Fly fishing video reviews 

Get ready to see some big fish. Not that big fish are especially rare. Just watch any fishing outdoor show on cable to find out how less rare big fish seem to have become. These days you can fill your mind with video images of tarpon on a fly, swordfish on a fly, tuna on a fly, shark on a fly, just about anything on a fly. Someday, there may even be whale on a fly. But a resident rainbow on a fly, nearly 15 pounds--that's different. That's nice to see. And that's what this video brings you.

It sort of takes you back to your roots when you were trying to catch a big fish, when salmon, steelhead and the rest weren't in the cards or were barely dreamt of. Thanks to Josh Hayes and Dave Long, you now know where to go to catch something that doesn't go away for 99 percent of its life only to return for the remaining one percent that always seem to pass you by. It's Alaska's Kenai.

Let me make it clear from the start--I've never been to the Kenai. And I've always told myself that if and when I do go, I will want to fish for something different. Grayling, if they are around. Cutthroat, if they are willing. Perhaps some whitefish. And huge resident rainbows--all fish that are . . . well, around. Year round. And often within the same casting distance as other species that are different and interesting--without the anadromous crowds of fishers to boot.

What is also year round is the view. Hayes and Long do an excellent job of bringing in this critical aspect of the fishing as well, letting us know that in Alaska the fish and the land are one. Anyone who is planning a trip up North deserves to add this DVD to their library, and to learn what else is big and wonderful in Alaska. Stay tuned for upcoming shows from Sporting Fly on the Fremont, Madison and Snake rivers. Now you have no excuse to stay at home.

--Toney J. Sisk

Top