Fish Porn is for Humans

Fly Fishing Film Tour has been making its way around the country promoting nearly a dozen fly fishing films.  Last night the crew was in Arlington, VA at the Draft House Cinema showing their lineup.  A few were underwhelming and a few were great.
Standouts:

Fly fishing and fly fishers can be so damn righteous, this small  mob of middle-aged punk rockers get their fix yelling angry lyrics at angrier teenagers, and occasionally at stubborn trout.  They're not hog tiers when it comes to fishing but you don't have to be to feel the love.


"Doc of the Drakes" has two messages it shares with the world; do what you love and you can do it forever, and any fish can be a trophy... but it helps if it's 25".  Doc is an old man by his own account, and Parkinson's  has left him with a shaky hand.  Of course, that doesn't matter as long as you can set the hook right.  The trout make him work for his catch, but he finds his trophy.


This one takes me out of DC and puts me back in "the land of giants."  Nothing's more exhilarating than chasing steelhead in Alaska.  These guys do it in true dirt bag style.

Now there were some mentionables, Fly a Legacy, The Arctic, and Riding High: A Season on the Fly.
The night was great, with tons of give-a-ways, good food and drink, good people.
Check it out. FlyFishingFilmTour

Don't Be Shy

With the price of fly rods you would hope that you're getting a quality machine that will do whatever you ask it to.  That being said, how many people do you know who have broken a rod, how'd they do it?  I would bet that it was either in a car door, stepping on it, or that it was compromised heavily before being stressed and broken.

Of course, some rods break easier than others.  I have reports of 10# Helios rods wilting under heavy power, were as my 8# BII MX  has taken beatings on gravel and still fishes like a trabucco.  Assuming that you haven't thrown your meatwhistle into the tip section of your 6# half a dozen times, what exactly does it take to break a rod?

Also, do you have any idea what kind of pressure you're actually exerting?  The most common problem I find with seasoned fly fishers is that they play it too nice.

I say seasoned because a lot of clients I take out aren't and are not afraid to manhandle their rod, and only very rarely is it too much.

If you pull you damn hardest on your rod, do you know what that translates to in pounds exerted on the tippet - not a lot.

Check this video out, listen to the amount of  pounds Tim calls out and watch what it take to snap these sticks.

If you're not impressed with this factory test, here's Andy Mill (you might know him for his olympic skiing bids and Vail native) trying his best to break a Hardy 12# over a Florida shark:

How have you broken a rod?