Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Movie Review: The Hatch


When I started fly fishing for trout here in the mountains of North Carolina, it soon became evident that in order to be successful your dry flies needed to be small. We rarely have hatches here that cannot be matched with a size 16 fly or smaller and more often than not a size 18 is called for. It is for this reason that I was so intrigued when I saw the trailer for the Felt Soul Media documentary, "The Hatch."

"The Hatch" tells the story of Colorado's Gunnison River and its yearly hatch of Salmon Flies. The intrigue of the salmon fly to me and other small stream anglers is that it averages three inches in length and hatches in large quantities, making the Gunnison River a haven for both trout and fly fishers alike. Trout love these meaty bugs and can put on a large percentage of their body weight in a short period of time by making use of this plentiful source of protein.

The DVD is filled with spectacular scenes of Colorado's rugged beauty and the videography does a great job of giving the viewer a sense of the massive scale of this remote and harsh landscape. Anglers wishing to fish the salmon fly hatch must descend over 2000 feet of craggy and barren landscape before the bottom of the canyon literally comes alive with the winding river. Their persistence and our eyes get rewarded with large trout who eat big bugs off the surface and fight very hard. While this documentary could be considered "fish porn" an integral part of the film is its message of conservation. Watch this and you will know that the film's makers have a love for this resource and want to protect it.

"The Hatch" was produced and directed by Travis Rummel and Ben Knight and is part of a new genre of fly fishing video designed to appeal to the "x-games" generation. Often times these productions aimed at the younger crowd leave the older folks scratching their heads. This is not at all the case with "The Hatch." In addition to the obvious "x-treme" appeal, the message and the art of the videography will keep even the non-angler's eyes glued to the screen. However, for the fly fishers in the room who dream about fishing for huge trout with size 2 flies, it amounts to an almost sinful experience.

"The Hatch" from Felt Soul Media runs 17.5 minutes. It is available for $25 via the Felt Soul Website www.feltsoulmedia.com. While you are visiting their site be sure to check out the trailer for their latest project, "Running down the Man".

***UPDATE - B2 over at Moldy Chum reminds me that The Drake Magazine website has posted the full trailer for "Running down the Man."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Lee,

The Drake www.drakemag.com has the much longer clip shown at the film fest available for viewing on their site.

B2

Murdock said...

B2,

Excellent point! I'll add the links!

Thanks,

Lee