Sunday
Jan082012
The Kodiak Project Trailer
Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 12:03AM Conway Bowman, Kirk Deeter and Chris Santella head up to Kodiak Island, Alaska to fish a legendary river that's a bit like a unicorn -- everyone has heard about it, but no one seems to have seen it, been there or fished its shallow waters. Along with local guide, Trent Deeter, the crew embarks on one of the most epic and prolific steelhead fishing trips of their lives.
Reader Comments (33)
I have a huge personal connection to the place featured in this film. However, if it showed someone else's home water, I would like to think that the irony these guys are spouting, about 'canning an experience and selling that', and the annoying and shallow characters posing as steelheaders, would repulse me every bit as much. For me, it's not about whether they swing flies or fish beads, or whether that guy guides legally or not... steelhead and fishing for them is beautiful in ways I can't describe, and this waste of digital space is a complete mockery of one the most noble of all types of fishing and fish.
You have to be kidding me akBrandon. I just looked up the bio on the fishermen involved and I came across your comment. Chris Santella has written several articles for the New York times pushing people to get more involved in an anti-pebble mine stance. Kirk Deeter has written several pieces for the print version of Field and Stream begging people to get involved against the proposed mining. Several akBrandon - meaning more than one. Both have had many online articles on the subject as well. You would think someone so in touch and enlightened to YOUR land would have already known this. Like others, I don't have an exactly positive view of Conway but he does his own thing and does it well it seems.
Posing as steelheaders is probably one of the most gay things I have ever read.
Still feeling "noble"?
What the fu*k have you done in your more than shallow character that has literally reached MILLIONS of people begging them to protect a land you are so intimately familiar with that you have failed to recognize that some of the largest names in the sport are actually on your side?
You know, it is time that you little pea brained local people start having a larger view of the world - larger at least than , "look at those city folk coming here and ruining the 10 feet of river I fish every day". These people are on your freaking side but because you are too stupid and too quick to fail to embrace anyone who is not from your 10 foot culture you fail to realize it. Instead, you preach to the 3 people around you who regard you as king of the dipshits while the rest of the world is educated about a land that has under 100 residents and powerless to the significant threats that tower over it. If you keep shunning these people and claim that they are not one of your own soon it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy and nobody will want to protect your land because it is full of dipshits.
Your lack of knowledge repulses me:
http://books.google.com/books?id=kk2bMU7EUFsC&lpg=PA32&ots=t0ihJrloik&dq=kirk%20deeter%20pebble&pg=PA32#v=onepage&q=kirk%20deeter%20pebble&f=false.
What morons some fishermen are. I'm talking to you akbrandon
AkBrandon, I seriously can't decide if your comment is the most stupid thing I have ever read or the most ironic.
Let's start with the irony.
The people below would probably disagree with your assertion that it is YOUR fishery, regardless of how deeply you kiss your pillow each night thinking about it. I would like to ask you when was the last time YOU gave back to YOUR fishery by teaching the natives how to become independent guides, earn a living the could never dream of before, and educate them on the issues that threaten YOUR fishery and teach them the steps to go through to combat the threats. Have you done that? Kirk Deeter has you complete imbecile and has for several years now and you owe him a huge apology for questioning his character, much less describing it as shallow.
http://www.tu.org/conservation/alaska/alaska-fish-tales/winter-2011/training-the-next
For the stupidity portion:
Well, I think I covered how noble your words are vs how noble Kirk's actions are. Please, do us all a favor and cut the guy some slack. If he wants to make a movie about a region in Kodiak, regardless of the theme, I'd say he's earned the right based on his previous ACTIONS on YOUR fishery with his articles on Pebble and work with the locals.
You can keep boxing people out of YOUR fishery and continue to take, take, take and say, "mine.mine.mine. I have a huge personal connection to this fishery. smooch. mine.mine. wet dream". But at least recognize the people who give back. They may take and make a movie from time to time but jesus christ man, wake up and think.
Damn guys... take it easy. There are a lot of assumptions in there. I never called it my river, and I never even brought up Pebble... mainly, because I didn't see anything about that issue in this trailer. If this didn't just seem like a fish-porny plug for Legends Lodge, I would have held back. But all this trailer says to me is 'catch steelhead, catch steelhead, come here, come here', with promises of huge steelhead and lots of them.
