Tom had given me the heads up that an opportunity might be coming my way. What could it be? Hmmmmm? A position on the Drake board of directors? Probably not. An all expense paid trip around the world? Nope. I come to find out that he was going tarpon fishing and wanted me to be involved. Cool! I figured he’d show up at my house and fish for some of the thousands of tarpon that swim through my back yard with all my friends. It would be great, simple, and virtually no work on my part. Perfect! Hold on.
It comes to be that due to a cancellation, his friend Travis wasn’t going to be able to get out of work, and I was like the back up guy, that if he really had to, would invite along. Good enough for me! I was putting gas in the boat when he explained that we would not be fishing my home waters. Instead, I realized that I had just sighed up to drive 8 hours to fish for the same stupid fish that we have here. Now by stupid fish, I’m not knocking them. I mean it, these fish are dumb. They eat flies as good as any tarpon anywhere. I was excited as hell and would have driven 20 hours to get a chance to mess with those poons. I was on the road, and ready to see what was about to happen.
I drove all afternoon through the rain on bald tires (to keep it exciting) and showed up late at this stilt home in the woods. Tom introduced me to Dave, his friend, and guide for the next three days. We got to talking, and Tom revealed that he had never caught a big tarpon on fly before and that his goal was to get one. Dave and I convinced him that the only way it counts is if you land it, no leadering BS, by yourself…a.k.a “the man up moment”. Dave also threw down the infamous double dog dare by saying that if in three days, Tom, who has never caught one, can man up and wrestle one to the boat, that Dave would sport a mohawk for a month.
We charged up the clippers, and started with the shit talking. The first time Tom got bit, I knew he had a lot to learn, and that it would be a pretty good show. So I broke out the crappy old cameras and filmed it.
So far so good for the Fly Fishing Film Tour’s Florida swing this year. I got a chance to catch up with the tour in Tampa, followed by Stuart, and the other night in Key West. Both the Tampa and Stuart shows were a big hit with more than 200 people attending each show. In Key West, about 50 people showed up, and we might have set the record for the smallest show to date! Last year in Key West, we had about 150 people, some driving down from the upper keys and Miami. I think word had gotten out about the showings at the IGFA on April 23-24, and this deterred people from driving down. I can’t blame them. All in all this year’s show is the best one yet!
A few weeks ago, we started thinking about ideas for what to do for next year’s film tour, and we came up with one. What if we can assemble a crew of people obsessed/interested in fly fishing for permit, take over a house in the Lower Keys, and spend a month this summer trying to capture the craziness?
We are inviting everyone that wants to come down! For real. Just let us know why you like permit, and when you’ll show up. In the meantime, we’ll probably be out tarpon fishing if the weather will ever cooperate.
In the past, Dave and I tried hard to get people excited about fly fishing. Our goal was to make the audience feel what we feel every time we head out on the flats. The final result was a high action, high intensity, visual montage with hard hitting music to convey the emotion. Needless to say, it got lots of anglers out there fired up, and it was a blast to create! But then there were the nay-Sayers, the grumps that didn’t like what we were doing to their sport, didn’t like the attitude, and called our films porn. Great! Everybody has to start somewhere and lots of folks in Hollywood began in the porn industry. Dave and I didn’t go to school for film, we barely knew how to run a camera when we started, but we were tired of the same old crap that failed to communicate what fishing was really about to us. So, we tried harder than we’ve ever tried at anything to make films that showed how much fun you can have with a fly rod living the life of a saltwater fish bum.
After a while though, we knew we’d have to grow up. If we wanted to be part of the Fly Fishing Film Tour and call ourselves film makers, we’d have to create an actual film with an actual story. So, I began reading Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country… the ultimate story about the Everglades to find inspiration. Dave and I wanted to make a story about something meaningful, something bold and powerful, something that really drove to the core of what fly fishing is for us. We wanted to tell a rich and complex story about the everglades history, the indians, the animals that live there, especially the fish, and why we were there. We wanted to talk about Robber Barrons, drug smugglers and fisher folk, the birth of saltwater angling in the Everglades… and we really wanted to make the connection, to equate ourselves and fly fishing with them. We wanted to use words like narrow creek system, jagged branches, nooks and crannies, hidden shadows, gator filled swamps, mosquito infested lagoons, and labyrinth mangrove mazes. We would paint our picture with every detail and ultimately transcend the human drama and reveal the Zen of flyfishing. The Discovery Channel would be envious, and National Geographic would weep, and our critics would be silenced. At the end, we would close with a glorious aerial shot and a narrative that summarized 1,000 years of history, the deepest meaning of fishing and the symbolism behind our adventure deep into the soul of the Shadow Country.
