The second year under my wading belt - a review of 2010

The dreams and goals of 2010 gave me a nice framework to shape the path of my second year on the fly. Obviously some goals were more important than others. I am proudest that I was able to catch a fish in every month. I can assure you, that will be a goal in 2011. I have been lucky enough to fish a great deal of Montana's remarkable trout waters this year. I didn't hit all of the water that I listed in the beginning of the year, but I was able to hit a good deal of them. I made trips to the Big Hole, the Yellowstone, the Madison, and the Beaverhead. I fished Rock Creek, Georgetown Lake, Brown's Lake, Fish Creek, the Bitterroot, the Blackfoot, Poindexter Slough, and the Clark Fork. I made a trip to Yellowstone NP and fished the Soda Butte, Pebble Creek, and the Gibbon (admittedly the visible presence of more than a few Grizzlies changed my plans to fish the Lamar and Slough Creek). I caught brookies, cutthroats (westslopes and yellowstones), rainbows, cutbows, browns and bulls (also some whitefish and suckers). It has been a great year of fly fishing.

I have enjoyed making videos with my flip HD camera of some of my trips out on the water. Howeva (read like Stephen A Smith), I want to improve upon my videos. I would love to make a movie like Eastern Rises or some quality fish porn like RA Beattie puts out, I understand that they have superior equipment and they don't get to fish while they make those videos. I like making fishing videos, but not that much. So, I won't be taking a  trip out to the Beaverhead only to take video. While I don't have the resources to go out and acquire a canon 7d, I can still improve my videos. When my trout of 2010 video was posted on moldy chum earlier this month, I was....excited, to say the least. I knew that the moldy chummers would light me up if they didn't like it. Some of them did and some of them did not. Rodney Hsu of Fishing with Rod fame said:

"Excellent video! The underwater release shots are really well done."

Then I got some of the following:

"That got boring fast."

 "That has to be the least steady hand I have ever seen."

and my personal favorite

"I now feel like I should be treated for Parkinson's syndrome"

While I appreciate Rodney's support, I also see some elements of truth to what the critics had to say. My videos have a tendency to be shaky. Not Parkinson's shaky, but too much coffee shaky. Part of that is a function of me taking video of my own releases. Part of that is a function of the weight, or lack thereof, of the flip camera, which lends itself to an unsteady shot. But, with a little effort and some concentration, I can improve. So, in 2011, I am looking to improve my camera skills. I want to frame my subjects better, keep a steadier hand, capture more actual fishing shots, and of course catch more and larger fish.

For my three to five regular readers and those of you at OBN, I want you to help me make better fly fishing videos. By telling me why you don't like them and by voting on which one doesn't smell and/or look TURRABLE like the bathrooms at McCormick Park in the middle of the summer. My four favorite videos are located below. All 11 or 12 of the videos can be seen in the right sidebar. Please vote, and if you select other, leave a comment. If you have any suggestions or constructive criticism, leave a comment. Happy holidays and see you in 2011 with a new list of dreams and goals - which I can guarantee will involve the Mighty Mighty Mo (with a stop in at Headhunters) and a trip to the South Fork of the Flathead.

yukon goes to the madison from Ivan Orsic on Vimeo.



yukon goes to yellowstone from Ivan Orsic on Vimeo.



Green Drakes in Paradise from Ivan Orsic on Vimeo.