The always gracious and lovely Henry Winkler stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday night, fresh off his latest Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the role of washed-up actor Gene Cousineau in HBO’s Barry.
But of course, anytime Winkler shows up these days, he’s asked about his fishing hobby — as anyone who has ever taken a gander at his prolific Twitter account is probably familiar with. The 76-year-old actually just returned from a fishing trip to Jimmy Kimmel’s Snake River fishing lodge in Idaho — though he made sure to clarify to guest host Anthony Anderson that he hadn’t been invited, but made a reservation just like anyone else.
“It is one of the greatest fisheries in America, honestly,” Winkler told Anderson, who held up a photo of one of his prize catches. “That fish is the largest fish I’ve ever caught. It is 24 inches long — it’s a brown which originally came from Germany.”
“Yeah, mine’s brown too,” quipped Anderson, causing Winkler to take a few moments to compose himself.
But when asked if he eats the fish he catches, Winkler responded with an emphatic no. “I take a picture, I give it a kiss, I sign a laminated Fonzie photo, put it in its mouth,” he explained, making a motion that he then sends the fish on its way. “But let me tell you, I am one happy person there.”
“All catch and release,” he continued as Anderson held up additional photos, which Winkler waved at as if he was greeting old friends. “Because they are so majestic I will not eat a trout in a restaurant … they are so beautiful and so much fun, they give me and they give Stacey my wife so much joy.”
Find something in life that gives you anywhere near as much joy as fish give Henry Winkler. But in a wholesome, absolutely not The Boys type of way, as if that needed clarifying.