Discovery Channel will air a new reality-based show tonight that focuses on catching massive Atlantic Bluefin tuna in the North Atlantic: Catching Monsters. Discovery was kind enough to let us screen the premiere episode ahead of broadcast tonight, and we’d like to offer a few thoughts on the show.

First, as one might expect, it’s pretty much impossible to watch Catching Monsters without seeing it in the shadow of National Geographic’s hit show Wicked Tuna. In many ways, the structures of the two shows are similar, as we watch several different captains and crews hunt for big tuna with rod and reel. But unlike Wicked Tuna, Catching Monsters follows anglers north of the Wicked Tuna Massachusetts region and the Catching Monsters tuna are remarkably bigger, bringing an over-the-top excitement to the show.  In this capacity, Catching Monsters is like the WT show on steroids.  And this fact alone makes watching Catching Monsters worth every minute.

In episode one, we watch crews take three monster tuna that just miss the 1,000-pound mark.  This is awesome fishing action. And the production value of the fishing imagery is beautiful.

From the strictly angling perspective, though, the relative amount of actual fishing footage within the hour-long show is disappointing. The show’s primary focus is the human interest story of getting to know the captains and crews and witnessing their struggles to earn top dollar for their catches.  But, don’t hear this as a negative. The characters featured on Catching Monsters are interesting people—all professional lobstermen who are permitted limited opportunity to catch giant Bluefin tuna once a year during the highly-regulated season. Each angler has the opportunity to take one fish per season, so the hope for the big payoff drives the show’s plot.

Fortunately, Catching Monsters’ producers have emphasized the importance of Atlantic Tuna conservation efforts and address why these anglers are hook-and-line fishermen and why the tuna population requires strict management.

Catching Monsters emphasizes the need for each angler to score big with his one fish in order to make a living. The show also repeatedly reminds us of the potential big score a big fish can garner, but does so in the shadow of the reality that fluctuating markets, poor negotiating, and plain old bad luck makes hitting that jackpot nearly impossible.

We get hints of the global power of the Japanese market in determining tuna prices, but more important, we see the culmination of hours of struggle at the moment of market. The disappointments as much the successes drive the show’s energy. The lost fish and the disappointing payoffs at market are a more realistic and cathartic antagonist than appear in many similar shows. The cast of the show (that’s a fishing pun, by the way) keeps the viewer interested. These are guys who you end up wishing success, but share their defeats, as well.

While the show is certainly worth watching, it does have a few flaws that affect how we watch Catching Monsters.  The show relies too much on repetition, both in terms of voice overs before and out of commercials, as well as repeated images. Similarly, the show relies on a good deal of stock footage cut into the footage of the crews fishing. For those with an eye to filmic consistency as well as fishing consistency, the stock footage isn’t always cohesive with the footage specifically shot for the show. But, that may be a picky criticism as both the show’s original content and the stock footage are worth watching.

So, we’re glad to see Catching Monsters debut on Discovery, and we’ll certainly add it to our list of reality-based fishing shows worth watching.

CATCHING MONSTERS premiers Friday, June 5, at 10 PM ET/PT on the Discovery Channel.

Here’s a preview from the show:

FISH ON!

 

Bluefin Tuna, Catching Monsters, Discovery Channel, fish, Fishing

By Sid

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