Thanks to high-flying fly-fishing memoirists like former Times executive editor Howell Raines and writer Peter Kaminsky, the sport has become glamorous enough for its own reality-TV show. Jason Puris, 35, son of advertising guru Martin Puris, “pitched the idea to someone at a birthday party who immediately made a call.” He says Guide House, which will air on ESPN2, is “like The Real World for fishing.” It follows five Montauk fishing guides who all share a house. “As opposed to most fishing shows, which is two rednecks in a boat, this show really gets in the minds of these people,” says Puris, revealing the guides’ thoughts on clients like Raines and actor Ed Burns. Of Kaminsky, Captain Brendan McCarthy said, “I’ll take his roast-leek-and-potato salad before counting on him to bring home fish for dinner!” Kaminsky says McCarthy “may have been being ironic.”

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• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Shana Liebman
• Table of Contents: Apr 10, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!