In an effort to create a little enthusiasm for fly-fishing, as well as offer an environmental appreciation for fishing in the Wood River Valley, Silver Creek Outfitters presents the 2008 Fly Fishing Film Festival. Celebrating its third year, the film festival will feature three independent films on the sport of fly-fishing made by passionate and dedicated men and women.
The film festival will take place at the nexStage Theatre in Ketchum on Thursday, June 26, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and all proceeds will benefit the Hemingway Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Tickets can be reserved by calling 726-5282 and will be available at the door.
This year the festival will feature "Red Gold" by Felt Soul Media, "Destinations" by RA Beattie Productions and "Poppy's Red" by Reel Action Media. "Poppy's" is about a Northern Idaho fly shop owned by a truck driver who fell in love with Steelhead trout. The shop was opened in his garage and he lives a life of solitude embracing the Steelhead culture, said Silver Creek Outfitters and festival programmer Dave James.
"'Red Gold' premiered at the 2008 Telluride Mountain Film Festival and won the audience choice and director's choice. We are the second people to show it," James said. "It is about the lifestyle from a region in Alaska. It is still pretty guerilla, but it's the most polished. All of these filmmakers are very serious about what they do."
"Destinations" features fly-fishing from False Albacore in North Carolina to Marble Trout in Slovenia. RA Beattie Productions has been making films for the past six years and will travel the globe to uncover the world's most unique fishing destinations.
Making fly-fishing films is no easy task and digital cameras have allowed for this seemingly growing niche of independent films to exist. James said the films are first time efforts by the filmmakers and the only film they have ever worked on.
"Most people will never go to these places in the films," James said. "The festival gets people excited, caring about the environment and it's a way to get people pumped up for fishing this summer."
These movies cannot be bought and are made on shoestring budgets. However, they connect everyone to fishing and are very entertaining. The funds generated from the festival, which are earmarked for Trout Unlimited will go toward protecting and restoring the upper Big Lost River's trout fishery. The festival chooses a non-profit to donate its proceeds to every year, which works to protect and conserve the land and water in and around the Big Wood River Valley.
Recent work in the watershed evaluated fishing-related mortality, fish habitat degradation, water quantity, grazing, water quality, whirling disease and fish stocking as potential causes for fishery decline. Continued low trout populations have sparked renewed interest in harvest being a possible factor in suppressing trout populations in the river. Trout Unlimited is partnering with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to conduct a new angler survey to help determine the impact of harvest on trout populations.
"Every dollar that we receive from the film festival will go directly into helping to fund the work directed at the upper Big Lost River's trout fishery — a critically important effort that will help to protect and restore this important resource," said the director of Trout Unlimited's Idaho Water Office Kim Goodman Trotter.
A number of landowners have restored important spring creeks above Mackay Reservoir. These restored spring creeks provide pristine water for fish, which migrate between the Mackay Reservoir and the upper Big Lost River.
"We are very grateful to Terry Ring of Silver Creek Outfitters for the decision to dedicate the proceeds from the film festival to Trout Unlimited's work on the upper Big Lost River Project," said President of the Hemingway Chapter Ed Northen.
For more details about the restoration project and the Hemingway Chapter of Trout Unlimited, call 788-3168.
Fly fishing season in the Wood River Valley begins with a celebratory film festival by Silver Creek Outfitters.
Photo by Matt Hayes
