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Trout Bum Diaries: Patagoinia

Reviewed by Scott Richmond

The Trout Bum Diaries, Volume 1: Patagonia. DVD. Produced by Angling Exploration Group. $26.95 retail. Available in many fly shops or order direct at www.aegmedia.com; trailer can be viewed online at the website.

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In the end it boils down to how far you're willing to go, at what point does your hobby turn into a passion, and to what lengths you're willing to let it take you."

That's a line from a new DVD, "The Trout Bum Diaries: Volume 1, Patagonia." For the four young men--Ryan Davey, Chris Owens, Brian Jill, and Mikey Wier--their passion took them literally to the end of the earth, to the Patagonia region of Argentina. It was five months and 7,000 miles of camp food, sleeping on the ground, bad roads, mechanical breakdowns (lesson one: never, ever buy an Argentine-made Jeep), bureaucratic snafus, triumphs, and disappointments.

Along the way, they capture huge rainbows in pristine lakes, pull enormous browns from deserted rivers, nail big fish on mouse patterns, take the brookies of your dreams from a creek so small a lame man could jump across it.

They captured the experience on video and set it to music so you and I could join them in every young man's--and quite a few geezer's--ultimate fantasy trout bum go-way-far-down-the-long-dusty-road-into-the-sunset trout-chasing dream trip.

In Need of a Jolt

I've felt for some time that the fly fishing video world needed a jolt. There have been some excellent instructional videos, and some years ago there was a fly fishing "video magazine" (dubbed "Ken and Barbie Go Fly Fishing" by some). But no one that I've come across has stepped forward and broken out of the traditional mold. I've been waiting to hear a new voice for the new generation of fly fishers, someone who would do for fly fishing what Warren Miller did for ski movies a generation ago. I haven't found it until, perhaps, now.

This is not a video produced by my generation, most of whom will soon receive their first social security check. It's made by a new crop of twenty and thirty somethings, and they have a different slant on things.

Merging Music and Imagery

Many of the video sequences are stunning. You'll see heart pumping, jaw dropping, gut wrenching, butt puckering, eye bugging images of trout. They bulge under the water to inhale flies, emerge impressively from the depths, explode across the water. Around it all is the drop-dead-gorgeous scenery of the Andes and the Patagonian pampas.

The music is an eclectic blend of rock, blues, and Latin rhythms, perfectly matched to the images flickering across the screen. It's a feast for the eyes, ears, and soul.

If I were going to pick on something that could be improved, it's that I would like to know more. I want to see a map of where the boys are fishing and learn a little about the countryside. Most of all, I want to know more about each of the guys. They never really separate as individuals for me. We get each one's name, but where is he from? what's his background? what are his hopes and dreams? Heck, what's his favorite fly? And, since an epic journey should be a life-changing trip into the inner self, how has this odyssey changed him?

More Coming

Angling Exploration Group, who produced this video, plans more DVDs of a similar nature. I'm sure I'll buy them. It's the sort of DVD you slide into the player on a winter's night when the river's are blown out and you don't want to think any more about the state of the world. You relax by the fire and let the images and the sounds roll over your soul, and you let your mind fantasize your own epic journey.

Bottom Line: Breakthrough fly fishing video. Don't miss it! Reviewer Rating: 5

Scott Richmond is Westfly's creator and Executive Director. He is the author of eight books on Oregon fly fishing, including Fishing Oregon's Deschutes River (second edition).

Uploaded 05/03/2006.

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On the Road with the Silver Devil

Lake rainbow

Filming the Andes

River through the pampas

Rainbow with mouse pattern