Surviving EUROPE’s Deadliest River… Monster Fish

[00:00:00]Boys and girls, you know what time it is. For the last 3 years, I've traveled all over the world chasing some of the deadliest and most dangerous fish on the entire planet. Oh my. At 81. [music] Oh my god. Look at the size of those things. [music] That's it right there. That's the fish.

[00:00:19]Oh my goodness. [music] of my entire.

[00:00:25][music] But this is completely different because for the first time ever, we're exploring an entirely new continent. No guide, no safety net, no one showing us where to go. Just us. And one of the most dangerous rivers in all of France. A river known for powerful currents, massive commercial barges, and one of the largest freshwater fish in the world hiding beneath the surface. a predator surrounded by legends and a fish that inspired generations of explorers, including Jeremy Wade himself. [music] But catching it comes later because before that hunt can even begin, I'm going to have to earn the right to be here. Because just like chasing the river monsters in Texas, this time I'm doing it all the way across the pipe.

[00:01:04]Boys and girls, Fanatic Media presents the hunt for Europe's largest river [music] monster. Enjoy.

[00:01:18]I don't know how we're going to check this on a plane. Um, >> I don't think we're going to check this.

[00:01:23]>> Yeah, we have to. It's [laughter] a vital PIECE OF EQUIPMENT HERE. LOOK.

[00:01:27]>> Oh my goodness.

[00:01:28]>> If you take a look, an entire boat. If they can see that drawing. It It's literally a boat.

[00:01:37]That's also A PART OF THE BOAT. THAT'S THE PROBLEM, GUYS. We leave in 4 hours and I don't know how to get this on an airplane. I I don't know how to do it.

[00:01:50]Guys, for example, the dried fruit drop video, that boat that I was driving around, that is pretty much what this boat is from Amazon. We have to take it all the way to France.

[00:02:00]We're going to have to take it all the way to France because we're not we can't rent a boat where we're going and we're not paying for a guide because it's too expensive. We're just going to bring the boat with us. We're going to try and sneak this thing underneath the plane.

[00:02:13][music] >> Brenton. Brenton.

[00:02:17]>> That's big. [laughter] That's big. Oh, that didn't go as planned.

[00:02:24]There's no way that's 70 lb. Apparently, anything over 70 lb, British Airways will not let us check. That's the floor.

[00:02:32]That's 73 lb. This is the boat. That's 77 lb. You know, I'm going to do the foot trick. It's like really sneaky though. Whenever you put it on the scale and you use your foot, I got to. It's the only way.

[00:02:43]>> You can't publicly say that. Oh, [music] the zipper. Oh. Oh, damn.

[00:02:50][music] [music] This right here is coming to France, baby.

[00:03:01]>> Rristen, just by seeing you pick that up, that was 70 lb.

[00:03:04]>> It was heavy.

[00:03:12]It's pretty much just like FedEx.

[00:03:21]>> Oh yeah.

[00:03:22]>> So, this is the real test. We need this thing to be under 70 lb.

[00:03:34]>> 69.2.

[00:03:37]Yeah. OH MY [screaming] GOD. YEAH. WOO.

[00:03:43]YOU'RE >> like the [music] luckiest person on earth.

[00:03:45]>> I mean, YOU LITERALLY CAN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT. WE'RE GOING TO FRANCE.

[00:03:49]OH, YEAH. WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT?

[00:03:51]>> NO, YOU'RE ACTUALLY like the luckiest person. We should go to the We should go play like a slots or something right now.

[00:03:56]>> Yeah. Paint it ALL IN BLACK. I LOVE BLACK.

[00:04:01]>> All right, time to start eliminating stuff because this is over 70 lb. Pump need.

[00:04:06]>> Yeah. What?

[00:04:07]>> Okay. All right. Just I was just making sure. Paddles.

[00:04:10]>> Brenton, don't question.

[00:04:11]>> Don't need.

[00:04:12]>> Oh, >> repair kit. Patching >> need.

[00:04:18]>> Okay. Are we sure?

[00:04:19]>> Positive. It's Do you know what we're going after?

[00:04:22]>> We'll put this one as on the line.

[00:04:24]Potential >> seats.

[00:04:27]>> Okay. All right. I'm just making sure.

[00:04:29]That's all I'm doing.

[00:04:35]Second item is the metal floors was 73 lb. Wait, wait, wait.

[00:04:41]Oh my god. 61 lb. There's no way that paddle weighed 12 lb. Works for me.

