Salmon Run

The Mizrahi Brothers are working on a documentary and have released a 5 minute piece for review. This teaser focuses on Pulaski, NY which is a place that I spent some formative years fishing in for salmon and steelhead on the fly. Pulaski lies between the eastern shore of Lake Ontario and the Tug Hill region. Some of the challenges of this rugged area include some slippery wading rivers, fluctuating flows, hard fighting fish and occasional crowds. The camera used for this work is the Sony NEX-VG10. From the look of this short film, I'd have to say that it's a very nice piece of equipment in the hands of some passionate, talented enthusiasts. There are some cool long exposure segments in the film combined with authentic angling sequences and a complimentary acoustic soundtrack. It has a very natural feel about it that I think you'll enjoy, especially if you're familiar with the Great Lakes tributary scene. Have a look and I'll keep you posted when the full length version is complete.

Willpower

Paul Vecsei is a fisheries biologist residing in Yellowknife, Canada and he created the following series of morphometric illustrations. I found this collection of finned gems to be exciting share-worthy content so I asked Paul if I could post them and he granted permission to do an exclusive Way Upstream exhibition. These illustrations use a combination of regular colored pencils and some watercolor pencils. Here's what Paul had to say about his craft, " The process is very slow, often requiring numerous layers. It's not magic. Many of you could do it if you really tried and did nothing else for years. It's more about willpower than technique."






Way Upstream Gallery 2010

Touching the lives of everything

Salmon Film Teaser from Epicocity Project on Vimeo.

Follow the journey (above and below the surface) of the critically endangered Snake River salmon from the coast of Alaska to Idaho's Sawtooth Valley. These fish migrate farther inland and higher in elevation than any other fish on Earth, along the way touching the lives of everyone and everything in the ecosystem.

Sneak preview at Keen Footwear on Wed, November 10th, 2010 in Portland, Oregon. Music by The xx Produced by EP

Slab of all time

This huge char was caught on a fly by Craig Blackie (holding rod). It weighed over 24 lbs and is estimated to be the largest fly-caught char on record. The blazing beast was released seconds after this photo was taken. Both guys in the shot are fish biologists and they specialize in salmonid morphology and taxonomy. Visit Paul Vecsei's Photostream to view other amazing fish including giant lake trout, backcrossed carp, strange chubs and more. As you'll discover, fisheries biology has it's perks.

Photo courtesy of Fish as art

Universal Truth

I've been striper fishing with good friends for the past week and we've had some excellent experiences. I was looking at some of the photos from our sessions and there was one that I just had to post. It seemed to illustrate one of the universal truths when it comes to fly fishing. Note that I don't know how many universal truths there really are regarding fly fishing but I do know this one, everyone loves to see their backing. It's especially gratifying to see it come back on the reel. I hope you see your backing often.

Photo by Runar Kabbe

Darkness

Illustration by Steve Stracqualursi

Building models

Some saltwater fly tying is akin to building models. These types of flies involve synthetic materials, eye components and a host of adhesives (like Clear Cure Goo). Here's a video demonstrating the tying basics of what Bob Popovics dubbed "Surf Candies" about 20 years ago. It also shows how some of todays bonding agents set very quickly with the use of light which eliminates the problems of trying to work with longer setting epoxies. What next?

Clear Cure Goo Flexible Surf Candy from Clear Cure Goo

Pushing forward

I'm starting a few product development projects and I figured some Way Upstream community conversation would be in order to help push things forward. The projects I'm referring to have to do with fishing gloves specific to the sun as well as a mask. I'd like to hear your thoughts on these. If you have opinions on what works, what doesn't or what you'd love to see regarding these kinds of products then please chime in. This could get interesting.

Illustration and arrangement by Steve Stracqualursi