Airdronian Wes David is doing what he can to help Canadians fall in love with the sport of fishing.

David, the producer and host of "Fishing the Wild West TV" has recently partnered with Core-Mark to sell fishing tackle inspired by his favourite lures for certain areas.

He said growing up on a cattle ranch just outside of Bieseker, the rodeo had a huge part in his life before he went into the world of fishing.

"My dad was a professional calf roper and my mom was a barrel racer. Eventually, I started riding steers and then became a professional bull rider."

Unfortunately due to injuries, David had to retire from bull riding, and that's when fishing became a bigger part of his life.

"When I was done rodeoing I thought I was missing the thrill of competition, so I started going to walleye tournaments. I found that I wasn't missing so much the thrill of competition, I was missing the camaraderie of sport."

David started winning all kinds of fishing tournaments and that's how he ended up hosting and producing his own fishing show and writing for wildlife magazines. 

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Now entering its ninth season, David talked about facing challenges when it comes to the time frame of filming compared to US shows.

"The US shows get 9-10 months to do their episodes. I get five, so our schedule this year is May 5 to October 5."

According to David, his show reaches a broad audience, hitting the TV screens of 18.1 million households throughout North America,

"When I originally designed the show, there weren't a lot of fishing shows on the prairie provinces for anglers. Our goal has always been to help people catch one more fish."

David also talked about how with most of his episodes, he films at lakes where an everyday angler can go and fish at the same spot he was at, making the show more relatable for his audience. 

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Travelling is a big part of what he does as last year he spent 126 days out on bodies of water around western Canada fishing and filming for the show.

Expanding on his goal of helping Canadians catch one more fish, David has partnered with Core-Mark to make it easier for everybody to use his picks of lures and baits to make it easier for everybody to start fishing.

Specific to each region and their types of fish, certain convenience stores will hold his favourite items, that work best for the top three species in the area. His lures will be available to the public starting May 5, 2024.

"You walk into a tackle store and there's thousands of different rods or different baits. I've simplified it and brought it down to what you need for that specific area. Let's just say here in a convenience store in Alberta will not be the same products you see in Vancouver"

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When asked what his favourite fish to catch is and where his favourite watering hole is in Alberta the answer came quickly.

"My favorite species is walleye and that's just because that's what got me here today. The southern Alberta reservoirs are incredible and in my opinion, one of the best wildlife fisheries in Alberta is Lac La Biche.

One of David's greatest achievements was becoming the first Canadian fisherman to be signed by Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's and Tracker Boats.

A heavy-duty mechanic by trade, David said it is way easier to get up at 4 a.m. to go fishing than run a service truck. Something a lot of fishermen would aspire to do on the daily. 

"Part of what I learned from rodeo was that It's not always going to be easy to chase your goals and dreams. But if you don't chase them, someone else is going to."

David also wanted to thank everybody who has helped make fishing his job and his dreams come true. 

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