TAPÂM - The Film and an Interview with Jan Bach Kristensen

There are a lot of firsts in this film and it's surprising that I first watched this film ten years ago.  It's still one of my favorites and be sure to scroll down for the short Q&A with Jan Bach Kristensen farther down in this post. 



Seeing this film again was great and I emailed Jan a few questions that I had on his reflections, challenges and an inside look on this journey into the jungle for massive tarpon on the fly.  I appreciate Jan's candidness and getting these answers to back to me so quickly.

Ten years, it's hard to believe that is has been that long since I first watched this film.  Where did the idea come from to pack up a couple float tubes, fly rods and camera gear and head to the Nicaragua jungle?

Yeah, crazy it's already been ten years! The idea was entirely Daniel's. For years, he had traveled throughout Central America, far off the beaten track, in search of an untouched tarpon fishery. He had discovered this place, fished it on several trips, photographed it and knew the potential for a movie. Not having any experience with movie making, I think he was looking for someone who did, but I somehow convinced him that we could pull it off together - despite the fact that as still photographers neither of us had any movie making experience. We decided to shoot exclusively with DSLR cameras, which was a brand new thing back then. 

How tough were the logistics of this trip to plan?  How long were you in the jungle and what did you learn along the way? 

There was a lot of planning involved. We camped in the jungle for three weeks, a long way from the nearest road or shop. We had a couple of local guys help us with the logistics but we still needed to organize food, fresh water, fuel, gear, permissions, medical kits, and so on - which was a pretty big undertaking. We needed to bring spares of anything essential as there would be no way of picking up anything, basically. The biggest learning was probably that preparation is key to success and that having trustworthy local contacts is absolutely essential. The locals are super friendly but there is a lot of drug trafficking (and drugs in general) going on - as well as patrolling of military police, which you need to be prepared for. 

How many fly rods did you destroy?  What other gear was essential and what failed?  

Believe it or not but we didn't break a single fly rod! The brackish river water doesn't have much oxygen in it so it was vital that would could release the big fish quickly so we fished heavy straight leaders (130 pound flourocarbon), which allowed us to "hand line" the fish once it got close. That in combination with Daniel's experience from previous trips (and maybe a little luck) probably saved us from a few broken rods. On a later trip I had a big tarpon inhale the fly right at my feet as all the loose line in my lap formed a giant knot. I was stripping line with the rod under my arm and managed to catch the rod mid-air as the tarpon took off. A split second later the knot cleared my rod of all its guides, only to have the 60 lbs core fly line break as a piece of string.

One gear failure that nearly cut the trip short was when the gas tank of our little generator split open from the constant vibration. We used the generator to re-charge camera batteries and download footage onto hard drives and without it we could not have continued shooting. A trip to the nearest village produced no spare parts so we resorted to scraping off the paint along the crack with an old knife and then superglueing it! Desperate measures but it didn't leak a single drop the rest of the trip! Superglue should always be part of your emergency repair kit! 

Watching this film again yesterday morning, I noted the collaboration with the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.  How many tarpon were tagged and was any data found from these tags? 

We have it written down somewhere but from memory I think we tagged seven or eight fish. Unfortunately none of them have ever been re-caught or found, at least not that we are aware of. It would have been interesting to understand to which extent these river tarpon are stationary or if they migrate long distances, such as up to Florida.  

If you were going to go back, what would you do different?  Maybe take along a couple fiberglass fly rods? 

Since we did Tapâm, I've come to love modern glass fly rods and I think float tubing for large fish is a type of fishing that really lends itself to these rods. I find the slower action is great for casting big bulky flies, they allow you to put some serious pressure on big fish without being worried about them exploding, and when you're in a far-off destination a couple of broken rods can quickly become a critical issue so the robustness of glass rods certainly also plays a factor. 

When you think of TAPÂM, what makes you smile and laugh now? 

It was a crazy adventure with some funny mishaps but mostly the fact that we managed to pull it off! Apart from having some great friends (G+K Film in Frankfurt) do the editing, we were just a two-man team that took turns fishing and working the camera. People told us that we couldn't shoot a whole movie using DSLRs but we did it anyway and were also the first to bring out a fishing movie in full HD on BluRay. We're certainly proud of that. What really still makes me smile ten years later is when you show the movie to people who don't fish at all and have no concept of fly fishing - they are still blown away. 

What would surprise people to know about this trip and the methods that you used, such as float tubes, in this film? 

Many people have asked about sharks and no, we're not crazy. In several years of fishing this location from a panga, not a singe fish was attacked by sharks. We would not fish from float tubes if it weren't safe. Another misconception is that we fished from float tubes as a gimmick or for the sake of the movie. That's not the case. First of all, the float tube allows you to get incredibly close to the fish, in particular in the small creeks. Secondly, float tubes are ideal for tiring out large fish. You essentially fight the fish with your legs rather than your arms but more importantly, you constantly position yourself in a way so that you pull the tarpon off balance. This allowed us to release the fish much, much faster than had we fished from a skiff or a panga. For the fish to survive in the brackish water this is essential.