Fly fishing films feature women, conservation, big fish action
The annual Fly Fishing Film Tour is coming to Spokane with the usual mix of saltwater and freshwater action, sizzling casts and screaming lines from domestic and international waters.
And this year, women anglers are taking a higher profile.
Roughly a third of the fly fishers in the United States are women, yet that hasn’t been reflected in the film associated with the sport, says Doug Powell of Mayfly Media, which puts together the film tour.
This year, women will play significant roles in three of the nine films in the tour’s two-hour show on Jan. 31 at the Bing Crosby Theater.
“Odd Man Out” documents Camille Egdorf’s life, which is absorbed by fly fishing from the early days at her family’s fishing lodge in Alaska to her current angling adventures around the globe. Egdorf has carved her own a path through a traditionally male-dominated industry.
Hilary Hutcheson, a Montanan recognized by area anglers as a host for Trout TV, makes an appearance in “Convergence,” which explores relationships with favorite waters as well as the importance of family and friends taking an interest in the water.
Inspiring fishing action is laced throughout the show, but the films also tend to have social or conservation themes.
“Corazón” is the story of the unlikely friendship between two anglers and the willingness of the fly fishing industry to rally around a Mexico tarpon guide in need.
“At the End of a Rainbow” follows anglers into the Kamchatka region in Far East Russia as they cast mouse patterns for heart-stopping strikes by huge rainbows. But the filmmaker didn’t overlook the threats that face even this very remote region, where a bounty of trout and salmon also attracts exploitation.
Fishermen may be the answer to turning back the rampant salmon poaching that’s become big business on Kamchatka streams, the film reports.
“At the end of the Rainbow” catches the action without going overboard on the threats. It’s beautifully filmed – from the fishing for humongous rainbows to the drone footage of grizzly bears catching salmon.
Inland Northwest anglers will recognize the background of a film about women reuniting to fish Western Montana trout streams.
“Old Friends New Fish” features three women who met in Missoula two decades ago and bonded as outdoor program leaders at the University of Montana. Even though they’re mothers and hard-working professionals, they find time to reunite on the Montana rivers where they met as rafting guides.
The backstory is that solo filmmaker Sophie Danison, 25, helped finance the film with a grant from Trout Unlimited designed to support fishing films featuring women.
“She’s a young filmmaker who made a pitch and was selected from 30 applicants,” Powell said. “She came up with a great story.”
Ryan Thompson, who will be hosting the film tour in Spokane, spent a couple of hours with the women and filmmaker as they rigged up to put in on the Blackfoot River.
“Maintaining spontaneity is a huge challenge for filmmakers working in on the water,” Thompson said. “Even with a plan in place, what you face is largely unscripted. I could see Sophie was working hard at the filming while letting the ladies do their thing.
“The women featured in the film are not pro anglers, but they love the outdoors and they love to fish. That comes out in the film.”
Other films to be shown in the two-hour show at the Bing include:
—“120 Days,” about an angler so obsessed with tarpon fishing he built a paraglider for scouting Florida waters. He uses skulls as buoys to warn potential infiltrators of his waters.
—“Yakutia” follows a group of anglers into Siberia to survey remote waters and catch fish ranging from grayling to taimen while in pursuit of the Russian Nelma, a giant predatory fish that had never been caught on a fly.
—“Geofish: Fanning Island Expedition,” is the latest in in the dirtbag travels of a fun-loving angling fraternity. This time they take their saltwater fishing enthusiasm to a remote Pacific atoll that is four days by boat beyond Christmas Island.