Fly Fishing Film Tour returns to The Bing

Loud rock music and a dizzying pace seem to be the antithesis of swinging a streamer through a steelhead run or drifting dries through a rise on a mountain trout stream. But the mix seems to be the antidote for what ails many anglers in the middle of winter.

The fourth annual Fly Fishing Film Tour is aiming to reel in another crowd on Feb. 8 at the Bing Crosby Theater with a new lineup of abbreviated films that range from pulsing to poetic.

Or at least that’s what we can expect based on the pre-tour film clips and limited info we can milk out of tour organizers, who always seem to be on the edge of pulling it all off.

The collection of films has just begun a 70-city tour.

Maybe the presenters will be more poised on the Bing stage this year, maybe they won’t. The films, however, are almost certain to twitch the nerves in your casting arm.

Of particular note is the 20-minute excerpt of “Metalhead,” a 60-minute film about dirtbag camping, heavy metal music, heavier winds and even heavier steelhead caught and released on an undisclosed British Columbia stream.

“ ‘Metalhead’ was filmed over a combined four-month period,” said Thad Robison of Mayfly Media, the film-tour organizer and film editor. “We filmed in both fall and spring to get footage of both runs.

“I am not at liberty to disclose exact locations or watersheds, but we filmed in Northwest B.C. and there will probably be some people out there who will recognize a few of the areas if they have ever fished for steelhead.

“However, we did fish locations that we know are fished very little if any as we had a tug tow us up the coast several miles and drop us off with our sled.”

The Film Tour evening goes far beyond steelhead to tease and titillate anglers with action in both hemispheres for:

Permit in Australia,

Rainbow trout in Idaho’s Henry’s Fork of the Snake,

Silver salmon chasing waking flies in Alaska,

Snook and tarpon in the Florida Everglades,

Brown trout in New Zealand.

A flick called “Off the Grid,” wraps up an adventure that starts in Montana and concludes in the remote saltwater flats of Mexico.

“We will take you on the journey to see what it takes to be truly committed, or insane, by those who capture the new revolution of fly fishing adventure on film,” Robison said.

“You will be watching several ‘first-run’ films making their big-screen debut. They aren’t available for download. You can’t watch them on YouTube, Vimeo or any other Web server, media outlet or film tour across the country.”

More than 70 percent of the footage has never been seen by a public audience, he said, noting that each film has a unique flavor and message. However, all of them showcase incredible footage and their own blend of comedy, storytelling and, of course, some impressive fish caught both by the angler and the cameramen.

Fly Fishing Film Tour crowds tend to be a brotherhood.

“I don’t fish, but this is a great place to come and check out guys,” said one woman in the ticket line last year. She asked to be anonymous.