Video review: Geofish
Fish.Drive.Survive. That very well sums up what it's all about. The Geofish team of four goes on a mildly crazy trip to Mexico in a well worn truck running on vegetable oil and a good dollop of enthusiasm and defiance.
The catchphrase for this DVD is "Fish.Drive.Survive.", which very well sums up what it's all about. The Geofish team of four goes on a mildly crazy trip to Mexico in a well worn truck running on vegetable oil and a good dollop of enthusiasm and defiance.
This team seems to seek fishing, which requires facing authorities, nature, health, local criminals, wildlife and just about anything else that you can imagine getting in the way of a fishing trip. Remote places are preferred over conveniently accessible locations, and things seem to work against their plans all the time. The bumps on the road are both literal and virtual. The catch is of course... the catch... in the basic, angler's meaning of the word. There are some great fishing adventures to be found underway.
The Geofish team has members who some will recognize from the renown Angling Exploration Group (AKA AEG, Trout Bums and Fish Bums), who brought us some of the first gung-ho fly-fishing DVD's, namely the groundbreaking Trout Bum Diaries from South America and New Zealand. Later followed adventures from Mongolia in River Wolf and the hunt for steelhead in Metalhead. All trips and videos are done in the same chaotic yet controlled manner and all are well worth watching.
The heritage is obvious, and although we have seen many videos take up the style from the original AEG-videos, there's a certain touch here, which reveals the origin.
This time we join the guys on a ride across Mexico, and follow the trip already from the planning phase. The intro to the video consists of parts of conversation, phone calls, computer screens and not least UPS arriving again and again. Confusing, staccato and very much like what I imagine it's like when these guys prepare. We also follow a whole little side project as they purchase a truck and have it converted to run on vegetable oil. Now, the vegetable oil adventure is very much typical for this gang. Why no just gas or diesel, which in every way would make life easier? After all, hunting for used frying oil to save gas money and maybe be slightly environmentally correct...? Not my definition of doing things the easy way! And it smells like French fries!
Not my definition of doing things the easy way!
But the rig gets on the road, and recycled frying oil brings the team and their boats southwards, and we go fishing. And what a trip! Saltwater, freshwater, still, running, calm turbulent. As always we get to see some of the best fishing to be found, even though the road there has been bumpy.
You get some really exciting marlin fishing, some out of this world bass fishing, tarpon and snook fishing in the middle of the mangrove and classic flats fishing for bonefish, but also gun shots in remote areas, Mexican police being "skeptic", people robbing bags and much else, which has little to do with fishing, but a lot to do with fishing trips in remote areas. Anyone who has traveled in places like Kamchatka, Mongolia, the Kola Peninsula and many places in Central and South America will probably recognize many situations. We just rarely read about them en books and magazines or see them in fishing videos.
I love the grungy fishing videos, and even though the style might have been overused a bit the last couple of years, these guys are the original, grungy fishing video makers, the real deal. Their pace might be unsteady and the steps not exactly surefooted, but the result is rock solid and definitely worth watching. And it is actually not that grungy. There are hand held sequences, dark and noisy scenes and crazy cutting, but also beautifully composed and almost tranquil passages.
Altogether Global class fly-fishing entertainment.
The web site says "Four fishermen. Seven continents. Endless adventures" and since the subtitle of this DVD is Vol.1, I expect that there will be further volumes from Geofish. Central America and South America volumes have already been mentioned. Something to look forward to.
The video is also available as Blu-ray at 34.99 US$.
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