Welcome to another edition of the OrvisNews.com Friday Film Festival, in which we scour the Web for the best fly-fishing footage available. This week’s collection features a baker’s dozen videos from at least six countries—from Australia to France to Turks & Caicos to Canada—and U.S. footage from Alaska to the Southeast. Saltwater and warmwater anglers will find plenty to feed their addictions, including one of my new “bucket list” species, the Murray cod from the Land Down Under. There’s a lot of style here, as the editors of these videos try to squeeze the most out of the footage available, and the results are impressive. One of my favorite shots features perhaps the world’s most relaxed snapping turtle. Look for it. Remember, we surf so you don’t have to. But if you do stumble upon something great that you think is worthy of inclusion in a future FFF, please post it in the comments below. See you next week with a fresh set of films!
Nothing beats fly-fishing with good buddies who can take a joke, have a good time, and still focus on catching fish. This collection of outtakes from a season on the water fulfills the promise of the opening panel: it makes me wanna fish with these guys.
CATCH & RELEASE from Chris Campbell on Vimeo.
Speaking of outtakes. . .here’s a piece of sweet footage that ended up on the cutting floor, when photographer Chris Campbell was making a redfish video. So he re-edited it in super slo-mo and added hypnotic music. The results are mesmerizing. Make sure you watch it in full screen and HD.
Big Appetite Small Mouth DVD Trailer from Mangled Fly Media on Vimeo.
In my opinion, we don’t get enough really good smallmouth footage for the FFF, so I ask all bronzeback anglers and aspiring filmmakers to get on the stick this summer. Here’s some smallie goodness from western Michigan, featuring some hard strikes, big jumps, and a turtle hanging on a log.
The Leprechaun and the Yeti from Yukon Goes Fishing on Vimeo.
We’ve featured so many Yukon Goes Fishing films, it seems silly to introduce them anymore. Y’all know what you’re gonna get: great editing, cool music, and gorgeous Montana trout.
No fish today from Julien on Vimeo.
So. . .you went fishing and didn’t catch anything. Do you pout? Not this guy. He goes home and edits together a beautiful little film that actually celebrates his fishless day. Good on him, making the best of the skunking.
A Winter Shorty from CP Flyfishing on Vimeo.
Winter fly fishing requires a certain mindset. You’ve got to embrace the rawness of the experience and relish every fish brought to hand. But anyone who has ever dipped their hands in frigid water to release a fish knows what that woman at the end is feeling. Once they’re chilled to the bone, it’s hard to get those fingers warm again.
On the water from longersummers on Vimeo.
This one’s just for Tom Rosenbauer, who is always joking about the “next big thing” being “standup paddleboard Spey-fishing for carp.” Well, Tom, all we’re missing here is the Spey rod, so the world is catching up with your sense of humor. It looks like a hell of a lot of fun, too.
Turks on the Fly! from Scott Gibney on Vimeo.
Turks and Caicos doesn’t often come up as a bonefishing destination, but Scott Gibney found some excellent action on the flats there. The underwater footage of the local fauna is great, and the ginger boy at the end does a sweet imitation of a ray.
This isn’t the greatest piece of video, but it’s not every day you get to watch a 28-inch rainbow rocket out of the water. Fall on the Kenai is the time to catch monster trout that have been gorging on salmon eggs. Just look at the muscle on that trout; it’s no stillwater slob, that’s for sure.
TRAILER GENERATION MOUCHE from Nicolas DUPUIS on Vimeo.
Here’s a trailer for an upcoming film from France. (For you non-francophones, “mouche” means “fly.”) They manage to jam a lot of action into just 38 seconds.
a BACKYARD in GRÜNERLØKKA from Vak Magasin on Vimeo.
Farther north, a group of Scandinavian trout fishermen is astonished when one of their own lays into a pretty good pike. The trout net presents a bit of a problem, as do the fish’s teeth. But the infectious laughter is enjoyable in any language.
The Urban fly fishing story from Doug Hensel on Vimeo.
This video is labelled “urban trout fishing,” but I don’t see any buildings or whatnot. But what I do see is perfect trout water and great fish. I assume this is outside Denver. Anybody know?
Early Morning Cod – Flyfishing for Australian Murray Cod from Nicholas Kneipp on Vimeo.
We end with some self-shot GoPro footage of a float trip for Murray cod in Australia. This looks just like a smallmouth or largemouth river in this country, and the techniques are the same. But the fish are bigger and hard-fighting. It looks like a blast. Have a great weekend!