But you’ve gotta pack your own food…

Making my way to the Lake Michigan surf in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

I be back!

Gimme a few days to catch up, and I’ll tell you all about my travels…

After fishing for a few hours after work on Friday, I came home to find a package from the Hatches DVD Store on the counter.  I ripped it open and found  Rollcast Production’s new fly fishing DVD, Hustle & Fish.  My wife was taking a nap at one end of the couch while my son was putting the smack down on the computer in Wii baseball at the other.  Popcorn in hand, I popped Hustle & Fish in the DVD player.

Only seconds in, I realized that this wasn’t the typical fly fishing movie.  Instead of trying to squeeze in as much fish porn as possible, Hustle & Fish has a story to tell.

Anywhere on the web where you can buy fly fishing books or DVDs, there’s a blurb; that short paragraph telling you what the book or movie is about.  A typical blurb for Hustle & Fish reads something like-

A one-of-a-kind experience featuring breathtaking cinematography, high stakes adventure, gut busting humor, big fish, bears, sharks, wolves, extremely strange characters & tons of fish porn! Filmed in Alaska, Canada & Washington. 80 min.

Fulfilling Steve’s life-long dream of getting paid to fish should be simple. Make a fishing movie, fish, sell the movie, fish, make loads of money and fish… but will anyone want to buy a hilarious movie about fishing? Will Steve get to go on the epic fishing adventure of his dreams?

Words like that sell this movie short in so many ways.

A little further in, my wife slowly woke up.  You could tell she wanted to fall back asleep, but something had caught her interest.  “No way in hell it’s this movie.”  I thought.  In the past when I was watching the newest fly fishing DVD, she’s either left the room or asked me to watch it when she wasn’t home.  But like most other times in my life when I’ve thought I could decipher a woman’s body language, I was wrong.  It might have been the movie that woke her up, but the movie is also what kept her up.

Now, like a family gathered around the radio listening to the Bob Hope Show in the late 40′s,  it’s the three of us sitting there watching.

The Review

Honestly, I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is about Hustle & Fish that makes it so special.  What I can say is that after watching it, my wife might actually understand why I’ve devoted so much of my time, and myself, to fly fishing.  This movie captures something that just can’t be put into words- it’s also really funny.

The music is pretty good, too.  Not that you’re gonna buy this for the soundtrack, but if the soundtrack was available, I’d buy it.

The only knock I have on this movie is the long fish porn section at the end.  Not that it’s bad, it’s just that I’ve seen and caught fish before.  I’ve seen them jump and take line.  I’ve seen fish splash water and rods bend and fly line go through the air and spey casts and all that other stuff that happens when you go fishing.  Maybe I have a short attention span, or have been desensitized, but watching this kind of stuff on TV just doesn’t hold my interest for very long anymore.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate good fish porn.  Many of the movie’s best moments were during the many fishing sequences earlier in the movie.  The only difference being the narration leading into, or during, them. The narration really sets the tone, and by it’s self would make a damn good essay.

Something else worth mentioning is the fact that I have already watched this movie again.  I’ve seen pretty much every single fly fishing movie thats come out during the past 5 years, and this is the first that kept my full attention the second time around- except for the long fish porn part at the end.

Specs

80 minutes long

$24.99 plus shipping at the Hatches DVD Store

Conclusion

I can’t emphasize enough how much I enjoyed watching Hustle & Fish.  Seriously good stuff- probably the first fly fishing movie that has the ability to transcend being liked by more than just the fly fishing crowd.

“It says right here, the bigger guy has to carry the retard in the neoprenes.  Tough shit.”

A winner has been chosen for 40 Rivers’ first caption contest!  Congrats to Big Cliff for the caption shown above.  We’ll be contacting you via email to make neccessary the shipping arrangements.

Thanks to everyone who entered.  Better luck next time around…