F3T Rolls Through Wilmette,IL

 The Fly Fishing Film Tour rolled through Wilmette,IL last night. Blake and I where there to see this years films. One word description- phenomenal! We arrived roughly around 7:30 PM and greeted by RT welcoming us to the show. Tons of free stuff and info was handed out at the beginning. They had a sweet raffle for a DVD set and an Orvis rod,reel,and fly line package. The show soon started right on time at 8PM. Prior to going to the show I had watched all the trailers for the films that where going to be showed. The trailers defiantly got me pumped up. And I must say the trailers didn't even do justice to how good the films actually where. A quick breakdown by film title:

1.Reverb- RT, you outdid yourself again! Stellar film about some old punk rockers from the Chicago scene in the late 80's/early 90's that have come together and enjoy the plethora of fly fishing in the driftless area of Wisconsin. One of the guys Larry Damore from the band Pegboy has started his own fly rod co. Flying Pig Flyrods. I saw some of his rods at the show last night and they looked top notch at an affordable price for all. The film showed the ups and downs of the punk rock world with relieving tensions of fly fishing in there backgrounds. I highly recommend the purchase of the DVD that also features Heart of the Driftless.

2.Sipping Dry- Excellent camera work and some dandy trout being caught in Montana. One of the best lines in all the films came from this movie in my own opinion. I forget the name of the so called trout bum, but he states " Don't bring your young kids here cause they might never leave and become that doctor or lawyer you where hoping for" Awesome hatches in the film with some tanks caught on the dry fly.

3.Fly:A Legacy- Very documentryish, but with good intentions of preserving trout stream across the world. I thought it was very well laid out, and had some killer shots of the old British chalk streams.

4.Doc of the Drake- This one kind of hit me in the soft spot. It is a short focusing on an old doctor that came down with Parkinson disease. The disease forced him in to retirement leading to his profound addiction to fly fishing the Drake hatch in Idaho. Doc thought he was going to miss the hatch that year after being admitted into the hospital for pneumonia. Low and behold the Drake hatch waited for the doc to make it to the stream. For 3 days the doc fished and  and continued to miss the hook set, but on the final day he finally got the hook set with line screaming off of his reel. Doc finally got hooked up and it was that fish of a life time that we all dream about. 

5.Hatch- Another good film put together by Gin Clear Media. This film also focused around the chalk streams in Europe and its superior  hatches. Great camera work as always from Gin Clear.

6.Clearly B.C.- This focused on the pursuit of Bull Trout in British Columbia with guide Beckie Clarke. I have read very little about Bull trout prior to viewing this film, and I must say that Bull trout is now on my Bucket List. Beckie lands some very large Bull's that are flourished with color and size.

7.The Kodiak Project- All I can say is HOLY SH*@! This is every Steelhead Junkies dream! Take place on a very remote section of Kodiak Island. At one point in the film one of the guys states that in 5 cast he landed 3 Steelhead. They had double digit days a piece catching some of the biggest and most picturesque Steelhead I have ever seen. This film is defiantly worth the DVD purchase!

8.A Mayan Prophecy- The strife's and struggles of getting through some of the most remote fishing destinations in South America. The was defiantly some humor in this film with a bunch of guys I would consider characters to say the least. This film would be another for the DVD collection as well.

9.The Arctic- This film takes place in what most would consider Gods country or the higher ups country to be politically correct. The far reaches of arctic Canada. There are some slobs of fish in multiple species caught in this film. The most noted was the Arctic Char. Arctic Char has to be one of the most colorful fish I have seen. In the area these gents fish there has been multiple world class tippet records for the Arctic Char caught here. Defiantly enjoyed this one!

10.Right On It- Takes place in the Bahamas chasing Bonefish in the flats. There was some good camera work that I enjoyed, but it seemed like what they showed at the show was very little. This was the only film I was kind of skeptical about.

11. Riding High- The pursuit and addiction of Poon! Not that poon! Poon, as in Tarpon! The thought of chasing a 75-100lbs. fish with a fly rod just fascinates me. Theses guys chase the huge pods of Tarpon up and down the coast of Florida. Camera work was astounding, and the star of the flick has got to be the Yellow Lab that travels with these guys. There is a scene where they have a monster poon screaming line out of the reel and someone forgot to tie the dog to the boat. Needless to say ole yellow goes for a swim chasing down the fish. This was an epic film in my book, and is the first to be purchased on DVD by me.

 I would like to thank RT for hosting last nights show. We all had a great time, and I am looking forward to next year already. I would also like to thank Chicago Fly Fishing Outfitters for donating the hat,shirt, and coffee mug that I won in the drawing. I would highly recommend that you all check out the films that where on the tour this year.