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A Southern Missouri Spring Creek.
The photo above was shot on a spring day after fishing the North Fork of the White River in southern Missouri. It is of the spring which flows from Hodgsons Mill, and is currently privately owned. Although the spring isn’t currently home to any trout, it does offer a great place for a photographer to stop and get some interesting photos of the spring, its mill, and the surroundings.
As I previously stated, I am a whore when it comes to watching the newer fly-fishing movies; I eagerly await the release like a fat kid waiting on a cake to finish in the oven (oh the childhood memories). However due to work and other commitments I hadn’t had a chance to head into Feather-Craft in awhile to pick up any new videos or just to hang-out, but that was rectified about a week or so ago, but I digress. Drift is a film brought to us by Confluence Productions a partnership of Jim Klug (Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures) and Chris Patterson (film-maker extroardanair that has produced pieces that have appeared on OLN, Versus, National Geographic, and NBC) and these guys just flat nailed it.
The film takes you on a virtual smorgasbord of fly-fishing around the world and the shots that they capture on film are nothing short of breath-taking. I don’t want to give too much away from the film but the highlight for me was the pieces which featured Charlie Smith and how he still feels about bonefishing and guiding at 70+ years old and man his banjo playing was pretty darn good. The man’s legend was captured in film wonderfully. The film ends by following two fly-fisherman to Kashmir and chasing trout through some of the streams in town. In between all of that, the film-makers take you everywhere from spey-fishing for steelhead to winter trout fishing the west on tailwaters. All in all, it is a film filled with great scenery and some well shot fish-porn.
I have been waiting some time for a fly-fishing soundtrack to feature G. Love and Special Sauce in it, as I think the feel of their music would really lend well to videos that are being shot currently and I was extremely pleased to see some G. Love on this soundtrack. The music is very good in this film, and really fits and helps to hold everything together.
You won’t be disappointed in watching this video, and if money is no object you just might add some new destinations to your bucket list. Drift would make a pretty good stocking stuffer.
(4/4 Stars)
The Sepia Files Are Coming.
Many of the OzarkChronicles.com faithful know that I am a bit of a shutterbug. More times then not, when on a stream, I will put down the fly rod and reach for the camera to snap some photos. As fly-fisherman, we are surrounded by some of the most spectacular scenery in the country on any given day, yet very few of us take time away from the next cast to appreciate all that is around us during those moments on the water. The Sepia Files will be my weekly attempt at showcasing some of those moments.
This will be a weekly addition to the blog and a new image will be posted every Wednesday in an effort to get us through the week and headed toward the weekend. I hope you all enjoy.
–Matt Tucker
Fly-Fishing’s new e-zine “Fish Can’t Read” (Volume 1, Issue 2, November 2009) made its debut on Thursday. I was a bit skeptical about “Fish Can’t Read” when I first learned about it. This e-zine concept started with This Is Fly (which for some reason is loosing my interest….perhaps because of all of the advertisements) and was furthered with Brian O’Keefe’s focus on photography in Catch Magazine (which is absolutely phenomenal) and now brings us “Fish Can’t Read.”
In my opinion, “Fish Can’t Read” hopes to do for writers, what Catch is hoping to do for photographers and that is catch their interest and focus on some really good writing and this issue does just that with some interesting well-written stories. My favorite of the bunch this issue was by Kieth Barton titled “Paris Hilton is Now; But the Silver Hilton Is Forever”, because I think he nails it and I was also found of “Fly Fishing at a Crossroads; Who are We?” by Mark McGlothlin and you throw in some well written poems as well as some images from an English chalk-stream and you have a pretty interesting way to spend a lunch hour or two at the office. The next issue will be out in January, and I am looking forward to it.
–Matt Tucker
Last week I had the absolute pleasure and honor to teach my 7yo daughter how to tie her first fly (a Red San Juan Worm with Pink Thread), it took her 4 times of watching me tie one and about 10 times of watching me show her how to whip finish and she was off. Within short order she had tied up a dozen flies that looked pretty darn good. I am going to catch some video of her tying for the site, because I like to brag. The key to teaching her the whip finish was showing her how the thread will create a number “4” when it is in the proper position; once she saw that it was game on.
I was supposed to catch up with Brian Wise to work out some details of the upcoming “Trip” that we are making over Thanksgiving weekend, so we used the opportunity to meet and discuss the trip in detail while taking our kids to Dry Run Creek. We rolled in fairly early in the morning and as I was helping Hannah into her youth waders she told me to just “leave your flies in the truck” if only I would have listened to her. The first place we stopped, on her first cast, with her first fly she tied herself, she landed a fish. I don’t think I could have ever been more proud of her. Now we get to work on mending line on the water and a few other things, but she is doing great. She even stepped up throughout the day to help net Parker’s fish as well as completely unhook her fish, take it out of the net, and release it. Lots of fish were caught and it was a great 3hours on the water with our kids as Brian and I worked out our plan of attack for the thanksgiving day trout massacre. As the kids were getting tired of fishing, we headed to town for lunch and Hannah and I drove back to St. Louis. A lot of driving, but Hannah is already tying more flies and looking forward to heading back down. It was awesome.
–Matt Tucker