[00:04:49]Looks like our packaging condensing did pretty did pretty well. So now we have to take that. We have to check that. We have to check this after our last checking bag experience. My clothes. You sent it back to Denver. If this stuff gets lost, our entire trip is just literally completely wasted.

[00:05:08]>> Don't say that. Don't even bring it up.

[00:05:09]It's not going to happen. It was one time thing.

[00:05:11]>> We have one more thing we have to check, but I'm not going to tell you guys what that is just yet.

[00:05:22]There's no way an airport worker is passing this onto a connecting flight.

[00:05:27]There's just no way. [clears throat] Oh, it landed on my head and cracked my neck.

[00:05:34]If you're wondering, that's literally just sheets of metal.

[00:05:45]You know, last time we swore we would never travel with checked bags again. I don't think you could travel with any more checked bags than this. This is This is crazy. We have like I'm not even kidding two and a half days to try and pull this off during the World Cup while France is playing too. I mean this is going to be I'm going to be like no guide, no help, no guidance. Literally just purely on our own. There's a good 5 to 10% chance that this is even possible. The only thing that sucks for the fish is right now I think we're we're batting 100%.

[00:06:21][music] Oh, I hear you. It's also oversized.

[00:06:30]>> Yes, I'll work with that. I don't know.

[00:06:33]I only >> You're very lucky, guys, because up to up to 70 lb is 190. Above 70 is 355.

[00:06:44]>> 355 69. 69. We'll take it.

[00:06:50]Awesome.

[00:06:53]>> [music] >> You won't believe it, but all of our bags made it. I have no idea how. The only thing we don't have that is [music] essential is rods. Yeah.

[00:07:04]>> And we're going to have to buy those.

[00:07:05][laughter] So, even though this is only a 15-hour trip, that's actually not that long compared to a lot of the other fish we go after. All we had to do was take one airplane all the way to London and then from London all the way to southern France, which is not a crazy common place to chase this fish. And I did this for a reason. Spain is by far the most common place to go after this fish. And it's where the biggest ones are found.

[00:07:28]Where we're going in France, there is supposed to be giants, but it's not where you would go if you want a guaranteed catch. But the reason I didn't go to Spain was because, I hate to say this, I just didn't like the filming scenery. I thought it would be incredibly like blah. And I thought, well, why not go to somewhere where it looks really cool in a gigantic blue beautiful river. Catching the fish will be harder, but what will be the hardest is catching the size that makes this thing considered a river monster. But we had to get there first. Boys and girls, we have made it to France. The boys have unlocked new territory.

[00:08:03]>> Okay, we've made it.

[00:08:04]>> There is three packages. All of them are necessary to each other. So, like if one doesn't arrive, nothing works.

[00:08:12]Literally, like I'm telling you, if one thing doesn't arrive, none of them can operate. You won't believe what's in this third package. [laughter] Y'all are going to freak out. Just wait.

[00:08:24]Oh my goodness. The one item I thought there was no way, no way possible it could show up. It showed up.

[00:08:33]Oh my gosh. Wait till you see what made it to France, baby.

[00:09:04]Now, boys and girls, you're probably wondering what is inside this box. For the longest time, everyone said, "You need a new one. That's not good enough.

[00:09:14]That's not going to fly. It's going to break. Retire that one and get a different one." Lo and behold, I present to you boys and girls Josh 5.0 all the way in France, baby.

[00:09:47]>> [music] >> Let's go. [laughter] Everyone said this motor wasn't going to last. The fuel filter fell off again. Well, this one I I couldn't travel with it if it was put together. So, I It's disassembled. It's like we're running back a Trinity mission in Europe. Literally dead serious. On the most dangerous river in all of France. Let's go catch the largest river [music] monster, the Wells catfish. [snorts] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Hi.

[00:10:41]>> Hi. What policeman? Oh, live resets.

[00:10:45]First, >> you're a policeman.

[00:10:51]It is 5:09 in the morning in downtown France, somewhere by the coast, some random city. I'm freaking out right now.

[00:11:01]I haven't gone to bed because I've been editing for hours. Everyone's been asleep, but I am grinding. I'm nervous, though. I'm very nervous. I want to put this into perspective. We've done the Amazon trips, right? When we do those, we go in with an indigenous tribe who's like relatively around the fish. Or for sturgeon, you know, we have someone who has the gear and is gone. Right? For Goliath tiger fish, we got to get out there on the Congo in a relative body of water where they knew they were. Here, it is pure intuition. Everything is intuition. The gear, the boat, the motor. We have 2 and 1/2 days to catch a fish over 7 ft. This is European's river monster, which back in like my historical times was thought to be a man-eating river monster. Of course, Jeremy Wade went after this fish. For the measure of the beast, 7'4 in a 7footer. We have way less time. I'm just going to do my best to make this happen. We're just running a Trinity mission for alligator gar on the other side of the world. That's all it is.

