Having hosted The Weekend Fisherman^TM for two years now, Frank Papineau has participated in many community activities as well as having been interviewed by many newspapers and magazines. Read what has been written about him and the program.

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The Weekend Fisherman
reels in high TV ratings

Frank Papineau makes fishing show catch of his life.

[Taken from The Ottawa Citizen -- Friday, February 20, 1998 -- By Lisa Burke Outdoor ]
As a child, Frank Papineau enjoyed fishing in a creek behind his parents' farm in Carlsbad Springs, but it wasn't until three years ago that he made the catch of his life.

Then a volunteer at Rogers Community 22, Papineau combined his knowledge of fishing with his love for television and came up with The Weekend Fisherman, a half-hour weekly show.

The program proved so successful on the Rogers that it attracted interest from commercial broadcasters.

Frank Papineau's down-to-earth fishing show has climbed in the ratings, up to 114 000 viewers in its first month.

Last December, Papineau signed a contract with the Baton Broadcasting System to produce 13 episodes for CTV affiliates in Ontario. The current broadcast season runs until the end of March.

"I still can't believe it's finally happening," Papineau says.

When Papineau recalls the events that led to creation of The Weekend Fisherman, he can't help laughing.

He had started as a volunteer at Rogers Community 22 in 1992 as host of an amateur sports show.

"I was horrible (at first)," he says. "But horrible in a good sense. You could see I was trying, and it was a lot of fun."

One incident changed his future.
"I auditioned for a CBC show, and I was so bad that I cried when I got into my car," he said. "It was a key wakeup call and allowed rue to realize I wasn't as good as I thought I was.
"It was a turning point."

Rather than give up on TV, Papineau, 34, continued to practise the craft. A little more than a year later, he was asked to be the host for other Rogers shows.

The idea for The Weekend Fisherman was conceived on a flight back from a vacation in France with his wife. After making his pitch to Rogers officials, Papineau found sponsors who were willing to supply a boat, truck and fishing equipment.

"A lot of people in Ottawa believed in me," he said. "I still don't know how I did it."

Papineau owned the copyright toThe Weekend Fisherman, so he was able to take the identity and the trademark when he left Rogers last July.

"I never suspected I would be in television," he admits.

"But my best friend told me that I had told him, when I was a kid, that I would do a fishing show when I was older."

Baton says The Weekend Fisherman attracted nearly 68,000 viewers when it first aired in January, and increased to 114,000 viewers in the first month.

"It's quite a good number," said Art Sutherland, sales supervisor for CJOH. "We're quite pleased with it."

Americans have been watching the show for nearly a year and a half on the Outdoor Channel, a specialty cable channel.

"The show has beaten out Home & Garden (channel), ESPN2, and we were tied with the History Channel," said Shannon Pagett, program director for the Outdoor Channel.

"Frank has something that people love. We're very pleased with him."

On his show, Papineau displays enthusiasm and excitement at the simplest of tasks while providing helpful hints in a subtle, friendly manner.

"Fishing is a place to un-stress," he says. "There's no phones, no hassle, and that's part of the secret of fishing, "It's all about camaraderie, and friends."

Part of the attraction of The Weekend Fisherman is Papineau's novice style approach. He doesn't pretend to be an expert and, if he loses a fish, he laughs and makes it all part of the show. When he dosecure his prey, though, his excitement is contagious.

"That's just how I am as a person," he says. "I have a tight line about telling you how it is and being how it is."

Papineau recently signed a deal to air the show in the United Kingdom starting in March, but says he will never fish outside of Canada.

"To me, we have the best outdoors in the entire world," he said. "We have a playground that Americans and Europeans come here to explore. I just want to depict our own country."

The show has allowed Papineau to fish in several beautiful areas, but his favourite trip was a trek to James Bay with Cree Indians.

"It was great," he said. "I felt I was bringing back another vision that most people don't get to see." Papineau is always open to new locations and says he enjoys hearing from his viewers about their favorite fishing holes. He's also willing to take people with him.

"It can be a man, woman or child," he said. "I went out with a professional bass fisherman once, and she hammered me. We had a blast."

The Weekend Fisherman can be seeSaturdays at 2:30 p.m. on CTV.

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