Ice Age Predator is the sixth episode of the first season of Jeremy Wade's Dark Waters.
Episode Description[]
Tales of monstrous, man-sized pike have persisted in Europe for generations. Now, Jeremy Wade is on a journey to catch this prehistoric monster, starting in the lakes of Ireland and leading to unfished waters near the Arctic Circle in Sweden.
Episode Summary[]
Reports of giant Northern Pike hail from a lake in Ireland. These reports have mostly been dismissed as mis-identification or mere legend. However, after hearing reports from these people themselves, Jeremy begins to consider that these reports may be based on fact.
The Northern Pike in Ireland apparently developed their own unique gene pool at the end of the last Ice Age, as they were sealed off from other populations. This unique pool may have allowed them to supersize into true giants.
The Northern Pike was the first river monster that Jeremy ever caught, so this investigation into a potential large individual took on true meaning for him. Learning that many of these fish were gone from the lakes of Ireland due to an extermination attempt, Jeremy searched for a place that may have had similar conditions. This place was Sweden.
Jeremy headed to Stockholm, and fished around some of the lakes, but he soon realized that he needed to travel to more remote territory. Heading toward the Arctic Circle, Jeremy was able to find someone who was interested in his idea that the Pike in Sweden have a unique gene pool. Jeremy sent a tissue sample of a small one he caught back for study, and had his suspicions confirmed.
Now Jeremy had only to catch a monster. He convinced his guide to take him into the remote lands of northern Sweden. This region is cut off from the rest of the world, so Jeremy and his guide would have to be extremely careful, because if something went wrong, there would be no one to help them. As they pushed deeper into unexplored and unfished territory, their boat ran aground. They were able to push it off into slightly deeper water. Here was where possibly no human had ever been before.
Jeremy cast into the small lake, and hooked what felt like a decent sized Pike. Jeremy managed to haul it in, and finally see one of these mutant giants in the flesh. The Northern Pike was the first monster Jeremy ever caught, and now after decades had past, he finally got a chance to see that these isolated gene pools locked away since the last Ice Age had lived on.
Animals Featured[]
Locations Featured[]
- Ireland