Fly fishing video reviews 

DVD: 1 hour 39 minutes, with bonus tracks

Hold on to your fly rod. You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of flies and men but of trout snagged during an epic journey across Argentina, Chile and, it would seem, time itself. A journey punctuated by mouse and leech patterns, broken leaders, broken axels and dozens of trout dancing across the surface of pristine waters.

You won't learn how to fish during this show. You won't learn how to cast either. And forget about insights on how to present that cute little mouse pattern. You will, however, enjoy yourself tremendously. The producers of this video are collectively known as the Angling Exploration Group, four of whom ramble across South America, tying flies during vehicle breakdowns, sleeping on the side of the road or within casting distance of spawning brown trout, and generally taking everything in whimsical splash and stride.

Not everything is fair in this paradise of men and their fish, however, as evidenced by a montage of misadventures from lost flies, lost fish, broken leaders, and lines fouled in trees and river weeds. It happens to you, it happens to me, and now we see it happens to those worldly enough to take on the finest fish the world has to offer. A self deprecating tone adds a great deal of charm over the whole affair and helps to place all of us in a similar roles of the struggling fly-sojourner.

The musical score adds a great deal to the homespun and impressionistic touches throughout the video. I watched the video with wife, and she, being a non-fisher, was entranced by the music. She was especially happy that the journeymen didn't present themselves as pretentious fly aficionados. We already have way too many of those kinds of video heroes--those who don't make mistakes, never miss a strike, but sometimes miss other things, like the land, the animals, the flora, the people, the occasional dance, the camaraderie. Good adventure have enough misadventures to keep us interested until the end. I think we can all look forward to where this group will travel next in their desire to inform by entertaining our world of fish and flies.

--Toney J. Sisk

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