Twin Cities-based radio show, Bear Facts & Fish Tales, will be broadcast live from the Rendez-Vous dining at 7 p.m. this Sunday with hosts Mark Fisher and Larry Bollig in town for the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.
The two-hour call-in show, coming on to its 15th year, has been hosted in offices and hotel rooms, and even live from the bar at the Rendez-Vous during the tournament in recent years—closer to the action than station KSTP’s St. Paul studios.
“It puts a different wrinkle into it,” admitted Fisher. “I fish more tournaments than Larry does now, but together we don’t fish more tournaments than we once did, so it does make it more unique coming up here.”
Bollig said he isn’t worried about the broadcast quality, as he’s been doing it by phone most weeks since he moved to nearby International Falls years ago. Fisher added that he’s done the show while fishing away from home, as far away as Finland.
“It’s not like we’re in the studio, but the beauty of modern technology is it’s good enough to get on the airwaves,” he said.
For those unfamiliar with the format, Bollig and Fisher spend a casual two hours discussing amateur and competitive fishing with callers and a host of guest elite anglers and others.
“I’ve been told it’s a pretty entertaining show,” Bollig laughed. “We’re both good fishermen and we happen to have a radio show.”
They aren’t sure what’s on tap for Sunday evening in terms of guests, but in the past they’ve pulled out other anglers in the tournament to come on the show. Fisher said they may not figure out who they’ll have on until Saturday afternoon.
“Because it’s a talk show, things can be loose,” he said.
Bollig added the tournament is a personal favourite of his because he likes Rainy Lake so much—enough to move just across the river once he retired.
“We talk about Rainy Lake and Fort Frances (on the show) and how good it is up here,” he said. “We’ve sent hundreds of people up here.”
Bear Facts & Fish Tales runs every Sunday evening at 7 p.m. on KSTP 1500 AM. A live stream of the show can be heard over the Internet, hosted at www.am1500.com
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
