Canadian lands his dream job

?It’s always noteworthy when Canadians make it big south of the border in the United States, especially when it is in something that’s typically dominated by American personalities.
When a Canadian makes it to the NFL, the NBA, or Major League Baseball, it is big news. Well, last week it was announced that Canada’s TV fishing funny man, Dave Mercer, whose brand and popularity has grown extensively in recent years, had landed the job of emcee at all of the Bassmaster Elite Series events in 2011, including the Bassmaster Classic in February.
The top level of bass fishing has long been run out of the south, which makes this announcement so surprising. Even among anglers, very few from the north have made it over the long haul.
One notable exception who has made it to the top level of the sport, and hung around since he started in the early 1990s, is all-time great Kevin Van Dam, who hails from Michigan.
Mercer, who is has been producing one-minute fishing tip videos for the past 15 years and a half-hour show of the same title (“Facts of Fishing”) for the past five years, is an excellent communicator, which helped to land him this job.
Watch him do a fishing seminar and it is amazing how quickly he absorbs the attention of everyone in the room and has them rolling on the floor laughing—all the while mixing in some great tips on how to become a better angler.
Mercer travelled to Sunset Country in 2009 to film a few segments for his show and I was able to hook up with him during his stay. We had a great time and he has become a good friend to me, so I’m really happy to hear the big news.
One thing I can tell you about Dave Mercer is the guy can talk. Under any situation, he can make a joke and also has the ability to make everyone around him feel comfortable.
He will do a great job with this new endeavour.
When I spoke with Mercer last week, he said it was a lifelong dream to be able to emcee the Bassmaster Classic, which will be his first event, taking place in New Orleans in late February.
They anticipate a crowd of more than 20,000 people during each day of the event.
“At one time, I used to dream about fishing in the Bassmaster Classic,” Mercer conceded. “Then after fishing with some of the Elite Series pros and seeing how good they are, I altered my dream to emceeing the Classic!
“I never would have imagined it would become a reality.”
Mercer, who has experience on stage as emcee at numerous tournaments in Canada and the U.S over the past several years, said “standing on that Classic stage, to me, is like a comedian getting to perform on ‘The Tonight Show.’
“It just doesn’t get any bigger.”
As far as “Facts of Fishing” goes, Mercer promises that it won’t change at all. “I will be emceeing all of the Bassmaster Elite Series events on top of everything I have already been doing with ‘Facts of Fishing,’” he noted.
“I will be crazy busy, but you only live once and this is the opportunity of a lifetime,” he stressed. “Some things you just can’t pass up, no matter how busy you are.
“It really is a lifelong dream come true.”