Review: TheFlyFishingDVD.com

[Zach Matthews]

Hey guys –

One of our advertisers for the last year has recently completed a full overhaul of their system, and they asked me to post a candid review of their new service.

Candidly, I can say that I am really impressed.  Basically the deal is, go to TheFlyFishingDVD.com (gotta have the “the” on the front) and you can download episodes of fly fishing tv shows hosted by Peter Morse (aka Morsie from this board).

Now, (a) Peter is really freaking good at his job as a host.  He’s actually one of the best TV fishing hosts I’ve ever seen.  As many clowns as we have on TV hosting fishing shows here in the US, you might think that was damning with faint praise.  In all reality, what Peter has to do is very difficult – not only must he convince us that he actually knows what he is doing with a rod, but he has to fish in all sorts of conditions for all sorts of species, and then he has to explain it to us in a way that is inviting and accessible.  That’s hard, folks, and he does a hell of a job.

And, (b) these shows offer some locations you just don’t see on American TV.  I downloaded and watched two episodes from their servers, one on Christmas Island bonefishing and the other on New Zealand lowland trout fishing.  The Christmas Island show I give an A-.  It was better than just about anything you’d see on American TV, especially in terms of location, but the fishery appeared to be so good as to offer less of a challenge than, say, the Keys.  Great for a travel destination, less exciting as a place to take a TV show.  If you’re a bonefish nut or simply have more respect for them than I do, I still think you’ll love this episode.

Now, on the other hand, I give the New Zealand lowland trout episode a big fat A+.  See, theoretically I am in the target demographic for the Trout Bum Diaries, but those guys just plain have a different relationship with fishing than I do.  Fishing is definitely an adventure for me, but it’s a controlled pace – not a gonzo extravaganza in which what little hair I have left would reek of weed and slat-sided strip clubs.  Morsie’s pace is way more my speed: the intensity is there in spades but it’s a more cerebral game.  

I had the impression that New Zealand fishing was all small-stream stuff where 5 lb. brown trout might hang in the middle of an open pool, but would be 2 miles from the nearest other trout.  I’m pretty sure some fishing there is like that, but that’s not what Morsie was doing.  Standing in what easily could have been Montana except for the fact that not one single other person was in sight for miles in either direction, he caught fish after enormous fish out of the mud-lines in a confluence of two waterways.

Not to disparage his skills, but the truly breathtaking moment comes when a fish sidles into the clear and shows itself to be  at least 36″ long.  It was the kind of fish that can start a second slither before the first shake of the shoulders makes it back to his tail.  In-effing-credible.  Of course Morsie didn’t land it, but hey, none of us would have either, right?

All in all, the service offers a really cool way to relax for a really inexpensive price relative to American fly fishing DVD costs.  All I did was download the show from the site’s servers, which took a couple hours (these are probably hi-def shows, though I don’t have a hi-def TV; they run about 400-500MB apiece).  I just set it up to download overnight.  Then, when I had it, I popped a DVD in my iMac, opened iDVD, and created a “Magic Movie.”  This is a drag-and-drop process; I just dragged the two files onto the screen, chose the least obnoxious DVD menu I could, and pushed burn.

Half an hour later out popped the two shows, bundled nicely in episodes so I can choose between them.  I expect you could get 4-5 shows on a single DVD.

I highly recommend the service and think you should check it out.  Their new website is really attractive, too.

The main site is here: TheFlyfishingDVD.com.  You can also watch trailers of the movies here: http://www.theflyfishingdvd.com/fr_overview_100.php

This is where I would start:

Zach

[Andrew Wright]

Agreed Zach…..The New Zealand footage is sick.

Good work Morse. Can’t wait to see more.

[Morsie]

Thanks Zach, I know there’s some GREAT stuff in the pipeline that’s otherwise known as the editing suite. We filmed three episodes in New Zealand, one with Simon Chu on nymphing techniques for the South Island rivers which is absolutely outstanding and another that we filmed in an afternoon on a spring creek when the mayfly hatch just went NUTS as did the fish. Also a carp episode which I really like and some bigger barramundi and tuna and etc etc etc…………

Looking forward to catching up in Denver for one of your local frothy brews.

Morsie 😮 😮 😮

[andrew grabham]

Hi all.
I’m Andrew, and I work for the guys who produce theflyfishingdvd.com.

Thanks for the review Zach, and coming from you that is high praise. Not to say that you are usually critical, but that you choose your words with care – occupational hazard I suppose. 😉

Peter – you forgot to mention the Threadfin Salmon, and that one is my favorite. We will have a short trailer up on that story soon, but the other NZ stories are still a little way off.

I think maybe I have one of the best jobs in the world, except when I’m sittin’ in the office and Peter rings to say “Hey, you should have been here today…..”

Anyway, hope to see you guys on the site at some time, and if its OK I’ll make a post once in a while to kep you updated on what is available and what’s coming next.

If you guys have any trouble with the site, or just want some answers on the fish that are covered in the story, just fill out a contact form on the site and I’ll get back to you.

Thanks for the opportunity Zach,

Andrew.

PS Have a beer for me Mr Morse & shout the bar too!

[Simon Chu]

Really enjoyed the review Zach and smiled at the NZ bit Morsie  😉 🙂

I don’t think I wore enough camo.

Have fun Morsie in Denver, they sure do look after you there.

PS
Still working on it Zach.

[none]

Thanks for the tip & review Zach.

Jay

[Steve K.]

Great job guys!

Now if AirTran would only fly to Christchurch

[david king]

I downloaded 4! All very good, if your jonezin for a fishing fix they can help quell the craven. Peter does a great job with the fishing and the comentary. Peter catches this enormous trout and when he gets a glimpse of it he says “its got a head as big as a robbers dog” now thats not something you hear every day. Good Stuff!!

[andrew grabham]

Thanks for saying so. Glad you like them David. As for Peter’s quote, he was VERY excited that day!! I think it is up there with “I got a pig on the end of my rig!” This was one of those days when he rang to say “should have been here”. One thing is for sure David, I’m glad it was not me in charge of the net!!!! 😉

Andrew

[andrew grabham]

Just found the photo of Peter’s 17lb wild fish.
Not bad on his #5wt – some fairly tense moments
though.

Andrew

[Morsie]

I have a mount of that thing hanging on my wall and every time I look at it I shake my head in disbelief. Since then I’ve done a little more research. Seems the fish is what’s known as a “slob trout” which is a brownie that hangs around and feeds in the estuaries rather than going to sea. I suspect that the words “slob” and “slough” may have a common ancestry but I’m only guessing there; and the word “slob” apparently means estuary in parts of Scotland.

Our presumption is that the fish had been eating elvers and that’s why it was so fat. I think it actually died in the net of a heart attack because the intention had been to release it. It probably also consumed a lot of small trout.

Morsie

[david king]

That’s a helluva fish!!! 17lbs WOW!

[ethan smith]

Whoa, that is a fish!

I saw a link over at mid-current and watched a bit of it at lunch today.
Good stuff for sure, nice work.

[micah lauer]

Good hell, that’s a ginormous brown!

[Author]

Posts