[00:12:05]Here goes nothing.

[00:12:09]>> [music] >> I did forget we have no fishing rods or bait. That's a major problem.

[00:12:17]>> We're going into a supermarket right now because if we're going to find bait anywhere, it's going to be in the frozen section in one of these places. A mall.

[00:12:26]>> What are we doing at the mall?

[00:12:28]>> It said it was like a Walmart. [music] We got four rods and some dead mackerel.

[00:12:37]If I know anything about catfish, they're not going to turn down free food. [music] >> In fact, it's connected to the river.

[00:12:49]>> Really?

[00:12:50]>> Yeah. [music] You've got a >> I can get through. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:52]Yeah. I can portage through.

[00:12:53]>> 3 m. You're training me. Okay.

[00:12:56][laughter] >> That's 3 m. 3 m.

[00:12:58]>> 9 ft.

[00:13:00]>> Yeah, that's it.

[00:13:01]>> Yeah. [laughter] >> That's the biggest of the world actually.

[00:13:05]>> 9 ft. Somehow we make friends with everyone everywhere we go. Absolutely loved them. He told me the same thing.

[00:13:12]The place, the spot I marked where I thought we would find a giant is literally where he said he saw the world record or a buddy of his saw a world record over 9 ft. That's insane. So that is exactly where we are headed. This is one of the craziest views I've ever seen in my life. We are launching next to a castle on the river in France. It's literally like we're running a Trinity mission in medieval times.

[00:13:47][music] This is my first look at the river. It looks insane. Primarily because that is a castle. I'm dead serious. That right there is a castle. That's what we're launching next to. Then we have about two miles down river we have to go to get to this spot all THE WAY FROM TEXAS TO SOUTHERN FRANCE. This is necessary for chasing a giant river monster if you're not hiring a guide service. There's definitely some legal things and you know I think we're abiding by all legal laws. Actually, that's what we're going to say. All right. We're in another country. We're visitors. We're abiding by all legal laws.

[00:14:24]>> Can they like once we leave, can they come and get us?

[00:14:27]>> Nope. That's all that matters.

[00:14:31]I don't know where to put that.

[00:14:44]>> That's big.

[00:14:52][music] >> First River Monsters trip. Any motivational words?

[00:14:57]>> Any motivational words? This doesn't feel real. It's a lot scarier in real life than when you watch it on the videos. I'm like nervous.

[00:15:08]Well, we've been here for about an hour setting everything up and there's this very nice dog.

[00:15:14]And we got motor oil.

[00:15:22]>> Ladies and gentlemen, I present the SS Giga Destroyer. What do you think, Jamama?

[00:15:27]>> I love it. I >> I wish it was all black.

[00:15:29]>> What do you mean by that?

[00:15:30]>> I you know, I thought about getting that one. It was just a little bit more expensive.

[00:15:33]>> I get why.

[00:15:34]>> And it was way bigger.

[00:15:36]>> This is officially our River Monsters vessel. This has got a one-time use limit on it. All right. We can't get this thing back to the States because the airline back to the States won't take it. So, this is literally solely for this mission. And then we are donating it to someone here. That is why we bought this. That's why we traveled with it. self-guided, self-funded, self-produced, everything. It's literally just to prove that you guys can do something like this. You don't have to go find a guide and pay them $5,000. Now, >> is it easier?

[00:16:05]>> Is it easier? Yes, it's it's much easier. But we have a fish over 7 ft to catch. And we have to check European's biggest river monster off the list. It's time for the SS Giga Destroyer to set sail.

[00:16:32]All right. Bubba.

[00:16:33]>> Bye.

[00:16:44][music] >> [music] >> The spot that I was looking for is right up there.

[00:17:02]And it is beautiful. If there's anywhere in southern France I think there's almost a world record fish, which also happens to be one of the largest freshwater fish on the planet, I oddly enough think it's going to be right over here. I'm really liking this new Josh, but the only thing I don't like about it is his name is still Josh.

[00:17:21]>> What does that mean?

[00:17:22]>> Josh is French.

