We'll start with the good.
Cheers
Attendance: I was very impressed with the attendance at this year's event. It was so big, in fact, that they were able to utilize one of the two main theater screens in the Elks. There were a large number of young fisherman along with a good number of female enthusiasts. Everyone was excited about the film tour and had a noticeable passion for fly fishing.
The Films: As I mentioned in a previous post, the films last year were the primary reason for me attending again in 2012. There were two films that I really enjoyed in 2012: Doc of the Drakes by Bryan Huskey and Riding High: A Season on the Fly by Waterline Media. I thought it was interested that Doc of the Drakes was filmed entirely by coincidence. Huskey had known Pete Wood (guide) for some time. He oringionally planned to film story about the historic drake hatches of the Silver Creek in Idaho. He had only heard about Dr. Robert Franklin "Doc" when planning had begun. What materialized was an amazing story of an old doctor with Parkinsons doing something he loves to do, and a guide who works his tail off to make every moment count. I'll just say the end of the film received a round of applause from a few of those in attendance, and everyone else wanted to cheer out loud!
A Season on the Fly followed a few guys on a road trip to catch the tarpon migration. 20,000 driving miles, $10k in fuel, 90 days of fishing, 15 nights sleeping in gas station parking lots, 270 tarpon caught during the season, over 1,000 tarpon seen migrating in ONE HOUR off Boca Grande and 2 tarpon weighing in at 175 + lbs. And they did all this without the help of marine biologists or fishing guides telling them the route of the migration.
These films would have left a permanent smile on my face if they had been the only two in the film tour. Unfortunately, they were mixed among very mediocre, and dare I say downright bad fishing films. I'll get to this soon.
The Hat: This is one of those "little successes" I'm celebrating because I only had two other positive remarks about the tour. I have a weird shaped head. It's difficult for me to find a hat that fits just right. I often buy a hat or get them as gifts and never wear them because I'm not interested in "settling" on the feel or fit. I don't have to worry about that with the hats handed out at F3T. I'd like to know where they get their hats made and just purchase them in bulk for my crazy head. Thanks for the great hat!
Jeers
The Films: Outside of the two mentioned above, I found the films mediocre and uninspiring. The style was that of a tourism ad or time share sales pitch. They were filled with what seemed to be b-roll footage cut to b-roll footage cut to b-roll footage tied to a few shots of fish and fisherman in those settings. I wondered if this was the new "trend" in fly fishing films. And then I read Will Rizzo's article, "Making Movies" in Stonefly Magazine (the official magazine of the F3T). Rizzo discussed the evolution of fly fishing film making and how what we are seeing is no accident. The focus of the films on the tour is more on the story behind the fishing rather than showing a bunch of trophy shots in scenic locations. Sounds great, right? It worked well for Doc of the Drakes, but that story theory fell flat for all other films that made an attempt at it. The worst was in Reverb, by Robert Thompson. This story (which felt like it went on forever) follows a middle-aged punk rock band around Chicago. The twist...they fish every once-in-a-while while one of the guys makes rods. Would have been ok if the film focused on the fishing side of the group. Instead, 90% of the flick discussed the history of each member, their punk rock stories and how punk rock has made them who they are. I have a suggestion...No more punk rock flicks and stick with the trophy shots in scenic places. If a story is there, great. If not, no biggie.
The Host: Last year they had four guys running this tour, and it went really well. This year, only two made the trip to Rapid City, and one was half-way to wastedville the entire time. I'm fine with tying one on during a fun event, but when you're hosting and you want it to be a success, I would wait until the post-party.
The Prizes: This was the 6th year for the Fly Fishing Film Tour. Sponsors have been a big reason for its sustainability and success. Each year they donate great prized to be given away at the respective stops of the tour. This year was pretty awful. Rather than having one cooler with all names included for all prizes (like last year), they had two coolers up on stage with no explanation of how it would work. When it came time to give away prizes, they made the audience cheer for which cooler they would select a winner from. It's always fun to have a chance to win nice things that (I'm willing to admit) I'll never buy on my own. It is a lot less fun, and a little humiliating, however, when your chances of wining a particular prize come down to how loud you can yell and scream. I wasn't expecting a rock concert or huge party, and I don't think anyone else was either. Use the KISS method when distributing prizes next time fellas.
Final Word
Unless the film tour is making a special stop for the 10 fly fishermen in Pierre, SD next year, I likely won't be back in 2013. Of course, I'll still purchase a ticket from Dakota Angler and Outfitter and have a friend stop by to pick up the hat.
