Shark week is over, so if you need for fix of big fish, look no further than NBC Sports Network’s Fish Mavericks. It’s a new one-hour outdoor fishing show from the producers of Duck Dynasty, Shark Week, and Auction Hunters.
There’s been plenty of shark encounters in the series thus far.
The very last episode was actually a shark tournament in which they released both Tiger sharks and Mako sharks.
“You’ll see us handle and tag all the sharks. I’ve been on Shark Week numerous times, it was an amazing experience,” said Captain Dave Schunke, who granted The Sports Bank an exclusive conversation this past weekend.
Here’s the podcast of the interview below:
Fish Mavericks centers on Schunke and his crew aboard Fish Circus as they travel to compete in fishing tournaments. Each week, the team will take on the competition to catch a winning fish. The 6-episode series follows the crew as they travel to the Bahamas, New Jersey, New York City area, Virginia Beach, Venice Marina, Louisiana, and Dauphin Island, Alabama.
“It’s got a very similar theme to Duck Dynasty, we have a similar feel to Ducks to how it’s all laid out. I guess you could call me Willie, I kind of tell everyone what to do and nobody listens to me,” said Schunke.
The six-part series premiered on August 6 on NBCSN.
Shunke fishes over 15 major tournaments from Florida to Massachusetts. Shunke, who has been fishing his entire life, has taken his craft to freshwater, salt water and his true love, offshore canyon fishing. Here’s the rest of the crew.
-Brothers Jerry and John Harris, both United States Navy veterans, have been fishing together for almost 50 years. The opinionated pair hails from Virginia.
-New Jersey natives and brothers Robb and Chris Pami taught themselves how to fish fresh water fish growing up, lending their skills to salt water aboard Fish Circus. The brothers, known for their pranks, are owners of a family construction business.
“We travel the country fishing for everything,” said Schunke.
This week the crew team up with a combat veteran from the Wounded Warrior program to give him the fishing trip of his life. Patrick Gill, tells the story of how fishing basically saved his life. The sport gave him something to do as he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from being in the war for so long.
“It was an impactful episode,” said Captain Dave.
Here’s the rest of the Fish Mavericks on NBCSN Schedule (all times ET):
Wed., Aug. 20
Fish Mavericks, Ep. 3 (New York City area)
10 p.m.
Wed., Aug. 27
Fish Mavericks, Ep. 4 (Virginia Beach)
10 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 3
Fish Mavericks, Ep. 5 (Louisiana)
10 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 3
Fish Mavericks, Ep. 6 (Alabama)
11 p.m.
Follow Fish Mavericks on their website, and Twitter account @FishMavericks
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)