[00:17:24]>> When did you find that out?

[00:17:25]>> Second ago. This is just a different [music] That right there is a mackerel.

[00:17:54]Okay, we've got two mackerel on both of these massive rods. I have big rods because if we hook a fish here, it is going to take me directly into those rocks. And I need as much leverage as I can possibly get against a 7ft massive catfish to get these baits where I want it. I'm going to take both of these in the boat out there, drop them in. River monsters don't even come to your mind when you think of Europe. So, if we can pull this off, I'm going to be so excited.

[00:18:27]All right, we've got him.

[00:18:40]Taking one out. Here we go.

[00:18:50]Got the other one. There's another bait going out.

[00:18:59]Now we wait. Keep in mind this is the most dangerous river in France because of the current, the massive cargo ships that come by and what people call a man-eating sized catfish. Just got to keep all those things in mind.

[00:19:18]>> This is crazy. Like dropping your bait off out into the middle. I'm scared.

[00:19:22]>> After 3 and 1/2 hours with zero action, all of us drained and tired from the time change. There was no sign that big fish were even here. So, it was finally time to move.

[00:19:38]Absolutely nothing yet. One of those things you get really excited. That smells so good.

[00:19:46]Oh my god. One of those things you get really excited whenever you get out here. I saw some type of fish come up and then you start fishing and realize absolutely nothing's biting and forget that it is a very difficult fish to catch. So then your morale kind of goes down. Luckily, I brought the portable fish finder that someone sent us on the wish list. I'm going to suction cup this to the back of the boat. We're going to see what we can find. Okay, right now it's looking like it's 12 1/2 ft.

[00:20:10]Nothing on the bottom. We're just looking for massive drop off. That's what we're looking for. Like something that goes down to 30t random.

[00:20:22]It wasn't that deep, but there was a random like 16 foot drop off that there could be something sitting there through the bay right there. We're going to wait for a second. Wells. Huge wells and one little well.

[00:20:33]Oh, that was a giant fish. [music] I obviously knew it wasn't going to be this easy, but when there's no signs of hope out there and such little time to make it happen, you really start to wonder what happens if I don't catch the fish. And that thought was starting to build up a little more than I wanted it [music] to. This is quite the setup we've got going on here. But we have not had a single bite from a fish. I think I saw a giant on the sonar over by that wall, but it's so hard. It's not like we have like a legit graph. Like I'm pretty much just trying to see how deep it is.

[00:21:17]Just looking for something to go buck baby mama wild. And the sun is setting over there. It's very pretty. As of right now, there's no sight of whales catfish. [music] And tomorrow is our last full day. And today was about a 30% day, quarter day maybe. And then after tomorrow, we only have like a quarter day also. Everyone's always like, "Why do you make the trip so quick? Like, why do you do? First off, we've got to upload. We've got to film. And we have stuff to do back home. Like, we can't leave for that long. The trips that we do, we have to make them count. This is one of the biggest ones we've ever done.

[00:21:46]And running off of 2 hours of sleep, which is crazy. That part's wild. I am fing for sleep. But this boat, I mean, it's at least doing the job. And we're in France. And France plays in the semi-final in the World Cup tonight.

[00:21:57]>> Versus who?

[00:21:58]>> Spain, which is the neighbor. I'm sure France is going to be wide awake all night long. This would be the perfect night, the perfect time for one of these rods to go off.

[00:22:08]This river is huge and it is clear. It is deep and you feel like the Loch Ness monster lives in here. That's what it feels like. [music] [music] >> [music] >> Well, boys and girls, Big Daddy didn't pull through.

[00:22:37]>> It's only day one Brent.

[00:22:38]>> I know. I'm sorry. It just doesn't feel good right now. All right. I didn't even see a fish. We didn't even get a bite, which is just like doesn't make you want to hit the nigh net or anything like that. What do you think, honey? Oh, >> I'm really scared. We're all the way in France, so if we don't catch it, it's kind of a huge deal. [laughter] It >> It is a huge deal. like we have a list a list of fish that's going to take like at least a year and a half, 2 years to cross off. If we miss this, then we've got to come back and it's like you almost have to replace a different trip.

[00:23:06]It's one of those things. It's like we're here getting all this gear in this exact situation is very difficult. I already know there's no lights on this boat and there's massive cargo ships that come down this main channel. So, we're going to get back as fast as we can.

[00:23:26]>> [music] >> Should we kiss?

