Friday Film Festival 02.04.11

Welcome to another edition of the OrvisNews.com Friday Film Fest, in which we scour the Internets for the best fly-fishing footage available. We’ve got a lucky set of seven videos to keep you warm for the weekend (or, if you can’t wait, at lunchtime today). Every day brings us closer to the opening of trout season in the north, and I’m starting to get the itch to wade into the Battenkill. Until then, watching others fishing in spectacular locations will have to do. Enjoy!

Fly Fishing Media from ErdemAs on Vimeo.

We kick things off this week with an an amazing video from Norway—the trailer for a film called “The Brown Trout and the Mayfly.” The footage of both trout and mayflies hatching is astonishing, and the closeup views of insects going through the stages of life are illuminating. There are lots of good underwater shots of feeding trout, too. According to the filmmaker’s website, it took four years to make the film.

A.J. landing his first Colorado Brookie from Green Dog Pictures on Vimeo.

Next up is another film about birth—this time the birth of a fly fisherman. Few things bring a smile to the lips like watching a youngster cast to, hook, and land his first trout. I can still remember my very first trout on a fly, and I hope to have an experience much like the one shown here this summer, when I will introduce my 8-year-old son to my favorite mountain brook-trout stream.

Guides Day from SHALLOW WATER EXPEDITIONS on Vimeo.

If you’ve never really thought much about casting flies for redfish, be prepared for that to change. This gorgeous video from Florida Panhandle-based guide David Mangum features stunning morning light, footage of redfish frolicking in water that barely covers their backs, and the excitement of angling failure and then redemption. I’ve cast to redfish just once in my angling career, but this video has moved the species higher up on my “To Do Soon” list.

Trout Fever- Fly Fishing for giant rainbows from Jay Jones on Vimeo.

This video features some great footage of feeding and leaping trout—big ones—and captures one of those moments when a fish does something so strange and unexpected that it leaves the anglers scratching their heads and wondering how much they really know about trout. WARNING: There is a single excretory curse word in this video (at 1:46), but it is spoken through a smile and in a situation in which many of us would find its use appropriate.

Man Catches Ferrari from Carwell Casswell on Vimeo.

Fly fishermen are fond of their exaggerations, and here’s a video—from English graphic designer and fanatical angler Steve Edge—that takes such talk literally. If you’re wondering why he’s dressed like that, he explains his sartorial choices here. (And check out that reel collection!)

Another Scandinavian filmmaker, this time from Sweden, Johan Klingberg enters this week’s festival with a look at different ways to fish wet flies. He travels to England, Norway, and his native country to ask expert anglers for tips and tactics. I don’t know about you, but I probably don’t fish wet flies nearly enough, based on the lessons here.

Fly fishing barbel/Barbos con mosca from barbosconmosca.com on Vimeo.

We wrap things up with a video about casting for Mediterranean barbel (Barbus meridionalis) in Spanish lakes. Barbel fishing is very popular in Europe, but the species is most often targeted by bait fishermen. From the looks of the action here, barbel are every bit as tough to handle as our common carp.