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Pastime Charles Charlesworth, Clarks Summit, learned to honor his father made him an East Coast pro.
Charlie Charlesworth, shown above, is the host of the fly fishing show “Fly Fishing Top 2 Bottom.” The show has been nominated for the “Sportsman Choice Awards 2010,” in the category of best fishing show and favorite personality.
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CLARKS SUMMIT – Over the past 11 years, Charlie Charlesworth has gone from novice fly fisherman to professional, and area residents have had the chance to watch the transformation.
The Clarks Summit resident is the host of the fly fishing show “Fly Fishing Top 2 Bottom,” which airs Mondays at 12:30 p.m., Thursdays at 5 p.m. and Saturdays at 10:30 p.m., on the Sportsman Channel.
Broadcast to 35 million households, the show, which takes Charlesworth and a different co-host all around the world fly fishing, has found a loyal audience and has recently been nominated for the “Sportsman Choice Awards 2010,” in the category of best fishing show and favorite personality.
Fans of the show can go to http://www.votesportsman.com/ to vote the show as best fishing show and Charlesworth for favorite personality.
Charlesworth described the show as a gradual growth from his first fly fishing show, “Fly Fishing Northeast PA,” which ran on PAX Television.
“I worked for Channel 16 and we ran the PAX TV station,” said Charlesworth. “We had a hunting show that went belly up in the middle of the season and we had no replacement for it.”
“We did a round table discussion…and then somebody asked me what my hobbies were.”
From there, the show was born, and well- received, eventually being picked up by 10 different stations between here and Boston. The show’s name changed to “Fly Fishing Northeast” and continued to eventually grow into “Fly Fishing Top 2 Bottom.”
Originally the show featured Charlesworth, a novice fly fisherman, getting together each week with a professional fly fisherman, so he and the audience could learn a few things.
After 11 years on the air, things have changed. Charlesworth can hold his own with the best of them, and he and his co-host from episode to episode are now of equal skill.
His progression at the sport is somewhat impressive, if only for the reason it almost didn’t happen at all. As a young man he said he had no desire to engage in the pastime.
“It’s a very odd story. I never liked fishing, my father (Charles Sr.) was a fly fisherman, I thought it was boring and as a teenager he would try to get me to go with him and I wouldn’t go along,” said Charlesworth.
“In 1989 my father passed away, and I inherited his fly rod. My father was my best friend, so as a tribute to him I went and took some fly fishing lessons and have been doing it ever since.”
For more information on “Fly Fishing From Top 2 Bottom,” visit http://flyfishingtop2bottom.tv/.
To vote for the show as best fishing show, or Charlesworth as best host in the “Sportsman Choice Awards 2010,” go to http://www.votesportsman.com.