It is really hard for me to believe that I have been fly fishing now for over twenty years and my first experiences with a fly rod came while working at a summer camp outside of Grayling, Michigan. I spent my first summer learning to cast on the camp lake and caught hundreds of bluegill on foam spiders. The next summer I felt a little more confident and started skipping lunch to spend the afternoon rest period and evenings across the street somewhere on the Holy Waters of the Au Sable River.
I'll never forget walking downstream at Burton's Landing and that first little brown trout that launched itself out of the water to devour the small Royal Coachman Trude that I had haphazardly laid out on the surface.
I spent the rest of that summer on the river any time I could get away from work and hung out at The Fly Factory (which is now the Old Au Sable Fly Shop) and Gates Lodge sorting through fly bins, reading the chalk boards on what was hatching, mesmerized by the foam boards filled with hex and drake flies, and eavesdropping on the guides, shop staff, and customers as they talked of where they had been fishing the evening or night before. These were wild tales for a teenager that didn't know what the hell he was doing and it all began to kindle an obsession that continues today with fly fishing.
Years later, the Au Sable River, it's various branches and the Manistee River, are still considered home waters to me. I miss those sweet tea brown rivers and look forward to every chance that I can spend time up there. Without a doubt it's a very special place.
Robert Thompson of Third Year Fly Fisher recently released his latest film called THE RIVER and over the course of two hours is able to highlight the history, the people, and almost flawlessly captures the many reasons why the Au Sable River is so special to so many. Along with the feature film, bonus films include The Brothers Brown and Summers which make this disc three hours of northern Michigan goodness. I've long been a fan of Robert's work but THE RIVER is his best work yet and well worth the price to add this set of films to your collection.
WEEKEND GIVEAWAY
Robert has graciously offered to give away three copies of THE RIVER to the T.F.M. readership, so please check out the the rules of the giveaway outlined below.
THE RULES
1. Send an email to tfmcontests@gmail.com and tell me where your "The River" is? It may be a place where you first cast a fly or that is filled with traditions year to year. It's that special piece of water that you will always call home.
2. Please send only ONE EMAIL submission per email address. Duplicates will be deleted.
3. Submissions will be accepted until 6:00 a.m. Monday, May 5th, 2014.
4. On Monday morning THREE WINNERS will be chosen by random number generator and then listed at the bottom of this post. Winners will also be contacted by email as well.
5. One winner will receive the Blu Ray copy of THE RIVER and the other two winners will receive a DVD copy.
THE WINNERS
There were quite a few entries for the weekend giveaway and I enjoyed reading through each email. The random number generator picked the following winners...
SAM GIRWARNAUTH
ROGER DEPOY
TODD VAN DYKE
Congratulations and thanks again to Third Year Fly Fisher for sponsoring the giveaway.
Check out the Third Year Fly Fisher website, Facebook, and Vimeo page for more on the film and projects that Robert is working on.
I'll never forget walking downstream at Burton's Landing and that first little brown trout that launched itself out of the water to devour the small Royal Coachman Trude that I had haphazardly laid out on the surface.
I spent the rest of that summer on the river any time I could get away from work and hung out at The Fly Factory (which is now the Old Au Sable Fly Shop) and Gates Lodge sorting through fly bins, reading the chalk boards on what was hatching, mesmerized by the foam boards filled with hex and drake flies, and eavesdropping on the guides, shop staff, and customers as they talked of where they had been fishing the evening or night before. These were wild tales for a teenager that didn't know what the hell he was doing and it all began to kindle an obsession that continues today with fly fishing.
Years later, the Au Sable River, it's various branches and the Manistee River, are still considered home waters to me. I miss those sweet tea brown rivers and look forward to every chance that I can spend time up there. Without a doubt it's a very special place.
Robert Thompson of Third Year Fly Fisher recently released his latest film called THE RIVER and over the course of two hours is able to highlight the history, the people, and almost flawlessly captures the many reasons why the Au Sable River is so special to so many. Along with the feature film, bonus films include The Brothers Brown and Summers which make this disc three hours of northern Michigan goodness. I've long been a fan of Robert's work but THE RIVER is his best work yet and well worth the price to add this set of films to your collection.
WEEKEND GIVEAWAY
Robert has graciously offered to give away three copies of THE RIVER to the T.F.M. readership, so please check out the the rules of the giveaway outlined below.
THE RULES
1. Send an email to tfmcontests@gmail.com and tell me where your "The River" is? It may be a place where you first cast a fly or that is filled with traditions year to year. It's that special piece of water that you will always call home.
2. Please send only ONE EMAIL submission per email address. Duplicates will be deleted.
3. Submissions will be accepted until 6:00 a.m. Monday, May 5th, 2014.
4. On Monday morning THREE WINNERS will be chosen by random number generator and then listed at the bottom of this post. Winners will also be contacted by email as well.
5. One winner will receive the Blu Ray copy of THE RIVER and the other two winners will receive a DVD copy.
THE WINNERS
There were quite a few entries for the weekend giveaway and I enjoyed reading through each email. The random number generator picked the following winners...
SAM GIRWARNAUTH
ROGER DEPOY
TODD VAN DYKE
Congratulations and thanks again to Third Year Fly Fisher for sponsoring the giveaway.
Check out the Third Year Fly Fisher website, Facebook, and Vimeo page for more on the film and projects that Robert is working on.
3 comments:
Nice...what a great way to spend my lunch break on this Friday. Thanks for sharing and thanks to those who produced this piece. Happy place.... happy fishing...
Can't wait!
And the winner is.........
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