Today we are on the Illinois River in Lacon.
- That's in America, Dan. - Oh, thanks.
What is the story with this river?
Well, in the '60s and '70s,
fish farmers thought it would be a good idea
to import Asian carp to eat all those unwanted plankton.
You know, plants, animals-- they're hungry boys.
Obviously, immediately escaped out into the river and trashed everything.
- Absolute nightmare. - Yeah.
And if you take a boat with a shiny bottom on this river,
apparently it startles the fish
and they just leap uncontrollably out of the water.
So we're gonna take our Phantom on a boat
and hopefully get some lovely slow-motion shots of flying fish.
You know they grow up to, like, a hundred pounds?
That's like you flying out of the river and damaging boats.
( laughing ) I'm not a hundred pounds.
All right, well, let's go suit up and meet the captain.
- Shall we? All right. - Yep.
Oh!
( music playing )
- Dan: How's it going? Captain Nate. - Nate: Good, good.
- How you guys doing? - Dan: Yeah, good.
First things first, though.
Anyone die doing this before? Anyone been killed by a fish?
Nate: Nobody's ever been killed. Just a few broken jaws,
broken noses, nothing too serious.
- What? - All right, let's go.
- Nice little day out on the boat. - Yeah, we'll see
if that's still the case when a fish knocks me out.
- So they are just in different spots? - Yeah.
And when you find a school, it's, like, crazy.
Yeah, once I get a school,
I like to circle around that school
and try to get 'em going as much as possible.
Rolling.
Whoa!
- Oh, I missed him. - I didn't see that one.
Gav: Yeah, yeah, whoa!
There was three or four there.
- Flippin'-A! - Oh! Oh!
- Fish! Gross! - Fish in the boat!
- Crap. - Get it.
- ( laughs ) - You're all right, pal.
What do you do?
( laughs ) What?
- Just chuck him out? - Chuck him out.
- There he goes. - So they poop in midair.
They don't have stomachs, so they just filter food all day long.
So when they jump out of the water, they defecate all over you.
So they break your jaw and then poo on you for good measure.
So when they land in your boat, they just start bleeding,
pooping, sliming.
Ah, the poop, bleed, slime fish. They do everything.
Yeah, yeah.
To the left. That's it. That's it.
That's what I'm talking about.
- Bloody hell. - ( chuckles )
Whoa!
- Oh, no! It's gone. - Hold on.
Oh, there's craploads in there.
Whoa!
- God. - All right, stop.
Stop, stop. Jesus.
All right, let's watch that back.
Dan:
That was crazy.
- Gav:
Gav:
Not in water.
- Gav:
That one's just right next to the camera.
- They're all trying to upstage each other. This one-- - Yeah.
Look at this one in the front. What a trollop. Look at that.
That's, like, ten feet in the air.
Serious hang time there.
Nice.
It's kind of majestic the way it was shot, as well.
You're getting it coming through the whole frame.
So we've been told that there's a channel marker over there on some rocks.
And if you take the boat around it,
that just fish will jump around.
So I'm gonna try and stand on the rocks,
and let's see if the fish will jump around me.
Nice and gentle. Love it.
Yeah. There we go.
- ( engine revving ) - Just say when.
- Ready, yeah. - All right.
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Jesus!
All right, stop.
( laughs )
Dan, we got, like, 15 fish in the air.
Whoa.
That was crazy.
Dan:
It was completely quiet. And then suddenly there was, like, 20 fish in the air.
I was just not expecting anything, and then suddenly I was scared for my life.
Gav:
so I looked away from you. Sorry.
You're only in the beginning of the shot.
-
Look how many! Jeez.
Gav:
eight, nine, ten, eleven.
Dan:
There was just fish flying everywhere.
Gav:
Dan:
'cause I was cowering. Yeah.
Gav:
Maybe we'll hit 'em up again a little bit later.
- Dan:
you're gonna need this and this.
Oh, joy.
- All right. Let's see about this. - Go for it.
Oh, God. This is not the most stable thing in the world.
How are you supposed to sit on this?
Nate: Just like that with your legs hanging out front.
- There you go. - Dan: Whoa!
All right, turning the Phantom on, Dan.
- Okay. - What are your thoughts about this?
I'm kind of nervous and excited at the same time.
- You'll be fine. - Great, he says that.
Rolling.
Whoa! Flippin'-A!
This is one of the most mental things I've ever filmed.
Oh, God.
Whoa-ho!
( grunts, groans )
( laughs ) All right, stop. Stop.
He's gone in.
- ( laughs ) - Oh, my God.
Gav:
There was like-- it was all coming up.
Look at you in the background of that.
-
Gav:
- Dan:
-
Dan:
Let's go full slow on this.
- Gav:
Dan:
He's just, like, presenting himself.
-
Dan:
If you think about my perspective, there was--
I couldn't see him. He came from the left.
He just landed on me.
Gav:
You look like you've been gunned down in battle by fish.
Dan:
because it's, like, a fish landing on me.
But in real time, it absolutely annihilated me.
- Yeah? - It's a small fish,
- but it did some damage. - Yeah.
So what I've changed, we're now on a much tighter lens
'cause you're gonna be trailing a little bit further back,
- and hopefully you get beaned. - ( Dan laughs )
If I get clocked by one of those, I might get knocked the clean out.
Well, let's see if it happens, shall we?
Oh, great, yeah.
- All right, we're good. - All right, here we go.
Oh!
Whoa!
Whoa, whoa!
Oof! Jesus.
( laughs ) All right, stop.
Whoa! Aah!
( Dan chuckles ) That was really scary.
In the amount of time it took you to swim back to the boat,
I've watched it, like, three times,
and I've just been laughing the whole time.
- Yeah, I heard you giggling. - Look, there it is.
- Oh, I see it. - Missile!
Gav:
-
Gav:
And it actually created a bunch of glittery mist in front of you.
Dan:
Gav:
It's right above you.
Dan:
Gav:
Look at your face!
Dan:
Oh, here it is.
- Gav:
- Brace for impact. - Gav:
It hit right on the lens of the GoPro.
Dan:
Look at this.
Perfectly.
Look at my head react.
-
( laughs )
The legs skewer!
That is one of my favorite things we've ever filmed.
- ( laughs ) - Just is, Dan.
Do you know, we didn't need the camera for that one,
'cause I actually saw it in slow-motion coming towards my face.
Whoa, whoa! Oof!
( slowed audio ) Whoa, whoa! Oof!
( slower audio ) Whoa, whoa! Oof!
Gav: Oh, look at that.
The sun's setting on our lovely day of fishing.
No, actually, it was more fun than fishing.
- It looked more entertaining than normal fishing. - It was fun.
If you'd told me, though, ten years ago
that I was gonna be stood on some rocks in the middle of the Illinois River
covered in slime, poo, blood, flying fish,
I'd have had a lot of questions.
- I love questioning those moments. - Yeah.
- How did my life end me up in this position? - Yeah.
Well, I think we got some lovely-looking footage.
Hopefully, you enjoyed that episode of "Planet Slow Mo,"
and you can click over here to watch more.
You can also subscribe. That's also over there.
Just figure everything out over there.
- You got some poo on there. - Yeah, I'm covered in poo.
I'm gonna get a shower.