Going full circle

The observant amongst us will have noticed a slight change to our logo – The ITM Fishing Show is now ITM FISHING. So, why change an iconic Kiwi brand and what's the difference?

Why the change to ITM FISHING?

Kiwis have been calling us ‘ITM FISHING’ for years. It’s a name that says who we are and what we do. ITM have backed the show for 18 years and FISHING – it’s what we do. The word ‘Show’ has been removed too. Sure, ITM FISHING is a TV show, but it’s also online videos, fishing comps, conservation initiatives and New Zealand’s leading fishing social media identity. The way people consume and seek out entertainment and information has changed, and ITM FISHING has evolved to be what people want and be in the places they’re looking.

What is ITM FISHING?

All the content is primarily based around fishing, but it’s a combination of what we’ve learned that Kiwi viewers like, both fishers and non-fishers. Over the last 18 years, we’ve produced three TV Shows for the Kiwi market: The ITM Fishing Show, Ultimate Fishing, and ITM Hook Me Up! Each of them with different styles and a slightly different audience skew. ITM FISHING encompasses the most popular elements of all three shows; some good ole grass-roots Kiwi fishing, some adventure fishing, innovation, storytelling, knowledge sharing and some guests that range from famous faces to everyday Kiwis coming along with us on the trip of a lifetime.

18 years on and still innovating

A TV show does not survive 18 years without evolving, innovating and changing, but it must also maintain its identity and hold onto what made it popular in the first place. So, the hardcore fans need not worry, in this new series of ITM FISHING, you are going to see plenty of out-of-the-box innovation, big fish action, tips and under-water footage that The ITM Fishing Show built its success on. And we deliver a result with every show – there’s nothing worse than watching a show, of any kind, that hypes up the drama but falls short in delivering the result. In our case that usually means catching the fish we’re after and, in this series, we’ve had a couple of occasions we’ve had to work bloody hard to get a result, which is part of what makes the viewing so compelling.

The North v South rugby game is only the curtain-raiser to the big one – The ITM North V South Fishing Challenge.

This new series has all of the elements we know our fans enjoy, but the most enjoyable stuff for me personally, has been filming the grass-roots episodes and doing the stuff I love doing on my days off – fishing and diving to put some seafood in the table. It’s like I’ve gone full circle to how I used to make the early episodes of The ITM Fishing Show, only now, I’m a little more experienced.

It’s in the blood

A big part of the reason why I’m enjoying the basic forms of fishing is I’m doing a lot of it with my son Shaw. When he was born (in the front seat of my truck on the side of the road) we were filming for series two. Now he’s fifteen years old and is the keenest fisher I know, he is obsessed! So, for one of the episodes, Shaw and I went away for a weekend mission with our little 1450 Stabicraft. It was one of the less ambitious scripts for the series. It was grass-roots, small boat fishing, the kind enjoyed by most Kiwis. A free dive for some big crayfish gave us some good content, and we’d caught some decent fish, but our weekend was just about over and we still hadn’t caught a fish that was big enough to get either of us excited.

Matt delivered his son Shaw in the front seat of his truck, midway through filming series 2 of The ITM Fishing Show. Fifteen years on, Shaw features on the show himself.

I’d been talking up big snapper and big kingfish, but hadn’t delivered on either. So we decided to target a big kingfish. Shaw was running out of puff and he was starting to doubt his old man’s ability to find a decent spot. “This is a waste of time, we should go back and catch some more snapper”, he protested. After hours with no bites, I was starting to second guess myself too, but in giving Shaw a pep-talk on perseverance, I said, “You need to trust that what we’re doing will work”. Saying the words aloud gave me a timely reminder to check in on the basics; the sounder was showing baitfish, the current was starting to pick up and the water was clean. They had to be here. Only a minute after my pep-talk, there was an explosion as our live kahawai bait is smashed by a big kingfish. Then Shaw is almost pulled in when his lure gets nailed.

You have all that action and more to look forward to in the new series and remember, for more of the hardcore fishing action and the tips on how we catch all the fish, they’re all available online or on our free app utlimatefishing.tv.

Till next time – Keep ‘em tight

Matt Watson

NEW SEASON OF ITM FISHING, EVERY SUNDAY AT 5.00PM ON THREE

Upcoming August Episodes

August 2nd – Matt's Bucketlist Fish

August 9th – Underwater Fishing!?

August 16th – Rock Fishing

August 23rd – AB's North vs South – Part 1

August 30th – AB's North vs South – Part 2