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On the Fly: Fly Fishing Film Tour comes to Aspen

Scott Spooner
On the Fly

If you go ...

What: Fly Fishing Film Tour

Where: Wheeler Opera House, Aspen

When: Thursday, March 28

Tickets: Discounted $15 cash-only tickets are available now at Taylor Creek in Basalt, or tickets can be purchased at the Wheeler

Sponsors: Trout Unlimited, Scientific Anglers, Ross Reels, Costa del Mar, Simms, Yeti

One of the most anticipated nights of the year comes to the Wheeler Opera House at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The Fly Fishing Film Tour is your chance to catch up with your fishing friends and make some new ones, too. F3T showcases “shorts” of all of the fly-fishing films from this year and gives the viewer a taste of where this sport can take you. This year is no exception, with many highly anticipated films on deck for 2019.

“Aphlexo” is a film about the Alphonse Fishing Co. in the Seychelles and how their guides finally created the perfect crab-fly pattern for the ultra-selective Indo-Pacific permit. Finding the perfect fly for these fish has been stumping guides and fly-tyers for years, and they finally found a breakthrough pattern that doesn’t send the permit running for the hills when they see it.



Local favorite RA Beattie has an offering in the tour this year. “Nexgen” is about Jack Buccola, a 12-year-old fly fisher from Bend, Oregon, and his development as a young angler. Jack experiences fire on his home waters, gains respect for the steelhead of the Northwest and gets to fish for native cutthroat in the South Fork of the Snake River.

“Glorious Bastards” will take you to Australia, specifically the Wessels Islands in the Northern Territories. South African and Australian anglers (normally rivals) team up to explore an almost-untouched fishery with two species of permit and plenty of other species willing to eat a well-presented fly. After obtaining permission from the aboriginal land owner, they set sail for an experience like no other.




Dave Sweet and his daughter Diana, a fisheries biologist, are on the front lines of bringing back Yellowstone cutthroat trout back from the brink of extinction. “The Return” follows this father-daughter team deep into the Thorofare area in Yellowstone to see if these native fish are regaining their foothold and spawning in one of the most remote and beautiful places to be found in the lower 48.

You’ll have a chance to win some sweet gear, meet the crew from Casting for Recovery and the Roaring Fork Valley Fly Fishing Club, plus plenty of industry professionals. We hope you join us at the Wheeler!

This column is provided by Taylor Creek Fly Shops in Aspen and Basalt. Taylor Creek can be reached at 970-927-4374.