Veteran ‘Reelistic’ about new fishing show

Scott Stewart, host of fishing show Reelistic Outdoors, displays a Lake Trout he caught in June 2018 on Cunningham Lake, B.C. Stewart, a lifelong fisherman and conservationist, says he tries to return each fish he catches safely back to the water. Photo by Jeff Christensen

Peter Mallett
Staff Writer
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Unlike the tall tales of most fishermen, LS (Retired) Scott Stewart really has caught a big fish.

That’s because the former Royal Canadian Navy sailor has turned his life-long love of fishing into a television show called Reelistic Outdoors.

“I always knew I would host a fishing show,” says Stewart. “When I was young, I used to watch the Red Fisher Show every weekend. I realized from that point I wanted to host a show.”

His fishing-themed show debuted on specialty cable channels the Sportsman Channel and World Fishing Network in late September.

“It’s a great feeling to know my show is now going to be seen by a much wider audience.”

Six previous seasons of Reelistic Outdoors have aired on Shaw Cable local community television channels.

The show, he says, has been nearly half a century in the making.

His father James Stewart, who also served in the navy, took Stewart on his first fishing trip in the 1970s in Cambridge, ON. Stewart says he was “hooked” from then on.

“My father taught me to fish and I just excelled from there. I loved how beautiful fish were, the fight you get from them while reeling them in, and learning to use the correct gear to catch them.”

He has already filmed the first 13 episodes of this 26-epidsode season. He kicks it off by taking viewers on a helicopter trip to Hook Lake, nestled in B.C.’s Rocky Mountains. He has also filmed episodes on location in Saskatchewan and the Yukon and plans to visit the Northwest Territories later in the season.

“Throughout the season I will fish from a helicopter, a jet boat, an ocean boat, and in one episode I build a wagon and pull my boat five kilometres to the destination. I do fly fishing, jigging, deep water ocean fishing, and freshwater fishing and I will even head to the far north to do some ice fishing later this autumn.”

Stewart, 55, lives near Prince George, B.C. with his wife and daughter. He works as a Telecommunications Analyst with health care provider Northern Health. When he isn’t working, he prepares his show and fishes the streams and rivers nearby.

It is a one-person show with Stewart writing each script, playing host, directing, filming with many cameras, and editing.

“When I am filming, I try to treat the camera as if it were an individual viewer sitting with me on the boat. I also try to make the focus just as much about the unique process of getting to each location, instead of being all in your face and 100 per cent focused on fishing techniques.”

Previous episodes of Reelistic Outdoors can be viewed on Stewart’s Facebook page, which has over 25,000 followers since it launched seven years ago.

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