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 Bullwynkle, of "Rocky and..."
drops by on occasion--or drifts, as it were, floating
directly behind Rick Hafele and John Smeraglio as they
introduce a sequence.
At one point our host hooks
and lands an undergarment that some enourmous lady will
miss; and occasionally entomological mysteries must be resolved
by "Bugwan," a gold-turbaned character who advises
anglers while folded into a lotus position up on the bank
in the shade.
Perhaps these examples
suggest that the four videos in this series are not entirely
serious efforts to help fly fishers angle changeable Western
rivers, guiding us from season to season and hatch to hatch.
Wrong: If the approach is madcap at moments--okay often--the
content of these tapes of pragmatic, practical and eminently
informative.
 To clarify, noted entomologist
and author Rick Hafele teamed up with guide and shop owner
Joe Smeraglio to film these videos on the Deschutes River,
each set during a different season of the year, under different
water conditions and temperatures, with new sets of bug
and beast life available to the trout.
Toward the beginning of
each tape, Hafele and Smeraglio seine a stream, discuss
the organisms they find, then adopt gear, tactics and flies
appropriate to the moment. Along the way they make mocking
reference to therapy, drinking habits, their partner's skill
or lack thereof, and the gratifying fact that both have
day jobs. They're fond of repeating motifs: "This fish
is fourteen inches," Hafele says often, usually while
holding a redside rainbow well under a foot. "It's
just that I have really big hands. It's a problem, these
big hands." Five minutes later, "Here he comes.
Nice fish, too." Then, "Of course, I have really
big hands..."
To acknowledge that
some of the whimsy is wild(e) shouldn't suggest Oscar, or
an Oscar, for that matter. That said, there's not a single
tense or overblown moment in any of the tapes I've watched;
and it's hard to find entomology lessons daunting when discussed
by a half-naked Hafele Bugwan.
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Flyfishing & Tying
Journal Review
 Featuring the efforts
of Ricke Hafele, entomologist and co-author with Dave Hughes
of Western Hatches (and blues drummer) and John Smeraglio,
guide and fly shop owner, these videos manage to be light-hearted
to downright funny and highly informative at the same time.
Filmed on and in Oregon's Deschutes River, the two videos
cover a wide variety of fishing situations and circumstances.
Staying warm while wading
in the winter, identification of insect species prevalent
at that time of the year, identifying which flies fish are
taking when hatches are ocurring simultaneously, reading
the water to determine where to fish it and how; these are
only a few of the tips and techniques covered in detail
that should make your fishing trip more successful and a
lot more fun.
 Both volumes are currently
available in either VHS tape or DVD format, and the second
two volumes are currently in the works.
I like the way Rick and
John look at fishing. We'd all be a lot better off if we
took ourselves no more seriously than these guys do.
-Preston Singletary
Flyfishing & Tying Journal, Spring 2003
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Wayward Fly Fishing
Tony J. Sisk's website
Fly Fishing Large Western Rivers: Volume #2, Spring
Fly Fishing Large Western Rivers: Volume #3, Summer
Rick Hafele and John Smeraglio
DVD: 47 min (Spring), 57 min (Summer)
Laughing River Productions $24.95 each
  Who has not bent all the pages ragged of Rick Hafele's biblical work on insects, The Complete Book of Western Hatches? My copy of this favorite tome is so tattered and pasted over with hatches from stream-side use that I'll be looking for an update to it soon. Now the bug meister of Oregon along with John Smeraglio has produced what many have been waiting for, a video to give us further insights in the life of our favorite (and sometimes uncommon) bugs, the flies that mimic them and the fish that eat them.
In the spring video we get, well, spring lessons, such as how to handle the complexity of spring hatches, what part of the day to fish, when to change flies (often), and how to have a few laughs when all else fails. The summer video, summer lessons, such as fishing the peak ends of the days, adding terrestrial patterns to your fly arsenal, and having a few more laughs when all else fails.
The theme running through both videos is the necessity of exploring the life among the rocks. How to pick a fly to match a particular insect among a plethora of naturals in a typical water sample is a valuable lesson that Hafele admirably presents--right down to how to kick the rocks in just the right way to take a good sample. And you thought you already knew how to take a water sample.
Presentation is critical, too. John Smeraglio shows excellent casting skill and superb control over his line. Especially interesting is his way of fishing a large river by concentrating on a smaller portion of it next to shore, as if the smaller portion were a small river. Rarely do you see a caster fishing toward shore in these waters, but this is where the fish are.
You'll also enjoy Hafele's harmonica riffs throughout. Yes, he does a fine harmonica, and you can hear more of it on his Howling Trout music CD. Whether or not harmonica blues tunes helps the fishing is a matter of basic attitudes. Often, learning to relax a little on the water and not take everything so seriously will help you stay with your fishing longer. Just don't scare the fish.
--Toney J. Sisk
www.waywardflyfishing.com |
