Animal Planet Premieres OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES, 7/29

Showtime ERic Young, an avid yet novice outdoorsman and professional wrestler, is getting out of the ring and turning in his tights for some tackle. He's on the adventure of a lifetime to hear, smell and taste big and small stories of the one that got away. All across America, some fisherman go to extremes to haul in their catch - from using pantyhose on a rod and reel to catch sharks in the Atlantic Ocean to launching live bait with fire extinguishers on Lake Michigan - and Young will try his hand at all of them. Using all sorts of unique bait, tackle, poles and transportation (and a little SPF), he is aiming to be the makeshift MacGyver of fishing while learning the best and most unique techniques this country has to offer!

Showtime ERic Young is about to embark on the ultimate amateur angling road trip and quench his thirst for adventure on Animal Planet's new series OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES. Premiering Sunday, July 29, at 9 PM (ET/PT), each half-hour episode follows Young as he crisscrosses the country to try his hand at various fishing practices, ranging from wildly dangerous to all-out weird!

From the waterways of New England to the beaches of North Carolina and from the coasts of Florida to the shores of California (and everywhere in between), Young is about to meet his match. Paddleboard and jetski fishing for sharks? No problem! Underwater spear fishing and nighttime squid jigging? Easy! Fishing for dangerous alligator gar or invasive species like snakehead fish and carp? Um, that might be an issue...

During his quest, he learns an interesting array of intricate and industrious methods employed by some of America's fishing masterminds. And he will come to embrace odd local traditions practiced for decades and centuries. And no matter how long it takes, how crazy it seems or how many bumps and bruises he gets along the way, Young won't stop 'til he catches the ultimate fish, including the one that got away...

OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES showcases some of the hardest playing and hardest worKing Fisherman in the country, some of whom have pioneered ingenious and insane methods of catching fish for both profit and play. During each episode, Young meets two experts who help him go toe to toe with some of the biggest (and smallest) fish around.

"As an adrenaline junkie, when I come home after a hard day's work, I like to kick back and enjoy some fishing," says Young. "But in OFF THE HOOK, this is hardly relaxing because I'm setting out to do some of the world's wildest, craziest fishing techniques. But I'm up for trying anything once!"

For an immersive fishing and angling experience online, viewers can go to AnimalPlanet.com.

OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES is a production of part 2 pictures for Animal Planet. Gregory Henry and David Shadrack Smith are the executive producers for part2 pictures, and Vaibhav Bhatt is the supervising producer for Animal Planet. Charlie Foley is senior vice president of development for Animal Planet.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 96 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.

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