“What was your favorite part?”
“I really liked the part where the guys had a tie a fly contest and one used a Chee-To and then he cut some from his mustache and then they all caught fish on their fly, and that one guy, Really REALLY liked dancing after he caught a fish. I think he really likes to fly fish.” remarked Simone.
Pretty powerful and accurate observations from my nine year daughter. She is kind of a fish porn buff, whether she knows it or not. This would be her third F3T and Daddy has a small collection of fly DVD’s.

SImone looking through her STONEFLY

“What about you Jason?” we had stopped long enough to refill our coffee mugs at McD’s and let the car warm up before the long and frigid ride home to our corner of the tip of the Mitt.
“I wish they woulda shown some more of those big Grayling they were catching on mice patterns, that was some epic fishing.” Mr Fontinalis Rising was right, some major surface action with hefty Arctic Grayling gorging on hemorrhoidal mice patterns were featured in “Alaska: la Frontera Nor“. RA Beattie and crew do not disappoint with fun and enthusiasm, even after Mike Dawes goes in to detail on how much he really doesn’t like flying in puddle jumpers and the trek in to the land where they shall help Sandflea catch all that Alaska has to offer- even a sockeye on the surface.
“320” revisits Capt. Jako Lukas guiding a remarkable 320 days a year. From GT’s in the Seychelles, to Mongolia for Taimen, Norway for Atlantics, and then off to chase sailfish in some remote island where it ‘didn’t suck’. I found it hard to hear him speak. We were in the front and the speakers seemed to be a little heavy on the bass, but my eyes were filled with explosive chases from monster Trevally and duck eating hucho Taimen. I wonder how many days a year he spends in the air traveling to all these destinations? Maybe we will see that next year.

Yeti F3T

“What was the other film, the one that was a lot of guys talking about back in the day, Tom Rosenbauer and others reflect on how fly fishing has changed today…?”
None of us could recall. “A Kinetic Loop“, sponsored by Orvis and Scientific Anglers looks worthy of purchase, a little heavy on the self promotion, but they lost us on the title. I get it, nothing stays still, always in motion, ya, but they could have named it ‘Five Fly Anglers talk about the Past’ or ‘REFLECTIONS’- probably taken, I know.
“Long Live the King” was good, although aptly could be called Red Gold II, it had much of the same tone we were introduced to years ago with the issue of Bristol Bay and the threat of losing a great resource. Understand, the battle is far from over and we shall see and hear more about this one of a kind resource.
“Blood Knot” has a great story about twins Brian and Colby who do everything together, include owning a Fly Shop in the Shenandoah Valley near Mossy Creek. They will chase anything that swims, from musky, carp, browns, rainbows, brook trout to grass carp. This area of the country needs further investigation, by me.
“50” went on about the history and the challenges one must face to acquire the ever coveted Gold Cup Invitational Tarpon Fly Tournament in Islamorada, FL. Much like Wimbledon or The Masters, these competitions, although great for the economy, are a little out of my price range and social status. This is fine with me, most of the cold water brookies I deal with don’t require an esquire behind my name.
“Tributaries” had me interested initially but the trailer left me satisfied with the fact I haven’t purchased the film. The connection between a Scotsman who angles for Atlantic Salmon, an Argentina guide riding horseback for browns and the son of bonefish Charlie in the Bahamas feeshun for dem boneys failed to actually tie the connection that we all come from the same waters. Maybe I need to take a closer look. The footage was stellar, amazing and beautiful places are only half of a story, perhaps I shall review it again in the future.

North of Wild
My favorite for the evening featured the well established author and angler John Gierach, along with Aimee Eaton, Simon Guay and Robin Reeve, fishing in Labrador for monster brook trout in “North of Wild”. I have seen family photographs of twenty-something inch brook trout that were measured in pounds, not inches from some lake only known as Lost Lake near our cabin in Canada. If I had to choose one of these films as my front runner, this would be the one and worth the money to purchase.

Great place to host an F3T evening. Inside Out Gallery TC

The evening was sponsored by The Northern Angler in Traverse City and the folks at Inside Out Gallery have a perfect venue for showcasing an evening like this. A large enough gathering room with a well stocked bar to lubricate the social mixing and a nice stage with seating up to 120 people.
“Dad, this popcorn is a little salty.”
“So are most of the previews dear.”
That’s why we attend these events, besides getting ourselves out of the house when there is three feet of snow on the ground, we get to catch up with other anglers, meet new ones and enjoy an evening with thoughts of warmer days and bugs hatching. Can’t wait.