Nat Geo: Tonight on Hooked

Tonight at 10pm on "Hooked", National Geographic Explorer Zeb Hogan catches a fresh water stingray of giant purportions.



The giant freshwater stingray is a megapredator, a true-life Loch Ness monster that can kill with a swipe of its tail! Amazingly, the elusive leviathan was discovered only 20 years ago and already it’s on the vulnerable list. Fish biologist, conservationist and National Geographic Explorer Zeb Hogan is on a mission to find these remarkable creatures as part of the Megafishes Project, a five-year study supported by the National Geographic Society. He’ll head to Thailand, one of the last places on Earth where the freshwater stingray thrives, to see some with his own eyes, and reel them in for a closer look.

Hogan will dive into the murky water to learn more about their mysterious behavior—where they roam, how many there are and which areas need protection.
Be there for the milestone moment when Hogan hooks the biggest stingray he’s ever seen. Measuring more than 11 feet long, it takes 12 men to lift the monster ashore. Based on the dimensions, Hogan believes it could possibly be a world record–breaking fish.

Nat Geo: Hooked

We at FlyfishMagazine.com have been fond of National Geographic Magazine ever since we went through puberty studying its pages while visiting our Grandparent's house during Summer vacation. (little did we know that later in life, we would be photographed fly fishing by them for a story on the New River. Sadly our good looks ended up on the cutting room floor) That and the fact that it referred to fishing were reasons that we paid close attention to the press release they recently sent us about one of our favorite shows on their TV channel.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL REELS IN THE SUMMER
WITH A NEW SEASON OF HOOKED

Ravenous Flesh-Eating Carnivores, Fish with Human-Like Teeth,
Stingrays the Size of Buffalo and a Conservationist on a Mission to Protect Them —
See the Amazing Encounters of Man and Megafish

"The biggest fish we’ve seen! A real-life Loch Ness monster." — Zeb Hogan, fish biologist, conservationist and National Geographic Explorer

Popular Hooked Series Moves to Regular Night and Time with Summer Premieres —
Beginning Monday, June 29, at 10 p.m. ET/PT

Whether for science or sport, encountering the sheer power and size of the world’s biggest fish is nothing short of awe-inspiring. This summer, on Monday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT, beginning June 29, the National Geographic Channel (NGC) brings the excitement of monster fishing home with a new season of Hooked. We’ll journey across the globe to see the most extreme encounters in megafishing and the groundbreaking research being done to protect these fish. In each episode, we’ll be there as avid anglers and scientists track, bait, catch and release fish of extraordinary proportions. Then, in two episodes we join fish biologist, conservationist and National Geographic Explorer Zeb Hogan on a five-year mission to help preserve the world’s biggest freshwater fish.

From a colossal squid weighing in at more than 1,000 pounds to a stingray almost 12 feet long, each adrenaline-filled episode examines the environmental challenges these megafish face — from climate change to pollution to overfishing. Some of these Goliath fish have been around since the dinosaurs, and now, like their predecessors, they face extinction. With each capture, conservationists and biologists can study these amazing creatures and begin the dialogue needed to analyze their sometimes dire situation and debate possible solutions. As producer/filmmaker Dean Johnson says, "Most of the species I film won’t be on this planet in the next 50 years, and each time I look through the viewfinder I realize the images we are capturing will be telling a story that others may never have the opportunity to see."