Problem was, we were two dudes and a laptop, and neither one of us could even come close to saying all that, much less shoot it, edit it and deliver it in one month. I wasn’t Peter Matthiessen, and Dave wasn’t Spielburg. We didn’t have Pixar or Industrial Light and Magic to digitally enhance our snook. Really, all we had was 2 broken cameras, a skiff that Hell’s Bay lent to us, a couple of Loop fly rods, and a bunch of our best friends that were always down for an adventure. But, off we went… a procession of flats boats headed south into the Everglades to camp and fish for a week, and with any luck, make movie magic on the sands of Turkey Key.
Fast forward two weeks, Dave and I are in the editing Studio we call the Rat-hole, looking over our masterpiece…Every film maker has at one point had to come to terms with seeing themselves on camera for the first time and it is a very, very painful process. So there we were, realizing for the first time, that we completely and utterly sucked! Everything we said was basically garbage! But… therein lies the truth, and once you come to realize it, it’s hysterical. You’ve never laughed so hard, cried at yourself with the understanding that nothing that you want to say is good, and that nobody cares. Really, the only thing that is of real importance is that we like to fish, that fishing is exciting, and that we just want to do more!
Suddenly we had it. There is was right in front of us. What we were trying to get at is that we love to fish, we get our stoke from fishing and that everyone else has there own reason . That’s the story. Fishing is what gives us that rush, that high, if you will, and for whatever reason, it’s what we’ve devoted our lives to doing. Now, maybe the critics won’t agree, but, I bet, for those that fish, they’ll get it. With that…WorldANGLING and fliesandfins give you High In The Lowlands!
A lot of people have heard, some haven’t, some care, and others don’t give a shit. A couple weeks ago we had an unusual weather event that cooled our water down to levels that were too low for certain fish like snook tarpon, and bonefish to survive. I was unable to go out and witness the carnage first hand because I was in the rathole finishing up our video for the fly fishing film tour this year. Most of my friends (guides) were ultra-depressed and all doom and gloom about the scenario, but everyone was aware that this kind of thing happens. Thousands of fish died. Big hit to the fishery.
Or is it? What percentage of our winter resident snook and tarpon actually died? It seems like nobody really knows. Over the last few days we have heard that some biologists and scientist types have been booking up days with Everglades fishing guides to assess the damage. It looks like it was a serious enough event to require professional interaction. I can’t wait to find out.
In the meantime all we can do is come to our own conclusions. Most of the initial talk on the internet is very negative. Things like “we didn’t find any life” or “all we saw was a lot of dead fish”. Now don’t get me wrong there has been a bunch of good things posted, but none really good enough to really offset the bad vibe. Until now…
I’m not going to get into the details of it, but 5 days after I finished editing a part of our new movie about the best snook (fish) of my life, I go out fishing once, when the fishing is supposedy as bad as it has ever been, and catch a snook that was better than the one I just spent all this time trying to tell about. The fish was a bit longer, and probably weighed about the same, but none of that is what it is even about. Its got nothing to do with even catching the fish. What it is about is hope. Now granted these fish are down, been beaten up, some to death, and are very vulnerable (a perfect time to actually stand a chance with a fly rod), and I will honestly say that I went out looking to kick something big while it was down. But in the process of catching and releasing her, great respect was paid not to wear her down too bad and to make sure she swam off exactly how we found her. And she did. It was at that moment that Jeff and I realized how symbolic it was. At a time when many lost all hope, there was still a trophy out there willing to eat my stupid little fly and prove to all of us that it is FAR FROM OVER!
Our Fly Fishing Film Tour project is coming down to the wire. We have just shy of 6 weeks left to turn it in, and are getting ready for quite possibly the best two weeks of our lives. Will, the Bear, and a few others are on there way to Everglades City as I type this, to hook up with Jeff and I for our last main shoot of the year. Our plan (what there is of one) is to head out into the everglades and explore deeper than any of us have ever been before. We have a boat for just about every situation we will encounter, and aren’t afraid to use them… If you see a caravan of Hell’s BayWhiprays or a tiny boat that you don’t recognize (Skate) in the park over the next couple weeks, it’s probably us. Feel free to stop by and see whats going on.
The fishing recently has been nothing short of spectacular. With the warmer than usual weather and light winds, we have had no issues finding fish to throw at. The redfish have been where they should be. Snook have started to move into their backcountry haunts. Tarpon have been laying up on the calmest days. And when the tide has been too high to sightfish, the albie (bonito) bite off the beaches has been on fire.
