SFBC TV Series

Producer's Production Notes

British Columbia, Canada on the edge of the Pacific, with its snow-capped mountains, rugged beauty and area large enough to fit Washington, Oregon and California into its borders is truly one of the last places on earth that still has wild steelhead, salmon and trout in its seemingly endless rivers and lakes. It has twenty six different micro-climates that provide filming landscapes from West coast rain forests, to sun-drenched desert. I'm very lucky to say this Canadian province has been my top pick as a television producer's fishing Utopia for the last fifteen seasons.

I have some great long term sponsors of the TV series that believe in the big fish product education we produce and that any show where large numbers of big steelhead, salmon or trout being caught in six hours must be teaching something useful. It is because of them, that I can continue to teach leading-edge strategies and techniques to catch salmon, steelhead and trout. This season provided many more memories and big fish battles on camera, from an epic fish battle with a 36lb chrome bright tyee on the fly in Tofino, to jet boating glacial-fed rivers near Terrace on the tributaries of the Nass and Skeena rivers. My yearly trip to the Queen Charlottes from Prince Rupert (in a float plane this time), provided an opportunity to see all the hundreds of tiny islands scattered out into the Pacific Ocean. The trip this year was en route to a shoot on Vancouver Island and we navigated through some of the most unbelievable scenery I have ever seen when taking BC Ferries Inside Passage route from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy. I believe that this trip is well worth the admission and I would highly recommend it if you ever get the chance to take it.

Our filming for the upcoming season is underway with some big changes such as Honda Marine being back on board after six years of us working with Mercury engines. Honda Marine was with the series when we first started airing on CBC Vancouver right before Hockey Night in Canada in 1996. We are also introducing new cutting-edge line technologies of Berkley including Trilene Big Game, Trilene XL as well as the Fireline and Spiderwire braid technologies. Over the next few years I will be continuing to try to raise the bar with shows that take steelhead, salmon and trout excitement and education to new levels. I am always continuing to research new episode content, new techniques and locations that I think you will enjoy for this upcoming season. You will see the new production changes with more helicopters, wild river drifts and more jet boat trips up stunning BC waterways for steelhead, salmon and trout. New product research and information from cutting edge fly patterns and fly lines for steelhead, salmon and trout to the new line technologies are truly changing the way we fish.

In our upcoming production years you can expect to see more of biologist and stillwater expert Brian Chan on the road with me to provide the most up-to-date BC stillwater education and locations each season to make sure you are in the right spot. I will be spending a lot of my fishing time over the next few seasons producing programs that involve chasing the big steelhead of West Central BC, Terrace to the Alaska border. I will also be involved with the new www.sportfishingbc.com website providing up to date network information, crew and big fish pix and my production notes each year. You can now also see some of the shows that are 'in production' right now before they go to air on television, and a contest for a day of fishing with me in Terrace thanks to Hawk Air.

Our new shows always go to air by September each year on our key broadcast networks Sportsnet Pacific, Sunday @ 7:30 am PST and 10:30 am EST (covering BC on cable to 3 million homes and available to 8.3 million viewers on digital cable and satellite dish networks to Canada channel 419), The Chek TV Network, Sundays at 1:30pm PST and 4:30pm EST (Covering 3 million homes in Vancouver/Lower mainland on cable and available to 8.3 million homes on satellite dish networks in Canada) Wild TV Fishing and Hunting Network, 3 airings per week (a 1.99 per month digital network with the best in fishing and hunting shows channel 456) and our new BC network CBC CFTK North starting in September 2011 (reaching all of BC north on cable and also on the same above dish networks Bell and Shaw satellite dish networks to Canada channel 324). We are very excited to be adding FOX Sports Northwest USA, which-starting September 2011-will be available to Canada as well as over 20 million USA viewers on cable and dish satellite systems.

I would personally like to thank The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, our national program sponsors and viewers like you that make this show possible to promote fishing and tourism in the province of BC, Canada. Over the next few years it is my hope to continue to share the joy of angling with more educational sport fishing programs about beautiful British Columbia that you can use on your next fishing adventure.

Mark Pendlington/
Producer/Host

SPORTFISHING BC Television Series 17th season