Do you remember the Red Fisher Show?

[16 Footer]

I remember watching the Red Fisher show as a kid and think this was the first fishing show on TV in Canada. If I remember right it was a half hour show with video of Red fishing in an open boat then a shore lunch and then his show finished with a "lodge" chat. I dont think Red threw all of his catch back like they do in today's shows. Does anybody know what happened to Red?

[fishermccann]

At scuttlebutt lodge there was always a bottle between the two beds.

[bushart]

Welcome up to da lodge...and that aint milk we're drinkin in those glasses

[desship]

Bernard Herbert "Red" Fisher (18 February 1914 – 5 May 2006)[1] was an American sporting goods retailer, U.S. naval and United States Coast Guard officer, newspaper columnist, and poet. He later became a popular radio and television personality in Canada. He is not to be confused with Montreal Gazette sports columnist, Red Fisher.

 

Fisher was inducted into the U.S. based "Fishing Hall Of Fame" in 1948. When he moved to Canada, he launched a popular radio talk show program The Red Fisher Show in 1963, which moved to television in 1968. The TV version was set at fictitious "Scuttlebutt Lodge" and featured silent home movies of outdoors activities, often fishing, which involved high profile guests, mainly from the major league sports of the era. These included ice hockey stars Gordie Howe, Eddie Shack, and Johnny Bower, and baseball legends Ted Williams, Roger Maris and Ferguson Jenkins. The Red Fisher Show differed from other outdoor living shows of its time by promoting nature conservation, game preservation and the "catch and release" mentality. The series continued until 1989, making it among the longest-running on CTV.

 

At the same time, his weekly column, Outdoor Topics, was read in over 180 newspapers. In 1971, Fisher's first book of poems, Poems Of Our Great Outdoors, was published and distributed. Red would famously give each guest on his show a copy of these poems. Three volumes of Poems Of Our Great Outdoors were released, each one simply adding more poems to the previous collection. Red released a record on Saga Records also called Poems of Our Great Outdoors in which he read his poems to a symphonic background.

 

In 2000, Red Fisher released a collection of stories and anecdotes from his life called Tight Lines and Tall Tales. A portion of the profits were donated to outdoor conservation efforts.

 

Fisher died in Chatham, Ontario at the age of 92. Red fisher is credited for introducing the open-faced spinning reel to North America and, as a result, was inducted into the Fishing Hall of Fame

[DRIFTER_016]

He is the reason I fish and the reason I ended up guiding on Great Bear Lake and probably the reason I now live in the NWT. Never missed a show growing up.

Wish I could get all his shows on DVD.

He had great guests and went to some great places and told a great story.

[earl]

Getting up early saturday morning to watch Red Fisher was the best......always good for a laugh especially when he went Bone fishing, when he caught one he would look at his guest and tell them he has a Bone On..................his spirit will live forever

[Billy Bob]

I got a kick out of how after having a shore lunch he would hide behind some bushes and watch the gulls come in to clean up anything left out...

 

Red Fisher liked his oil.....on one of the last shows he showed everyone why he always has a pair of binocular with him....the eye piece unscrewed and he then drank from it....

[bushart]

Think they called him the father of spinning reels--intro wise

 

Remember him tellin his doctor story--when the doc told him to quit drinkin----the doctor put a worm in a glass of whiskey and how the worm died--to show results.....Fisher picks out the worm----downs the whiskey and says...I'll never die of worms

[SirCranksalot]

Red Green's 'lodge' segment was based on Red Fisher's show. R. Green one said that R. Fisher operated on the premise that nothing he could say would ever bore you.

[paul_614]

You guys are showing your age

[bigugli]

As a kid I used to hope for the day I would be invited to scuttlebutt lodge. I still have a book of his poems tucked aways somewhere. I remember, some decades back, the cabin being set up at the sportsman show, and waiting patiently to see the man in person.

[wormdunker]

Yes, I remember watching his show as a child with my father. Just to explain how long ago that was, we had a black & white TV, probably a "large" 12" screen, maybe 3 channels & U had to get out of your chair to change channels. Oh yah & my father drove a 1956 Buick Special. That was a tank!!

[vinnimon]

Yes, I remember watching his show as a child with my father. Just to explain how long ago that was, we had a black & white TV, probably a "large" 12" screen, maybe 3 channels & U had to get out of your chair to change channels. Oh yah & my father drove a 1956 Buick Special. That was a tank!!

 

X2

We both had our eyes glued to that black and white, and when my little brother tried to change the channel, look out

We never had a buick but a 1966 2 door impala, sky blue.

[Ralph Field]

I watched every fishing show on television and enjoyed them all. I remember watching the King White fishing show that followed Hockey Night in Canada long before the Red Fisher Show was on television.

[docknocker]

At scuttlebutt lodge there was always a bottle between the two beds.

 

 

I had the Honor of meeting him and shaking his hand several times While working/volounteering for the OFAH in the '80's

We were right across from him at the Sportsman show.(he remembered my name) maybe because it was on my shirt... ?