[00:23:45]>> What? Well, we are in our backyard of our little tiny Airbnb right now. faith and our hope is dwindling ever so slightly at the moment because we didn't even see a sign of anything today. And to be honest, we only have tomorrow and then like a little bit of the day the next day. I don't know why we do this to ourselves. Well, I do know why, but like I have a huge fear of not completing this because we're on that 2016 2017 Golden State Warriors.

[00:24:14]>> CURRY WAY DOWNTOWN. OKAY, THEY ONLY LOST nine games, which means theoretically we can only take an L in like nine videos.

[00:24:23]Big fish mission chasing videos. We haven't taken an L yet. I don't want France to be our first L. If I'm I'm putting this like retrospect like you you got it, Jamama. You got the perspective.

[00:24:33]>> I'm picking up what you're pitting down, big papa.

[00:24:37]>> Who are you talking to? Regardless, click the subscribe button down below.

[00:24:42]If we catch this fish, it's just got to be over 7 ft. If we can catch one over six, that's awesome. But like we if seven is like what we're shooting for.

[00:24:49]The one that Jeremy Wade caught, I believe, was 7 foot four.

[00:24:52]>> The measure of the beast. Seven foot. 1 2 3 4 7t 4 in.

[00:24:57]>> That's the one he caught in River Monsters. So hopefully you guys enjoyed.

[00:25:00]Click the subscribe button down below.

[00:25:01]We're going to go to sleep. We're waking up at like 5 in the morning. And um don't forget the meet and greet is on July 25th. Okay, here is the information right here. Do not forget about the meet and greet. If you guys come, we can literally talk about this exact story that was filmed 5 6 days before. I love you guys. Subscribe and we'll catch you on the river in France on the next episode of Fanatic. Peace. [music] >> Sounds like a literal boat motor.

[00:25:32]>> Is that Steph behind you?

[00:25:33]>> Yeah, that's Well, it's two steps, actually.

[00:25:36]>> I'm not going to lie, it would be kind of weird if Steph Curry did come to our house now. No, no, he knows. He knows that we have these.

[00:25:42]>> If he ever watched one of our videos, >> he watches the videos.

[00:25:45]>> No, he doesn't.

[00:25:46]>> He does because he texted me the other day and was like, "Good."

[00:25:49]>> I think from here to Greece is [snorts] quicker.

[00:25:52]>> What?

[00:25:53]>> Yeah.

[00:25:53]>> Yeah. But you live in Texas. I didn't go through there. I went from Jersey, >> which is closer to Greece.

[00:25:58]>> No, different climax in the air. So, obviously, it was a lot longer.

[00:26:02]>> So, this is your longest flight.

[00:26:05]>> No, it was a lot longer because the climax ratio was different in the air.

[00:26:09]All worded a different way. So this is the longest time you have flown in the air. That way you got it.

[00:26:14]>> Yeah.

[00:26:15]>> Got it.

[00:26:24]>> That was a nice car.

[00:26:25]>> What does that mean?

[00:26:26]>> Hello.

[00:26:28]>> What?

[00:26:29]>> A banana.

[00:26:32]This is what I'm bringing with me. It's literally this two different types of chapsticks and this crusty hairbrush, but it has hair ties on it. But I actually grabbed this as one of the things. I'm not even saying that, guys.

[00:26:46]>> Why is it your method?

[00:26:47]>> Um, I don't know. I just like want to marry the guy who made these. So, >> they're really good. Documentations of Jake going behind the scenes.

[00:26:55]>> Dude, you're wasting my footage. Listen to that.

[00:26:59]>> You can't go behind there. See, this is why we don't record him. And he records stuff because he breaks in.

[00:27:05]>> Who's gonna stop me?

[00:27:08]>> Oh, black betty. Bamb. Whoa. Black betty. Bamb. Black betty had a child.

[00:27:13]Bamb. The damn thing gone wild.

[00:27:18]>> Spain up 10. So, I'm sure everyone here is freaking out and they're very sad.

[00:27:24]>> Wait. Wait. You see that, guys?

[00:27:25]>> What?

[00:27:26]>> You see that on the banners? Wait. Come closer. Is that blue?

[00:27:29]>> Stop.

[00:27:30]>> Is that blue?

[00:27:31]>> No. Stop it. But they don't need to know that.

[00:27:33]>> Briton, why is why is it not orange?

[00:27:35]>> No.

[00:27:36]>> Britain, you you got to stop [music] crying.

[00:27:37]>> Why'd you put me in this position? It's a mixup. It was all right.