Lazy Sundays

We’ve had some massive spring tides here in Falmouth over the last few days, off the chart lows followed by flooding highs. Unfortunately, all the high tides have been late at night, so I haven’t been able to fish them! However, all is not lost, as a good low tide allows you to scrutinise every last inch of the ground that you will be fishing over when the water comes up. It’s really interesting to see spots where you’ve hooked fish, and to see the exact habitat they were feeding in. Anyway, today is a new day, and today its thrashing it down with rain… So what’s on the agenda for us anglers who always have to be doing something fishy? Well, I could brave the weather? Read up on some aquatic/fishing related topics? Do some tying? Your choice, but I’m going to stay in bed with a strong coffee and watch some of my favourite fluff chucking films! Of course, as usual, I will be sharing them with you guys.

Vision Fly Fishing, what do you think of them as a brand? They’re very popular in Europe and Scandinavia, but less so over hear in England it seems. I for one love their gear, I’ve seen a lot of it and held a few rods, but admittedly never owned any of it. One day though, one day! They’ve recently bought out loads of new gear, including a double-handed version of their very successful Vipu rod range (which I have my eyes on, along with the striking Kela reel for the perfect start to double handed Salmon fishing – My new years resolution).

I’ve probably left you feeling thoroughly confused. What does Vision have to do with watching videos on a rainy Sunday? Well it just so happens that one of my favorite YouTube series – Fly Tv – is produced in association with Vision Fly Fishing! So here it goes, get a brew on, crack a beer, I don’t know, whatever, just watch and enjoy!

This first video shows some amazing Pike fishing from the fantastic Niklaus Bauer, chucking huge flies for massive Esox. What’s not to like?

Now for something a little different, the 180 Challenge, where two anglers have 180 minutes to tie Pike flies, and catch a fish on them. There’s an added twist to this video, the two tiers/anglers are so young and talented, what I’d give to be involved in big brands like Vision at my age! Unfortunately they didn’t catch, but the video is still really cool!

Its not all about Pike though, how about exploring some tactics for hitting Perch on the fly?

What about big Brown Trout, high in the mountains, that love to hammer rodents (and sometimes birds) off of the surface?

Finally, how do you fancy stalking big Sea Trout in a small river?

Hope you enjoyed those videos, theres many more for you to check out on the YouTube channel! I've been watching these guys for ages, and love their style, and have learnt so much from them!

Patagonia’s Damnation Movie - A Review.

Patagonia isn’t a massively popular brand over here; it seems more popular in the States, and as I’ve said before, I definitely believe there are fashion trends in fly fishing. Anyway, I love Patagonia Gear, both their fly fishing and general outdoors wear products are fantastic. Their whole ethos is really cool too, with projects such as ‘Worn Wear’ – Encouraging you to buy second hand Patagonia gear and make your own gear last as long as possible, in order to be more environmentally responsible, as well as reaching out for peoples stories about how they’ve worn Patagonia products all their life, a pretty humble campaign if you ask me.

Anyway, I’m getting distracted. This post is meant to be about one of their conservation projects – Damnation.

First off, as expected, the UK is always left slightly behind and as far as I’m aware, Patagonia’s Damnation Film has only recently become available in the UK. It’s on iTunes for £7.99. I was stoked to see it was finally available! However the Damnation merchandise is yet to grace our shores. Hopefully it will appear in the stores soon!

 

Some interesting activist responses to the dam movement
in America.

A very moving picture of the making of Damnation.

So what’s this Damnation thing all about? Our need to produce energy has effected different countries in different ways, in the UK we’re all about nuclear at the moment, along with the looming threat of fracking. In the USA hydropower is massive (along with the need to manage and regulate water supplies for farming) and the desire to dam every piece of moving water has led to some extreme activist movements. The film goes into every aspect of environmental issues, cultural issues of people who depend on the Salmon run for food and spiritual reasons, the conservationists side who just want to see the Salmon and Steelhead run again, the political side of addressing the majority needs and the men and women who have worked on the dams for most of their lives. It’s a horrible dilemma, but as an angler, the most satisfying sight is seeing the Salmon run a river that has been dammed for decades.

What lies beneath a reservoir?

Energy production will always affect someone, and I’m not trying to be hypocritical, because no matter how much I hate seeing oil spills or local species extinctions from climate change, the bottom line is that I still drive a car and use electricity. Its just that as an angler, the damming of rivers is something closer to my heart, as aquatic ecosystems are something I am serious about conserving.

Striking and inspiring underwater photography features
throughout the film.

So go and buy it from iTunes, you wont be disappointed, it was a real eye opener, and amazing to see a group of people so passionate about aquatic habitats.  

DamNation - Trailer from Patagonia on Vimeo.