On Saturday, July 3, from 7-10 p.m. ET, Elite Series pro Stephen Browning will be featured in a National Geographic special on the Mississippi River. Browning and two other adventurers will share their journey from last fall down the Mississippi in three hour-long episodes beginning in the headwaters of Lake Itasca in Minnesota.
Throughout their 40-plus-day journey, the three men stopped at historical locations and met with locals whose lifeblood is the river.
"The coolest thing about it to me was getting to know some of the people who make their living on the river," Browning said. "The fact that it's so volatile makes that even more impressive. I mean, you felt like you had some control in the locks in the upper portion of the river, but once you got out of them, Mother Nature took over and you really feel the power of the river. It was the beauty up north and the beast down south."
The trio used a variety of water craft to make their way south. They began with a 100-mile, four-day paddle in a canoe, then got in an aluminum Triton boat with a Mercury jet drive for about 450 miles, and finished the remaining 1,800 miles to the Gulf of Mexico in a Tracker cabin pontoon boat.
Browning did manage to do some fishing in along the way.
"In the upper end, we caught pike, smallmouth, catfish and fished for musky, but the best part was getting down to the Gulf and catching those redfish," he said.
Tune in:
Saturday, July 3, 7-10 p.m. ET on National Geographic channel.