sorts of adventures that get him fired up. “I’m a pretty experienced fisherman, but this series saw me stretched to my absolute limits,” he says. “Fighting for four hours with a giant, freshwater stingray before finally pulling it ashore was one of the hardest physical challenges of my life. And if you asked me to name the world’s most dangerous fish, piranhas would be pretty high on the list – until now. The wolf fish literally has them for breakfast.”

So, if you’ve got the stomach for it, be sure to tune in and see Jeremy in action. Series 4 of River Monsters is currently in production, but UK users can catch Series 3 on ITV1 at 7.30pm every Tuesday until 14 February 2012. The series will also be screened on Discovery UK later in the year.

>> The other thing we advise you to do is pick up a copy of Jeremy’s book, River Monsters. As you would expect from a man who has dedicated his life to an international pursuit of monster fish, Mr Wade is a fascinating character with some incredible tales to tell.

Frequently, books that accompany TV series are little more than companion cash-in pieces with little substance. This is anything but – filled with colourful characters and even more colourful anecdotes, it gives a great insight into the world of an enigmatic character and true fishing pioneer, dipping beneath the surface to explain why he does what he does. It might just be the best fishing book we’ve read since Thomas McGuane’s Longest Silence. Take our advice and just buy it – no doubt Amazon can help you with that.