Pirates of the Flats

No, not the Disneyland ride or a blockbuster movie. This is a new TV show, a bunch of legends, idols and… well, and an actor, out on the Flats fishing for bones, talking ecology, talking about their amazing lives… this is going to air on ESPN of all places, starting 12/27/2009 in January 2010.  ESPN is starting to air more soccer and now fly fishing… now if we can just get Yvon Chouinard on Sports Center and Jim Rome eaten by a Bull Shark.

Check out the Tin Shed at Patagonia.com for all the goodies (they seem to have taken that down)!  You not only see the trailer, but also photos by Val Atkinson (who is simply bad-ass at what he does, check out the link, as it is his own website and slide show of the Pirates).

The show has even linked up with the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, so they are really hitting on all cylinders.

Tom Brokaw quoted about the project in USA Today:

NBC News’ Tom Brokaw, in doing his first TV fishing series, says he “didn’t quite know what I was getting into, except it was a chance to go fishing with my friends. … I belong to an informal fishing posse, kind of an aging boys club. You end up in these fishing camps where the emphasis is on good fishing, good wine and lots of good storytelling.”

In Pirates of the Flats, an independently produced series that ESPN will announce today and will debut in January, the posse — including actor Michael Keaton, mountaineer Yvon Chouinard and author Thomas McGuane — went to the Bahamas in search of the elusive bonefish. And don’t get the wrong idea, says Brokaw, just because bonefish can weigh just 3-5 pounds: “It’s not just blind casting. You’re stalking the fish. … They’re ghostly, quite primordial.”

Update – turns out this is filmed mostly in the Bahamas.

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