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 has lots of great stuff for anglers of every stripe, and it’s officially steelhead-and-salmon season, which makes for great video. We kick things off with some golden-dorado action and then quickly move through a host of species—from both fresh and salt water—plus we travel to five continents. The number of truly huge fish in this week’s films is cool, but we don’t neglect the little guys, either. These film festivals really shine a light on how incredibly varied the fly-fishing world is. 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. See you next week with a fresh set of films!
The golden dorado is still definitely on my bucket list, but I have been lucky enough to fish with Brian O’Keefe already. And lemme tell you, the guy flat-out lives for fishing and has cast a line pretty much everywhere you would ever want to. As you’ll see from this video, he’s not averse to working for it, either. As far as videographers go, Todd Moen is top-of-class, as well. Great stuff.
Anyone who has read The River Why knows that coastal cutthroats can become an obsession, and young Sam Brost-Turner seems to have been bitten by the bug. There’s a nice variety of shots on display here, too.
What could be cooler than watching a wild steelhead hammer a topwater fly? I also love the way she treats that fish as if it’s the most valuable thing in the world.
Some of you may not know who Joe Tomelleri is, but I guarantee you’ve seen his work. As perhaps the world’s foremost fish illustrator, Joe has been producing stunning—and stunningly accurate—images of trout and other game fish for years. However, it seems he has a new obsession. . .
The picture quality isn’t stellar on this one, but it cuts right to the chase, capturing the full experience of chasing tarpon on the fly. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat are what it’s all about.
The Secret Trout Pond from Nick Kelley on Vimeo.
This video has the opposite feel from many of the loud, fast, flat-brimmer videos we feature on the FFF. But who wouldn’t want such a pond all to himself to clear the cobwebs out? I love it when he catches a fish while toying with his line.
From little fish to BIG fish, these ones caught in late August from the Kharlovka River on Russia’s Kola Peninsula. You simply won’t believe the size of the fish caught at the end of the video.
If ever there were a fly-fishing equivalent of “buck fever,” it would happen in New Zealand. Watching these huge browns cruising and then having to get a fly to them is nerve-wracking at best. That fish at 2:40 is just a pig.
Steelin’ Summer from Nathan Lishman on Vimeo.
Forget about the freezing-rain-and-wind style of steelheading. This summertime, short-sleeve version looks much more fun to me. The fish may not be as big, but they sure are purty.
Fall Smallmouth Fishing James River from Summit Publishing on Vimeo.
There’s something about walking down some railroad tracks with a fly rod in my hand that makes me feel like I’m getting away from it all. Knowing that there are smallies willing to hit a popper at the end of the line makes it even better.
July Fly Fishing in the Midwest from RT on Vimeo.
Robert Thompson is doing more than anyone else to capture the Midwestern fly-fishing experience, which has perhaps been the redheaded stepchild, when compared to the fishing cultures of the Catskills, the Rockies, and the Pacific Northwest. Here’s a great video that covers a variety of Midwestern scenes, from nighttime Hex hatches to smallmouths to wild browns on small streams.
One of the real surprises of doing these festivals is how much great footage there is from Japan, and how lovely and familiar some of their streams look. According to Google Translate, the description of this video is, “Before and after the crushing defeat of masu salmon, Yoneshiro was playing with salmon and trout.
June is not pleasant.” Looks pretty pleasant to me.
Wading for Redfish from Travis Overman on Vimeo.
We get to see very little wade-fishing for redfish, so this footage from North Carolina’s Cape Fear River is pretty cool. Those grass beds look endless.
We finish up with the trailer for “Low & Clear,” a documentary which we’ve been waiting for for a couple of years. It’s finally available on DVD this month. Check it out here. Have a great weekend!