Fishing travel show Road Trip Angler is back on screen with its fifth season, which premiered on July 5, 2026, and is now rolling out across a long list of US broadcast and streaming outlets. For anyone who plans holidays around a rod and reel, the new season doubles as a ready-made route map across some of America's most productive — and less obvious — fisheries.
Host Jameson Redding fronts four episodes, and the itinerary is deliberately varied. The season opens in the Upper Midwest, with Redding fishing Lake Erie and Lake Michigan alongside local guides and the crew at Weldcraft Marine. The Great Lakes need little introduction: Erie in particular is famous for its walleye numbers, while Michigan offers everything from salmon to smallmouth depending on the season and shoreline.
From there the show heads south to St. Marks on Florida's so-called Forgotten Coast, a quieter stretch of the state's panhandle where Redding teams up with Chris Funk to target Suwannee Bass — a species with a very limited range, which makes it a genuine bucket-list catch for bass enthusiasts. The Florida leg continues along the Florida Adventure Trail, a combined camping, paddling and fishing expedition with Jesse Laspeyre and Brooks Beatty that showcases the state's backcountry as more than just a beach destination.
The finale lands on the Gulf Coast in Louisiana, fishing out of Pointe-aux-Chenes and Venice. These are heavyweight names in saltwater circles: Venice sits near the Mississippi River delta and is a launch point for both inshore action (redfish, speckled trout) and offshore runs for tuna and billfish, while Pointe-aux-Chenes offers classic marsh fishing in the bayous.
On screen, the season is available through an unusually wide spread of networks, including several NBC Sports regional channels (California, Boston, Philadelphia), Marquee Sports Network, Waypoint TV, World Fishing Network, Pursuit Channel, OutsideTV, Altitude Sports, FanDuel Sports Network and WildTV, among others. Availability varies by platform, so checking local listings is the practical first step.
Why should a traveller care? Because the series is built around real destinations and the guides who work them, not just fish catches. Each episode effectively packages a trip: where to launch, who to book with, and what the surrounding region offers beyond the water. Even if you never cast a line, the Forgotten Coast and Louisiana bayou segments make a strong case for swapping crowded Florida beaches for the state's quieter Panhandle towns, or adding a fishing charter to a New Orleans trip — Venice is only a couple of hours' drive from the city.
For anglers, the standout hook is the Suwannee Bass segment, since few travelling anglers have that species on their list, and St. Marks is one of the few places to realistically tick it off. For road-trippers, the Great Lakes to Gulf arc is a proper multi-week drive with distinctly different fishing at each stop.
Credit: Adventure Travel News
