While it’s true that Colorado’s fishing season knows no boundaries, it certainly has its highs and lows.
Currently those lows are languishing in the teens and 20s, Fahrenheit, with daytime highs around most trout streams hovering in the 30s. January isn’t the month most anglers dream about.
July, now that’s another story. The rivers are flowing at optimal levels, insects are hatching everywhere and the fish are as eager as ever. It’s also more than five months away.
Fortunately, there are plenty of other stories in the fly-fishing world. And winter is a fine time for the telling.
The traditional campfire will be replaced by a high-def seasonal surrogate at the Oriental Theater (4335 W. 44th Ave.) on Saturday as this year’s best tales of the fishing vernacular are told at the annual Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T). Current and future fans of the genre will gather around the silver screen, nestle into cozy chairs and perhaps sip on some Breckenridge Bourbon as they tune into global tales of fly-wielding fishermen chasing tailing trout, savvy steelhead and thrashing tarpon.
“We’ve got incredible footage from our favorite backyard locales like Montana, Florida, Idaho and the gulf, and we’ve also got some amazing segments from destinations like the Bahamas, Belize, Alaska, New Zealand and Canada,” said F3T filmmaker and road manager Thad Robison.
There are many ways to tell a fishing story, but rather than bludgeon viewers with the same old catch-and-release sequences, the films selected for F3T focus on the broad scope of people and places. Story lines range from a punk rock band that seeks solace in the tranquility of trout fishing to a surgeon with Parkinson’s disease casting flies in Hemingway’s old haunts. The pursuit is a prevailing theme, with fishermen chasing game fish from the Gulf Stream to the Arctic Circle.
“Our goal in doing this is to share our passion and support the sport we love,” said producer Chris Keig.
With a nucleus of the Boulder-based F3T crew drifting over to the fishing-film world after years of producing Warren Miller ski-movie tours, these guys also know a little something about a party. The high-energy tour travels to more than 125 cities throughout North America, dishing out drinks, coupons and prizes to patrons along the way.
Two shows take place at the Oriental on Saturday at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., with follow-up performances in Fort Collins on Feb. 29 and March 1, Grand Junction on March 30, Boulder on April 12, Breckenridge on April 18 and in Edwards and Grand Junction on undetermined dates. Check for details and film clips.
When he isn’t blogging up cyberspace or acting like a movie star (see above, F3T: “The Kodiak Project”), Colorado’s own Kirk Deeter is among those rallying to save the state’s namesake river.
The Field & Stream magazine editor at large will join Colorado Trout Unlimited president Sinjin Eberle and Confluence Kayaks owner Jon Kahn as speakers at Thursday’s “Rally for the Rivers,” an open gathering of anglers, outdoorsmen, boaters and wildlife enthusiasts joining to ask administrators from the Environmental Protection Agency to protect the Upper Colorado River system from expanded water diversions proposed for Windy Gap and Moffat Tunnel.
“The health of the Colorado River is critical to the health of Colorado’s recreation and tourism economy,” Deeter said. “We must keep our rivers flowing and alive — or we’ll be killing what makes Colorado special.”
In coming weeks, the EPA and other federal regulators will determine the fate of the Upper Colorado River as the Windy Gap Firming Project threatens to reduce native flows to a mere fraction of their historic levels. A second proposal for increased diversions from the adjoining Fraser River through Moffat Tunnel could further jeopardize the health of the Colorado headwaters.
Rally participants will gather at the EPA building on the corner of 16th Street and Wynkoop (near Union Station) from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday. They hope to convey ecological concerns to federal and state decision-makers and promote policies that balance development with resource protection. Every- one is invited.
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
