In his brief time as a gonzo fisherman, “Showtime” Eric Young has caught a lemon shark from a paddleboard, free-dived beneath the ice-capped waters of the St. Lawrence River for small-mouth bass and used his hand for bait while wrestling a catfish in a Tennessee lake. He even caught a 7-foot nurse shark using pantyhose stuffed with fish guts.

But the host of the Animal Planet series “Off the Hook: Extreme Catches” said nothing compares to what he and the network have dubbed Hawaii’s deadliest catch: the mighty opihi.

The Animal Planet series will debut its second season at 5 p.m. today with an all-Hawaii episode — titled “Hawaiian Lu-Ow!” — that pushed Young to his limits. The 33-year-old Young traveled to the Big Island to pry opihi from a slippery, rocky shoreline where he was repeatedly hammered by crashing surf.

He loved it, too.

“It’s an adrenaline rush, and I would say that is the most dangerous thing we have done on the show,” said Young by phone from New York City, where he’s on a press tour. “If you have ever been in a fight with the ocean, I can tell you that you will never win.”

Because opihi are typically found along the rocky shore, those who desire the delicacy are often in harm’s way. Opihi gatherers are regularly swept off the rocks to their death, a reality explained to Young beforehand.

But to keep the “real” in the reality show, Young doesn’t want to know too much beforehand, he said. He wants to learn things at the same time the viewer does. This episode was no different.

“I’m a layman, and I want to experience it from the viewer’s point of view,” he said. “I haven’t done any of this stuff before, so I am asking about it and learning it for the first time on camera. It makes the show more interesting.”

Young’s trip to Hawaii also found him free-diving for octopus. He started in 30 feet of water and wound up diving to 70 feet on a single breath of air. To watch Young — who at 5-foot-10, 240 pounds is built like a brick oven — is amazing. He’s not built for that kind of endurance and has been on free-diving outings only three other times.

Getting to the bottom is easy, said Young, who’s a strong swimmer. Getting back to the surface is the hard part.

“I was impressed even with myself,” he said. “I think the free-diving episodes are my favorite to make. They are the most physically challenging for me. Diving for eight to 10 hours a day is super-exhausting.”

BEFORE THE series, Young was better known as one of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling’s top competitors. He’s been a wrestler for 16 years and schedules matches around the shooting schedule for “Off the Hook.” He lives in Nashville, Tenn., but travels much of the year.

Born and raised in Ontario, Young grew up fishing with his father. His father was so excited when he was born that one of the first things he told his mother was now he had a full-time fishing buddy.

“A lot of my memories of him when I was young are of me and him fishing together,” Young said. “I can’t remember catching a lot, but we had an opportunity to bond and spend time together.”

Young brings a great deal of comedy to the show, but he’s always been a showman at heart, he said.

“Getting into wrestling and getting into TV, for me it was never about getting famous or being recognized or making lots of money,” Young said. “It was about entertaining people, and I have been that way since I was little. If there was a crowd of people, I would pretend to fall down or run into a tree or anything to make people laugh.”

“Off the Hook” seems to appeal to a wide range of viewers, Young said — men, women, children. He was once stopped in an airport by a father and his 12-year-old daughter, fans who were “over-the-moon excited to take a picture with me.”

The show succeeds because it’s more about entertainment than serious fishing, Young said.

“It is about fishing, but the truth is, it is a television show first,” Young said. “If you want to watch a show about swivel hooks and braided lines and new rods, well, that is not what we do. Our show is about having a good time.”

AND that’s a wrap …

Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.