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by David Sparks Ph.d, click here for bio

Most Recent Report: Fishing for piranha
Date: March 20, 19

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Download Report: Fishing_for_piranha.mp3

Fishing guide Denis Isbister has spent his whole life devoted to fishing. In this episode he was on a trip down in Columbia fishing for… “Tell me about the fishing for piranha. We were dragging plugs. In those rivers they actually have a black piranha that gets pretty big like three or 4 pounds. How do they fight? Kind of like a perch. They don’t fight crazy hard. They do a lot of wiggling and thrashing around but when you bring them in, you actually hold their lips open with a pair of pliers and their jaws are snap snap snapping at you with those big teeth. They are pretty good eating. White, flaky meat, somebody made soup out of them and it was actually pretty good. So you fish all over the world? Yes and I wanted to do something different than the TV fishermen you see catching bass or walleye or whatever. I wanted to do something bigger and better so I did a TV show called Wild fish wild places.

Sportsman’s Spotlight

(To listen to more programs go to bottom of this page)

TARGETED LISTENERS:

PRIMARY ~ People who Hunt and Fish in the Northwest, from the novice to the guide.

SECONDARY ~ People who might gain a better understanding of the outdoor sportsman through interesting stories and antidotes.

PROGRAM MISSION:

To entertain and educate, thus creating a desire to go fishing, hunting and explore the outdoors. In these short radio vignettes we take the listener on an audio adventure far away from their current environment, to a place they would rather be… The great outdoors!

THE HOST:

Passion defines the work of David Sparks Ph.D., a veteran of television and host of Sportsman’s Spotlight. David's resume includes features on the Outdoor Channel (winner of eight Telly Awards), host and producer of ESPN’s Ultimate Outdoors, Jeep National Trails and a bevy of network television including PM Magazine, NBC game shows and stints guest hosting the Oprah Winfrey Show. During David’s tenure with ESPN’s Ultimate Outdoors, he acquired hunting and fishing tips from the “Master” internationally famous outdoorsman/guide Wayne Pearson . “On location” took on a whole new meaning as the pair hunted game in various locations around the U.S.; from upland birds in the Dakotas to gators in Louisiana but it was David’s riveting quest for the great marlin in Puerto Rico and sword and sailfish in Venezuela that endeared him to his fans. In addition to his wealth of television work David Sparks earned his doctorate in biomedical engineering at Northwestern University and taught at the University of Washington.

Watch out! David's enthusiasm for hunting and fishing is contagious, humorous and .....sometimes cantankerous but one thing for certain with Sparks it’s always entertaining and the spotlight is always on you the outdoorsman.

THE MARKET:

State	% of population that fishes	Number of Anglers	% of population that hunts	Number of Hunters
Idaho	20%	206,000	11%	122,000
Oregon	17%	455,000	8%	218,000
Washington	14%	641,000	4%	179,000

State	Average dolla spent per Sportsman per year
Idaho	$1,392
Oregon	$1,763
Washington	$1,850

IDAHO	OREGON	WASHINGTON
Wildlife-Associated Recreation Expenditures in Idaho (Total: $923 million) Fishing Expenditures in Idaho (Total: $283 million) Hunting Expenditures in Idaho (Total: $260 million)	Wildlife-Associated Recreation Expenditures in Oregon (Total: $2.0 billion) Fishing Expenditures in Oregon (Total: $497 million) Hunting Expenditures in Oregon (Total: $374 million)	Wildlife-Associated Recreation Expenditures in Washington (Total: $3.1 billion) Fishing Expenditures in Washington (Total: $905 million) Hunting Expenditures in Washington (Total: $313 million)

*National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, 2006 (FHWAR) http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/fishing.html

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