Once in a Blue Moon
Brad Harris critiques a landmark fly fishing DVD.
Until recently, a handy-cam and a fishing buddy were all you needed to make a ‘fishing movie.’ Those days are over.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new breed of fly fishing films. With the launch of Once in a Blue Moon, a new level has been reached. The new crop of films are more like a Hollywood production than a home-movie.
High-definition is now the norm, slick editing is mandatory, a sharp soundtrack a necessity. People are now watching these things on screens as big as a bus windshield, and every flaw is visible. With each evolutionary step viewers’ expectations have risen accordingly. I’m going out on a limb here, but I’d tentatively call Once in a Blue Moon a revolutionary step.
Never before have I seen underwater footage like this. The image of a big trout coming off the bottom of the stream to take a fly will be with me for a while.
Cinematographer Jeannie Ackley is an underwater specialist, and has worked on nature documentaries, even getting nominated for an Emmy award. It doesn’t stop at underwater footage though. The shots of New Zealand’s Fiordland, massive trout cruising the shallows, finning in current and rising to eat flies, is just sensational and will quicken any fly fisher’s heart.
The angler and narrator is Carl McNeil, FFF Certified casting instructor, and obsessed fly fisher. The event is the famed ‘mouse-plague’ that, according to folklore, only happens every 7–10 years. It is truly a visual feast of the highest order. The only downside is Carl’s casting—it’s so bloody perfect I feel totally inadequate! Tight, even loops unfurl with graceful symmetry on every cast, the fly delivered on a plate to the rainbows and browns in plain view in the pristine water. The second camera takes up the process, following the fly on its surface ride until jaws emerge and engulf it. Then it’s an underwater shot to see the fish rise and take the fly, then realise his mistake as the hook is set.
The mouse ‘mystery’ is investigated through some cool footage of bedraggled rodents swimming for their lives, as well as interviews with biologists who have studied the phenomenon. It’s all edited together in a nice flow that’s easy to follow and holds your attention. I particularly like the first sequence that sets the scene for the rest of the film—mice scurrying around one of the DOC huts deep in Fiordland.
The style is primarily documentary, but there’s still heaps of trout-porn to make you drool. It’s the type of film you will want to show to non-fishing friends, so they can get some appreciation of why you fly-fish.
Visit www.flylife.com.au for a preview or click here to purchase. Price $39.95.