Dean Ween Takes His Fishing Hobby to the Web

Posted on Sep 24th 2008 3:00PM by David Chiu
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When he is not playing rock 'n' roll, Mickey Melchiondo, a.k.a. Dean Ween of the band Ween, partakes in the recreational activity of fishing. Rock music and fishing may seem like total opposites, but for Mechiondo both activities serve a purpose.

"It's the same thing as music," Melchiondo tells Spinner of fishing, "I forget where I am, I forget who I am ... it doesn't get more relaxing. I like them both for the same reason because it's a release."

Ween fans were probably aware of Melchiondo's interest in fishing through the group's website where Melchiondo posted photos under its 'Waste' section. "It turned into be my fishing report section for Ween.com," he says, "and I felt like, 'Well I don't want to take over our website with my own personal folly.'"

Melchiondo, who has fished since he was a child, has now parlayed his hobby into an online website in which he writes and posts photos of his fishing. Then he began to film clips of himself and his friends on their fishing excursions, which has morphed into his online series, 'Brownie Troop Fishing Show.'

"I love it," Melchiondo says. "It was something I did anyway all the time as a hobby and now it has benefited my hobby."

The program is mainly shot in New Jersey and the Delaware. Various episodes captures Melchiondo either catching a shad from a boat, or fishing for small shark on the beach. "[Our show] is a lot of fun," he says, "and it's more like what fishing is really like for the average Joe. It's a bunch of guys having fun, drinking beer and catching fish."

Six episodes are on currently on the site; one features a guest appearance by the Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes, who catches a 25-pound fish on a boat with Melchiondo. "I've known Gibby for a while now," says Melchiondo. "He can do anything. A lot of people wouldn't expect this but he's very athletic." As for another possible guest, he says: "I'm trying to get George Clinton out with me on the river in my crappy little boat. That's my next goal."

His other objectives are to catch a 50-pound striped bass and perhaps a 1,200- pound black marlin in Australia for the series. "My goals for it right now are the catch the most bad ass species that there are in this country," he says, "trying to catch some gigantic sturgeon up in Idaho ... whatever each region has the best of."

Melchiondo has also launched the 'Brownie Troop S--- Derby,' a competition in which people are invited to submit photos of their biggest catch. "I wanted it to be something that anyone can compete in. It was just so ridiculous the whole idea of it. It's kind of like the anti-tournament."

He is going to continue on with the fishing series while he and his musical partner Aaron Freeman (a.k.a. Gene Ween) are taking a break after completing Ween's 16-month tour. (Their last album was 2007's 'La Cucaracha.') While he regularly fishes, Melchiondo doesn't kill what he catches -- he usually throws the fish back into the water. He says he doesn't like to eat fish.

"If there is a steak on the menu, or tuna or salmon, I'll always order a steak," he explains. "The more I fish, the more turned off I am by the idea of keeping one and killing it. I like the idea of letting it go and catching it again next year when it's a foot bigger."