The First Episode of Addictive Fishing

Early Addictive Fishing Photos and Logo

It's been 22 years since the first Addictive Fishing shoot in the Florida Keys. After it was all said and done, I knew we were on to something big. It all started in 1999, when Captain Blair Wiggins and his family walked into my television production studio in Safety Harbor, Florida. He traveled all the way across the state to ask me if I would produce his new fishing show. To be honest, I hadn't watched Saturday morning fishing shows since I was in high school. That weekend, I watched Mark Sosin, Bill Dance, Hank Parker, and Jimmy Houston's fishing shows. I couldn't believe my eyes. These fishing shows hadn't changed since I was in high school. They were the same boring, bubba on boat fishing talk shows. Mark Sosin was my favorite back in high school. I called Blair immediately and said we're going to shoot a new kind of fishing show. I told him to schedule the first shoot. I hired a local camera guy, George Schaafsma, from Melbourne, Florida and Blair booked the Key West fishing guides for our first two episodes.

Addictive Fishing's First Website

In the wintertime in Florida, our best bet was to head south to the Florida Keys. It was Blair, me, Cameraman George Schaafsma, and Troy "Fishboy" Nash was our camera boat driver. Up first was a charter guide named Capt Scott Kolpin. He was a Muskie fisherman from up North. He had relocated to the Keys and was confident that we could put Blair on big barracuda on the flats. Our first real television shoot was on, and I had no idea what to expect. 

We were going fishing for barracuda on the flats with tube jigs. I had never seen a tube jig before in my life. It was a piece of pink surgical tubing with wire and treble hooks. I didn't think any fish would eat it, but I couldn't wait to see what fish was going to bite this homegrown rig. Blair, Scott and Cameraman George set out in Blair's Hewes Redfisher flats boat, and Fishboy and me were behind them in Scott's Action Craft. We headed out to the flats. Scott was on the poling platform. Blair was on the bow of the boat, and Cameraman George was at the console ready to capture all the action. For the next 4 hours, Scott would call out the fish to Blair. Blair would cast the tube jig right in front of the fish, reel the lure as fast as he could, and the cudas would attack it. It was incredible action. I brought my new underwater housing in hopes of getting our first underwater footage. Cameraman George had to get in the water with these toothy critters, but he managed to get some good shots without getting bitten. Our first shoot was a exciting first day of fishing. I couldn't wait to see the footage. 

The highlight of this episode was a monster barracuda followed the lure up to the boat, breached the surface of the water on hookset and proceeded to peel off line at a blistering rate. One of the most epic barracuda runs I've ever seen and it happened right in front of the cameraman. I knew this was going to be a fun episode, and I knew that Addictive Fishing was going to be a huge success. This episode originally aired on April 7, 2000 to 10 million Florida households on the Sunshine Network. Watch "Big Bad Barracudas" - the very first episode of Addictive Fishing with Capt Blair Wiggins below:

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