Fly-fishing film festival has Spokane angle

The International Fly Fishing Film Festival is coming to Spokane’s Bing Crosby Theater on March 25 to help raise funds for a long-awaited boat access on the upper Spokane River.

Eight films – different from the fly fishing films that came to the Bing in February – have been edited into a two-hour show that’s touring North America.

Meanwhile, the cause is purely local.

“A boat-slide access at the Islands Trailhead just downstream from Plante’s Ferry Park would be a big benefit to river users who launch in Idaho, Stateline or Harvard Road,” said Sean Visintainer of Silver Bow Fly Shop in Spokane Valley.

The boat access, which is being designed by consultants for Spokane Conservation District, would be a well-located take-out for non-motorized vessels including drift boats and large rafts launched upstream.

“Drift boats have no other good, safe place to get off the upper river (in the 8 miles) below Harvard,” said Visintainer, who regularly guides clients and sport-rafts the river.

The access at Barker Road downstream from Harvard Road requires a drift boat or large raft to be dragged over rocks to a trailer.

The new access would incorporate a slide system similar to sites on several northwest rivers to negotiate steep banks. Plans also call for 500 feet of already-needed riverbank restoration.

The Islands Trailhead, built with parking facilities for the Centennial Trail, also would be enhanced as a put-in for smaller craft such as canoes, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards heading downstream into the reservoir behind Upriver Dam to a carry-out access at Boulder Beach.

Silver Bow brought the International Film Fest to Spokane for the first time last year. “I feel that if we’re bringing anglers together like this, it should be for a good cause,” Visintainer said.

Last year’s proceeds were donated to Spokane River redband trout research sponsored by the Spokane Falls Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

This year, Silver Bow is partnering with TU and the Spokane River Forum’s Andy Dunau, who has been working with the Spokane Conservation District on the boat access.

“The total project cost is about $108,000,” Dunau said, adding that most of the funding has been secured but matching funds from the public are needed to comply with the grants and complete the project.

“We started working on this in 2010,” he said.

“It takes a tremendous amount of time and patience to get through the permitting and stakeholder process as well as the fundraising,” he said.

The need for a boat access at the Islands Trailhead was pegged for the Spokane River Water Trail in Spokane County’s Regional Trail Plan

“I’d like to make the film festival an annual benefit for organizations involved with the river,” Visintainer said.

The films are among the best fly fishing flicks of the year, including “Sensei,” an IF4 film featuring British Columbia guide April Vokey teaching fly-fishing hunk Hank Patterson how to Spey cast for steelhead.

“In Search of Grande” is another flick getting great audience reaction at film fest showings. The film follows two anglers into the Baja in search of the grande rooster; one of the most challenging fish in the Sea of Cortez.

Other films featured include:

• Liquid Gold – A 70-mile trek through California mountains for golden trout.

• No Man’s Land – A 10-day adventure in Northern Quebec and Labrador for Atlantic salmon and Arctic char.

• Bermuda Love Triangle – An excursion to take tarpon on the fly.

• Recapture – One man’s tribute to his father and all he loved about the sport of fly fishing.

• Distracted – An adventure, occasionally interrupted, to catch four cutthroat species in four states.

• Secrets – Helicoptering into waters where there are huge bull trout but no other angler boot prints.