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Interview with Manoj Sood
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Although he plays the conservative yet wacky Baber on TV's Little Mosque on the Prairie, actor Manoj Sood is hardly moderate in real life when it comes to angling.
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By Bob Sexton
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Although he plays the conservative yet wacky Baber on TV's Little Mosque on the Prairie, actor Manoj Sood is hardly moderate in real life when it comes to angling. At one time a fly-fishing purist-he mastered the sport as a boy growing up in Calgary after emigrating from Kenya with his family-Sood has since broadened his repertoire and is now a fan of all styles of fishing.
>> ON CATCHING THE FISHING BUG
I've been fishing since I was in Grade 3. We lived in Calgary and my parents moved to a new house very close to the Bow River. I'd take my dog down there and I'd see all these people fishing, and I instantly became obsessed with it. Whenever my parents would let me, I was down there, trying to catch a fish, peppering the fishermen with questions. I basically started fly fishing before anything else because that's what people were doing down there.
>> ON HIS FISHING MENTORS
Luckily, I met some famous old-timers in Calgary, including one guy who used to run a tackle store. I'm not sure what happened to him, but he was one of those guys who were so eager to share information. All the fishermen I'd meet down there were really friendly. They were really welcoming. Maybe they liked the fact that a little kid was so keen on their sport.
>> ON BECOMING PROFICIENT
As I got into it, I realized that what I like about fishing is that you become so absorbed in the process. When you're doing woodwork or some kind of hobby where you're using your hands and your brain a lot, nothing else exists but the process of what you're doing. I find that to be very relaxing. I think when you're so keen on something, you learn it very well and you become very good at it. And we all like doing things we're good at.
>> ON his angling preferences
I grew up as a fly-fisherman and would never touch spinfishing, but in the last 10 years I went back to the attitude that fishing is supposed to be fun. And now I fly fish, I spinfish, I baitcast for bass. I do it all. My favourite kind of fishing is still dry-fly fishing for trout, but I've also really come to love bass fishing with tubes and such.
>> ON FISHING AS A TEACHING TOOL
The first time I took my son fishing, I took him bass fishing on [B.C.'s] Salt Spring Island. All I had to give him was a little bobber and a worm. He was only four or five years old, but every single cast he'd catch either a perch or a bass. He thought, “Hey, fishing is fantastic.” We went back to the same spot two months later and we caught three fish in the whole weekend. So, he learned about the reality of life. As the quote goes, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a-flying. And this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.” It's a real lesson for kids.
Little Mosque on the Prairie airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC Television.
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