Gav:
Anyone die doing this before?
Nobody's ever been killed. Just a few broken jaws.
Oh, joy.
This is one of the most mental things I've ever filmed.
Gav:
Whoa! Flippin'-A!
This is chaos.
Whoa, whoa! Oof!
That is one of my favorite things we've ever filmed.
Well, wasn't that a lovely day on the river?
Well, I mean, for you. You just sat on a boat having a nice day.
I was holding on for dear life getting hit in the face with fish.
- Getting pelted. My ideal day. - Oh, fine, yeah.
- No, it was quite fun. - My favorite clip, I think--
I think the one of you getting hit in the face.
Whoa, whoa! Oof!
- ( Gav laughs ) - Jesus.
We honestly couldn't have asked for a more perfect shot
- That's true. - than that one that just beaned you right in the head.
- Yeah. - And that is one of my favorites.
I also very much like this shot.
Something I noticed,
and you can see it if I zoom in,
as the fish lands on your life jacket,
a little bit of poo.
That is fish poo coming out of there.
Dan:
I wondered why I was getting covered in stuff.
I've never been pooed on by a fish.
Well, it's all well and good being hit in the face
- with flying fish and pooed on. - Well, it looks cool.
- Yeah. - But why are they jumping out of the water?
To find out, we spoke to a bloke called Jason.
So we might as well start with the basics. What makes these fish jump?
Well, there's a variety
of different things that can make fish jump.
These fish are more than likely jumping
to try and avoid what they perceive as a predation threat,
something trying to eat them.
What's actually causing them to respond
is the sound and pressure waves
that are coming off the hull of the boat
and, specifically, the boat motor.
- Interesting. - So the fish weren't always here.
They're not native to America.
They're called Asian carp. How did they actually get here then?
They were intentionally introduced into southern United States fish farms.
As those ponds were drained, some of the carp escaped.
Anything that's connected to the lower Mississippi River,
which is one of the largest rivers in the western hemisphere,
they're branching out and expanding.
So what's the worst thing about them?
- What kind of damage do they do? - From a social standpoint,
they worst thing they do is jump.
People have been injured, when a 6 to 16-pound fish
comes crashing into your person.
Yeah.
( grunts, groans )
The ecological problems that they cause
have a lot of us ecologists worried.
They eat plankton and other microscopic plants and animals
that most of the fish in the river depend on.
Right, so they're just, like--
they're nipping other fish in the bud before--
The worst case scenario is that they keep spreading unchecked.
So what can we do as humans to maybe start fixing this problem?
The easiest thing to do and the best thing to do is actually to eat them.
They taste good, they're good for you,
and you don't even have to be a good angler to catch them.
They jump in your boat. They volunteer.
- It's really the perfect fish. - Wait, so they taste good,
- they volunteer to be eaten. - Yeah.
You just need to change the name.
Just give it a more glamorous name, like a yum fish.
Dan: Yummy, yummy fish. That's it.
All right, thanks very much, Jason. Very informative.
- My pleasure. Thank you. - Thank you very much.
All right, back to you Gav and Dan.
Thanks, us. Well, you heard what he said.
More people have got to start eating these fish.
Obviously, I thought we'd do it our own way,
so I thought we'd slow cook them.
- I like what you've done there. - Thank you.
Very clever.
Here, we gotta chef up.
So while Dan is preparing this delicious Asian carp,
why don't we take a lovely slo-mo look at how we caught it?
- All right, rolling again. - All right, here we go.
Whoa!
Gav: That was a good attempt.
( Gav laughs )
Gav:
Dan:
'cause I had to--
Gav:
- Dan:
Gav:
I zoomed in for the reaction. It just...
Dan:
Gav:
Dan:
That, like, proper wiped me out.
I was just gone there.
Gav:
All right, if you scoop one out of the air with a net,
- that's 150 points. - That'd be boss.
Yeah. All right, let's get back on.
Whoa!
Whoa! Whoa!
- ( grunts ) Yeah! - Oh, he got it!
- He's got it! - I got him.
Got a big one.
( classical music playing )
( music playing )
Can you get off your phone while we're at dinner, please?
Sorry. I'm gonna go for the lemon.
Oh, God.
That's pretty good.
- Let's have a taste. - Solid.
Tastes like fish.
- Weird, that. - Yeah, it's good.
Well, I think we learned a lot about Asian carp today.
Yeah.
I like that I managed to get revenge on the fish
that hit me in the face and pooed on me there.
Oh, that's the one you caught? It came at you again and you caught him.
- Is that what happened? - Yeah.
Well, hopefully you enjoyed that episode of "Planet Slow Mo."
Be sure to check out more episodes of the show,
and subscribe to the Slow Mo Guys, if you'd like.
I'm just gonna crack open my fish.
Not real, sadly, that.
- Ooh! - Salt's real.
- Okay. - I got a bone.