TU in Bright Lights

 

You may have noticed the explosion of online video and film celebrating flyfishing and conservation lately. An astounding 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! TU corporate partner Orvis' video site THE TUG has over a 1,000 fly fishing films and hundreds of views a day. And the Fly Fishing Film Tour is celebrating its 10th year—TU has been a sponsor the last five.

 

We recognize that TU has to be in the film and video business—what better way to communicate our mission, our work, and our shared passion for fishing with our members and other anglers. That's why we recently launched TROUT TIPS, a how-to series with legendary angler and TROUT Magazine Editor Kirk Deeter. Simultaneously, we revamped our TU YouTube page consolidating all our videos there for easy viewing and sharing. Please subscribe!

 

Our latest film on the importance of protecting public lands by TU Senior Producer Josh Duplechian, featuring Fishpond founder Johnny Land LeCoq, Public Lands,Public Hands, has had nearly 7,000 views.

 

So what's next?

 

This January, the Outdoor Channel aired a special episode of The Fly Rod Chronicles with Curtis Fleming that detailed a recent Veteran Service Partnership retreat on Montana's Madison River.The episode featured veterans and survivors learning to fly fish with TU staff and volunteers. Fly Rod Chronicles expects about 400,000 viewers to tune into the TU episode over the eight airings over the next five months.

 

  

 

Each year more women participate in fly fishing, with one out of three new anglers being a woman. This year, the F3T, along with TU, Orvis and Costa, is announcing it’s first-ever grant to a filmmaker for the purpose of increasing the representation of women in fly fishing film. Films made with the help of this grant will be considered for inclusion in the 2017 Fly Fishing Film Tour. For information on the grant and the application, head to this webpage on TU.org. 

 

Last week, the new fly fishing comedy "Hank Patterson and the Mystery of the CuttyRainBrown" premiered in Montana, Travis Swartz (aka, Hank Patterson, himself) has produced a TU-specific video that pokes a bit a fun at us and fly fishers, but does an inspiring job of describing what TU does to make fisheries—and fishing—better all across America.

 

 

In September 2015, TU along with other sponsors, sent six well-known anglers including, Orvis’ Tom Rosenbauer and steelhead guide Kate Taylor, on a visit to a remote North American steelhead river known for its beauty and fishing. The short film CHROME condenses their adventure to address the looming threats that climate change and ocean acidification pose to steelhead and salmon, and will premiere at the F3T. TU last sponsored Conservation Hawks and Conservation Media’s 2015 film, COLD WATERS.

 

 

The F3T 10th Anniversary kicks off with two showings in Denver on Jan. 23—the first at 4 p.m. and the second at 8 p.m. Both screenings will be at the City Hall Events Venue, 1144 Broadway. More than a 124 stops are planned between January and April 20. Dozens of TU chapters will host screenings at a discounted price, enabling us to fundraise locally as well as engage and entertain thousands of new potential members. For more information on the tour and future screenings visit the F3T website.

 

We are very excited for what the future online video and film holds for TU. Who knows? Maybe we will return to broadcast and cable TV with a new series in the near future! For now, put on the popcorn and enjoy the show!