It was the thrill of my life!

Glad I finally found an audience to tell this story to, Because the "Kids" at work just look at me like I'm from another planet.

I think I'll go look for my Binoculars now,,, Might be something left,,,

Oh, Yes I still have my Zebco Cardinal 4

'Cause Red said they were the best!

Edited February 14, 2012 by docknocker

[Mike Pike]

I too was a huge fan of his show as a kid.

 

Hard to think of it now-a-days but it was the only all fishing show on tv and, therefore, the only show like it. Watching it on my parents' snowy old black and white television, I hung on every word Red said and every fish he caught, hoping that some day I would catch fish just like Red.

 

Ooops, got caught showng my age! lol

[ketchenany]

You guys are showing your age

 

We sure are! Gadabout Gadis the fly fisherman was an earlier show and got me interested and then came "Red" with fish and 'moose milk' ! a TV special was done on him and his guests a few years back.

 

 

maybe it's the reason why we are all here, and love the sport whether we practice it now or not for different reasons.

[bigugli]

At least it was a "fishing show". Not like today's 30 minute commercials.

[manitoubass2]

Hands down, the best part of his show was that he wasn't pretending to be someone he wasn't.

 

Of course, I didn't realize that when I was younger, and just thought he was some crazy entertaining dude.

 

In retrospect, this is exactly what I would love to see in a fishing show...

 

Too bad though, be tough to follow up that personality

Edited February 14, 2012 by manitoubass2

[ketchenany]

At least it was a "fishing show". Not like today's 30 minute commercials.

 

How true BIG. I watch the occasional one and last Saturday while having a coffee every fish he hooked (not naming anyone) but it was the brand of hook, line and down rigger to net it. If the lake paid the bills he would have mentioned it but the background gave it away!

 

Being in marketing, I cannot understand why they have a fishing show when MOST are out on the water at that time! That part really kills me and would like to know why you have show when the audience is out fishing?

 

I'm ready can you get the glove on! Best line ever!

[nofish4me]

"Well, we'll just have to hear the rest of that story, another time..........."

[wormdunker]

I watched every fishing show on television and enjoyed them all. I remember watching the King White fishing show that followed Hockey Night in Canada long before the Red Fisher Show was on television.

U must be REAL old HA HA

[Skipper D]

There's lots of good read here ...lol . I met Red a few times thru out the early 90's when i was delivering loads of wood stoves for Napoleon to Mason Place in Keswick . Back then if you remember he was doing the commercials for them . I would always look forward to delivering there and running into him , like most here i grew up watching him on tv as well . When Red was'nt in front of the camera he would always come over and say Hi when i was there , i considered my self lucky to have had a few good chats with Red weather they were about the product i was delivering or which epasode of his fishing i liked the best . So ya i remember The Red Fisher Show and lucky to have gotten to know the man a bit behind the seens .

Edited February 14, 2012 by Skipper " D "

[turtle]

I remember the pro hockey players and the cases of beer going into the bush planes for the fly-ins.

[16 Footer]

Bernard Herbert "Red" Fisher (18 February 1914 – 5 May 2006)[1] was an American sporting goods retailer, U.S. naval and United States Coast Guard officer, newspaper columnist, and poet. He later became a popular radio and television personality in Canada. He is not to be confused with Montreal Gazette sports columnist, Red Fisher.

 

Fisher was inducted into the U.S. based "Fishing Hall Of Fame" in 1948. When he moved to Canada, he launched a popular radio talk show program The Red Fisher Show in 1963, which moved to television in 1968. The TV version was set at fictitious "Scuttlebutt Lodge" and featured silent home movies of outdoors activities, often fishing, which involved high profile guests, mainly from the major league sports of the era. These included ice hockey stars Gordie Howe, Eddie Shack, and Johnny Bower, and baseball legends Ted Williams, Roger Maris and Ferguson Jenkins. The Red Fisher Show differed from other outdoor living shows of its time by promoting nature conservation, game preservation and the "catch and release" mentality. The series continued until 1989, making it among the longest-running on CTV.

 

At the same time, his weekly column, Outdoor Topics, was read in over 180 newspapers. In 1971, Fisher's first book of poems, Poems Of Our Great Outdoors, was published and distributed. Red would famously give each guest on his show a copy of these poems. Three volumes of Poems Of Our Great Outdoors were released, each one simply adding more poems to the previous collection. Red released a record on Saga Records also called Poems of Our Great Outdoors in which he read his poems to a symphonic background.

 

In 2000, Red Fisher released a collection of stories and anecdotes from his life called Tight Lines and Tall Tales. A portion of the profits were donated to outdoor conservation efforts.

 

Fisher died in Chatham, Ontario at the age of 92. Red fisher is credited for introducing the open-faced spinning reel to North America and, as a result, was inducted into the Fishing Hall of Fame