Friday Fly-Fishing Film Festival 05.02.14

Welcome to a new edition of the Orvis News Friday Fly-Fishing Film Festival, in which we scour the Web for the best fly-fishing videos available. This week, we’ve got another 16 videos, which take you to Japan, Norway, and Africa (twice!), as well as some stunning places right here at home.

For best results, watch all videos at full-screen and in high definition. 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 F5, please post it in the comments below, and we’ll take a look. And don’t forget to check in regularly at The Tug, the Orvis online video theater. See you next week with a fresh set of films!

We kick things off with the full five-minute version of Matt Dunkinson’s “The River Keeper,” which was featured in this year’s Down the Hatch Film Fest at OGR14. It’s a cool look at what the gamekeepers on England’s fancy chalk streams do after the season closes. Hint: they chase toothy predators.

Here’s a cool little video from Japan featuring great underwater shots of the native trout of that country, which sport fascinating markings. There’s some spinning here, but we don’t hold that against them.

Yes, this is basically an ad for a guide, but it’s also got some killer tarpon-fishing footage. It’s been awhile since we’ve had some high-quality silver-king video.

If you’re going to make a one-fish video, the fish should be a dandy. Here’s a case in point.

Pretty stuff from Virginia’s Escatawba Farms. Yes, it’s a private fishery, but this is also a gorgeous video.

Bozeman-based filmmaker Austin Trayser gets what all fly anglers know: fishing isn’t just about the fish. This dreamy short film captures the joy and wonder of a day on a small mountain creek.

The mountains, the beautiful stream, the nice rainbows. . .would anything in this video suggest to you that it was shot in South Africa? The Eastern Cape region of the country has lots of great trout fishing.

Meanwhile, in Ethiopia. . .they also have killer fishing for rainbow trout.

Four weeks from tomorrow, I’ll be heading to Slovenia to fish with Socafly, so videos like this one are getting me pumped up for the crazy blue water and gorgeous trout I hope to encounter.

There’s no actual fishing in this video from Everglades National Park, but it’s a scene that every redfish angler loves to come across: happy fish tailing on the grassy flats.

Here’s a trailer for what looks to be a pretty cool movie about three guys chasing Atlantic salmon on dry flies. Can’t wait to see the final video.

Here’s a cool, shot video that posits a “third frontier” for fly fishers—tropical freshwater species. It’s a cool idea, and one that’s borne out by the many videos of adventure trips into the heart of the jungle.

Being the chef at a fly-fishing lodge has its advantages, as Lanette Evener shows here. The longtime kitchen chief at Big Hole Lodge gets to go on an early-season float trip and shows that she knows her way around a river.

Here’s a cool 2004 profile of famed tier and raconteur Jack Gartside, creator of the Gurgler and many other patterns.

Even on the famed chalk streams of Old Blighty, the anglers like to get together for a bit of competition. Here’s a look at the River Test 1-Fly, which has a deifferent feel than you’d find in Jackson Hole, methinks.

We finish up with a longish video from the Finnmark region of Norway, where two anglers seek the Grand Slam: to catch grayling, arctic char, brown trout and salmon..