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By: Tim Donaldson
“In His Own Words” - Up Close & Personal with
Brian Fisher of Fisher’s ATV World
Continued from page 1
Brian & Melissa 1st year anniversary
open house. |
ATVSource: Where do you get the ideas for the
show? Inspirations? Do you ever get “Writer’s
Block”?
Brian: We receive a lot of requests for shows
through email and also get ideas from riders at
events we attend. After five years of owning an
ATV business and talking with thousands of
customers, we feel like we have a pretty good
grip on what people might be looking for. We
have production meetings every Tuesday and
everyone is always on the lookout for a good ATV
story for the show. We always welcome our
viewers’ ideas and suggestions because there’s
always room for improvement, we know. We feel
that people watch television to be entertained.
They also like to gain a little knowledge and
stay up on the industry news. That’s exactly
what we try to give them. As for “writer’s
block,” the majority of our show is “reality
based” so a lot of what you see is me being
myself out on the trail. I’m just taking you, my ridin’ buddies, along for the ride! It’s all
“off the cuff” so to speak!
ATVSource: How many people are involved in
making the show? The number of staff, etc.?
Brian: We’ve got about twelve people on
the Fish Staff that make this all happen, and
they do a phenomenal job if I must say so
myself!
ATVSource: What’s your typical entourage on a
trip? We normally see Brian and others on the
show, but how many people are actually on the
trail that we don’t see making it all happen?
Brian: I usually take along at least two to
three people on every trip. There are normally
two to three video cameras running at all times.
Sometimes I take an extra person along to take
still photography as we’re getting more into
doing show promo posters, calendars, events,
brochures, and website stuff. Melissa usually
travels with us and does a lot of the producing.
She’s one of the best videographers we’ve got,
too! My other three videographers/photographers
include Bone, J.C. and Greg.
Brian at Hatfield & McCoy Trails |
ATVSource: Is it difficult to stage the shots
while everyone is driving by?
Brian: No, not really. We’ve got this down to a
science and use two-way radios a lot on the
trail riding shots.
ATVSource: Depending on your pace, is it
difficult to manage your family? Does
scheduling permit a “traditional” lifestyle?
Brian: You know, we get this question all the
time. I tell everyone that “we’re showing our
kids that nothing JUST happens for you in this
life…you need to MAKE IT HAPPEN!” They are
not deprived, in the least. Melissa’s mother
(their grandmother) comes to our home, when
we’re out of town and takes good care of them!
During the summer when they do not have school,
they get to travel with us a lot. I guess it’s
not the “traditional” lifestyle that you would
call normal, but who wants to be normal. I
worked in a printing factory for twelve years
and they pretty much owned my time. I remember
several years that I had to work twelve hour
days on Thanksgiving and Christmas and be away
from my family. Now, I control my time. If our
kids have something going on, I’m there. I’m
also there most mornings to make the kids’
breakfast and see them off to school! If I was
still at that printing company, I would be gone
before they awoke and then I’d be home just
before they get tucked into bed! I’m very happy
with our “lifestyle!” Our kids know now
that they can do anything they set their minds
to if they’re willing to work hard and NEVER
GIVE UP!
ATVSource: I’ve noticed from recent shows that
your entire family is involved in the trips.
Nice!
Brian: We get a lot of emails and comments from
people that we meet on the road about how much
they enjoy seeing our kids on the show. Many
people have even commented about watching them
grow up on the show. My oldest son Tyler (who is
now 15) made his first appearance on the show
three years ago, when I set up his first ever
deer hunt at age 12 in Missouri with country
music artist Tracy Lawrence as our special
guest. He had an unbelievable time! When he shot
his first buck, I don’t know who was more
excited, him or ME! It was incredible! We used
this show as a way to educate our viewers on
hunting with ATVs. We also ran a story around
that same time of a camping trip we did with all
three of our kids in Ohio. We produced this show
to cover riding ATVs with kids. Since then, our
kids have grown up quite a bit and been on the
show several times. They get to see (and
appreciate) all the hard work that goes into
making it!
ATVSource: How long have you been riding ATVs?
Why did you choose ATVs over other motorsports
vehicles (motorcycles)?
Brian: I’ve always lived in the country, so
dabbling in powersports is something we just do
from kids on up. I can remember my first ATV was
actually an ATC when they first came out–the
Honda 200X to be exact. Man, did we have fun on
those three-wheelers! Then, when the four
wheelers/ATVs came out, I was hooked! I’ve
ridden dirt bikes lots of times, but I really
enjoy riding ATVs much more than motorcycles. I
also had a few street bikes in my time, too. I
really am more partial to the utility ATVs, over
the sport quads. They serve a lot more purposes
than just recreational riding, too!
Brian in Mexico |
ATVSource: Have you ever had any accidents or
close calls? How did that impact your view of
ATV riding?
Brian: I’m pretty careful, but I like to have
fun just like any other guy. I guess the
accident that sticks out in my mind would have
to be the shoot that we were on with Dirt Wheels
in the Imperial Sand Dunes where I was riding a
Kawasaki KFX700 with some new sand tires from
ITP that we were testing out. Now if you’ve
never ridden in the sand dunes, this is one
experience you gotta do. It’s incredible. The
dunes we were riding on were higher than you
could even imagine–like mountains in the desert.
We were all having some fun, and I rode this
KFX700 to the top and was making a sharp turn to
roost the sand for a shot my cameraman was
getting. When I turned and hit the gas to roost,
those ITP tires hooked up and shot me off the
ATV. This dune was so high that both I and my
ATV started flipping down. Everything came to a
halt, and all I remember is sitting there
wondering what state I was in. Those guys got a
big kick out of that once they knew that I was
all right. Other than that, everything else was
pretty minor.
I took the courses to become an ASI Instructor
and a DCNR Instructor and can honestly say that
I’ve learned a few things from taking these
courses. I really think most ATV Accidents
happen when people are doing things that they
shouldn’t be doing like driving an ATV while
they’re drinking or riding in an area where
they’re not supposed to be riding. It’s just
like any other sport that you do, there’s gonna
be accidents. How many car accidents happen each
day…guess that’s why they call them accidents?
Doesn’t mean I’m gonna turn in my driver’s
license and quit driving! Same goes with riding
an ATV!
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