Well, I can tell you, it is not the 'land of the giants' - these are pretty small steelhead to anyone who's ever fished B.C.,for instance - and you will not catch them 'at will'. They hit a great river on a great week and that's it. And who holds a fish up and screams like they just knocked a guy out in a cage match? Come on. You guys don't see how cheesy this is? I hope that if I view this film in it's entirety it will change my mind... but from what I have seen, it's a carefully assembled advertisement.
What's the point of this movie? Does anyone really know? Are they trying to promote a guide service or travel company that books trips in the area. Seriously, what's the point? A few of these characters are great at bringing attention to places that need more attention (see the above posters' links) and the others are great at getting more customers into our boats and shops. But, Kodiak doesn't need attention for anything, really. Over 2/3's of the island is designated as a wildlife refuge. Its ecosystem remains completely intact much as it did decades ago. As far as I know, there are no external threats to the island from those in the extracting industries (mining, logging, etc). This island is more or less "perfect." So the question remains, what is the point of this movie?
Given the cynical nature of fly fisherman (especially on MC) we can assume that this movie was made to attract more people to their guide service or travel company or blog. Basically, its a self promotion piece so that they can make more money for themselves. Si o no? So, on a very basic level, they are looking to exploit the island's resources (fishing in this case) for personal gain at the expense of the people who live and work on the island already. So, once again on a very basic level, outside of being way less invasive and destructive in their "exploitation" methods, how are these guys different than Rio Tinto? Just because they have brought much needed attention to a very threatened area, should it excuse them in this instance of blatant self-promotion?
Personally, I think they should stick with what they are good at, which is bringing attention to areas that need it. There are bigger and potentially more destructive mines proposed in equally sensitive areas. There are 100+ rivers/streams in the PNW that could use an article or two in the NY Times. With fish hatcheries, fish farms, dams, logging, mining, pipelines, drilling, commercial fishing, politicians, poachers and many more threatening our way of life and happiness as fishermen and humans, what the fuck are these guys doing on Kodiak? I think the only one that might be excused in this video is Conway. He has made a living promoting himself and fly fishing and done a great job at it. I have no problems with his association with this movie as this is exactly the sort of thing you would expect him to promote. As for the other guys in the video, I think we need to ask again, "What fuck are these guys doing in Kodiak?"
Regardless of their intentions, I believe they are all victims of horrible editing. If you want to golf and fish, get your old ass down to Florida. Anyone that has spent time on the river they are on, knows that its steelies are on the smallish size. So, saying that it is the "Land of the Giants," one can only hope that he was taken out of context when he was talking about the other wildlife on the island. There is way too much hype in this trailer. Poor editing or poor characters? Dunno. Personally, they shouldn't have had any language in it all. If you're trying to promote this movie to the fly fishing community, keep it humble with some weird dudes in it saying weird(as opposed to stupid, see trailer for numerous examples) stuff in a beautiful setting. There is remarkably little fishing in the trailer. No casting. No takes. No tangles or other mishaps. Lots of catching, though, which is the usual markings of a promotional piece. The bait and gear crowd love this sort of stuff. It scares me to think what the entire "movie" resembles. These guys took a potential "Mona Lisa" and turned into something that resembles what clogged up my toilet last night.
Too bad, because its a beautiful island with beautiful characters and does not need any extra attention of any kind let alone this kind. Also, I don't know who the golfer is as he has a great swing. But, if I ever find a golf ball out there I certainly will know who to send it to (packaged with my "toilet clogger.") Like I said, if want to fish and golf, get back in your jet and go to Florida.
Saw a longer piece of this tonight at the film tour. I thought it was very well done. Seemed like it was simply a recount of a journey these guys took together. No agendas other than to document a trip I thought - I would have to say it was in the top 1 or 2 of the films I saw tonight. Great story I thought.
I didn't see anything wrong with documenting a trip to a place people would be interested in knowing about - I was at least.
It just proves to me that most of these comments are from clowns, the positive and negative ones.
trent is a liar and a poacher. prove me otherwise.