An outdoors show in the '60s used "Gone fishin' instead of just a-wishin'" for their theme song. Anyone remember the name of th

[MLH]

An outdoors show in the '60s used "Gone fishin' instead of just a-wishin'" for their theme song. Anyone remember the name of the show? It slipped my mind.

[buckhunter]

I'm way to young to answer this MLH. Ha ha ha...

[huntnow]

Bill Dance's theme song is 'Gone Fishin', may be coincidental though.

[santa]

No, but I just listened to Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong sing it on the net and I like it !!!!

[Bassmasterking]

never heard of it..

[Jere Smith]

Harold Ensley in Missouri Mostly Lasted into the 80's, I don't know if he is still living or not.

[MLH]

Just rub it in while you can buckhunter - your turn will come. )

Moishe, you might be right - "The Sportsman's Friend." Makes sense since I lived in Kansas back then. But, I don't remember the lyrics the same. But ... some other memories aren't so clear anymore either.

[Beekeeper]

MLH,

It was the Sportsman's Friend with Harold Ensley. The show aired down south as well and was a Saturday afternoon favorite of mine when I was a kid. Sorry about the kid part... but it was a long time ago! LOL!

[westtxwoman1]

Sadly, Harold Ensley died in 2005. He was 92 and you can hear an interview with his daughter by going to the NPR website and typing in his name. I grew up watching his program and because of him and my Dad, became an avid fisherwoman! I can still sing "Gone Fishin" and I can see him putting his sign on the mantle to this day. He always ended by saying (after talking about some lake or fish) "That gets my fever up and when Ensley's fever gets up, if anybody asks where he is you tell 'em the last you saw him, he had gone fishin." Gone fishin, instead of just a'wishin.

[Carol Corey Creeger]

I graduated from Junction City Senior High in 1967, Harold Ensley was our speaker. I just remember singing "gone Fishin' instead of just a wishin... Don't remember what he said...

[Derald Eastman]

I lived in Kansas City from 1959 until 1967 and always tried to catch his programs. My dad was a hunter in SouthWest Kansas and told me more than once he thought Harold Ensley had the best job in the World. I had a chance to visit with Harold in Costa Rica while he was filming a show at a Fishing Camp on the Rio Parsmina {sp?] I think it was 1991 or 1992

[sarondani]

I'm way to young to answer this MLH. Ha ha ha...

All,
It was Virgil Ward's Championship fishing show. I do not know about the 60's, but it was definitely on in the 70's. I grew up in the Chicago area, and this show was televised on Saturday mornings. This was DEFINITELY the theme song to his show. Go on YouTube and you can see for yourself.

[sarondani]

All, It was Virgil Ward's Championship fishing show. I do not know about the 60's, but it was definitely on in the 70's. I grew up in the Chicago area, and this show was televised on Saturday mornings. This was DEFINITELY the theme song to his show. Go on YouTube and you can see for yourself.
sarondani - 18 Feb 2016 2:00 pm

[otterrick]

"The Sportsman's Friend" with host Harold Ensley. My dad and I always watched it on WIBW 13 TV Topeka, Kansas. "Gone Fishin'... " was the theme song.

[robert574]

I used to watch the show when I grew up in SW Missouri. It was Harold Ensley that taught me how to cast when I was at camp years ago. I can still remember him coming out and putting on a show for all of us around the camp fire. He would set metal pails around at a pretty good distance and he would take a pole and cast a sinker into anyone of them you called out. Pretty impressive. Sometime around 1994 (after college) I was walking through Walmart in Springdale AR. I turned a corner in sporting goods and there was Harold with a long table, newspapers, fish, pails of water and fillet knife in hand. He was teaching people how to fillet a fish without getting any of the fishy taste in the meat. I remember him trying to get a woman walking by to pick up a fillet he made with her fingers and she didn't want to touch it. Harold picked up the fillet with the tip of his knife and told her to take it. She refused and he put it on the paper next to her. He said "pick it up". She didn't want to touch it. He said it again and moved it closer to her. After a few times she picked it up and was holding it away from her with her finger tips. She said she didn't like the smell of fish. Harold said "smell it". What? Smell it. She finally did and he said what's it smell like? She smelled it again and said "I don't smell anything". Harold said "That's right, fish meat doesn't smell". The smell is on the outside of the fish and you put it on the meat when you clean it. It's all about keeping your knife clean, the fish on clean newspaper and keeping the meat way from the outside of the skin. Clean the area every time before you lay the fish back down. What an interesting guy Harold was. We talked for quite a while. He had his own line of fishing equipment with his name on it that Walmart sold. That was the last time I ever saw him. He was one of the nicest people you could ever meet.