Modern fly fishing

The Swedish video producer Mountain Media has been doing fishing videos for (almost) as long as I can remember... for a long time at least. Many of these videos used to be targeted towards the Swedish market or at least Scandinavia. This has changed in the last few years with excellent internationally aimed productions such as Mayfly Madness, and with this new series where Johan Klinberg takes us on different kinds of fly fishing with internationally renown anglers or local experts, Mountain Media has reached both new heights in their productions as well as a potentially very large audience.

I have chosen to review these four individual DVD's in one review since they are in many ways cast in the same mold and together constitute the series called Modern Fly Fishing.
They are sold separately and there are individual differences, but apart from the obvious difference in fishing method, the ambiance, quality and content structure is in many ways the same. Even the running time is about identical, giving you about one and a quarter hours of main content and half an hour or more of bonus material, mainly some fly tying, which is an excellent and natural supplement for the fishing action.

Our host in all videos is Swedish fly angler and fly tyer Johan Klingberg, who many will recognize from international fly shows, magazines and books. Johan is not only a fine fly tyer, but indeed a skilled angler and - most importantly here - a good teacher and good counterpart to the guest anglers featured on each DVD.

The subjects covered on the DVD's are:
- Czech nymph fishing
- Dry fly fishing
- Wet Fly fishing
- Streamer fishing

We follow Johan around Europe, and in the videos we see fishing in many countries: Norway, Sweden, the UK, Austria and the Czech Republic and we meet local fishers from these countries who together with Johan not only fishes and catch fish, but also teach us the techniques used and lead us into the world of each particular fishing method.

This series is an educational series, meaning that you are actually told what and how for each fishing situation, every type of fishing shown and every type of water fished. And you learn a lot!
Johan himself tells us what he does as he does it. His "interviews" (which are more like relaxed conversations) with the guest anglers as well as the narration will also give specific tips, talk about the challenges in getting a particular fish and convey the inside knowledge built up during these angler's many years of experience.

You can watch these videos as simply fishing action. The scenery is lovely and very well filmed and the visual side is well suited for some fireplace fishing. You can on the other hand also sit down and watch and listen more intensely and get a lot of information on how to perform the different kinds of fishing. The content is well suited for beginners, but as it always is with well made educational material, even the most seasoned angler will both enjoy it and learn something.

I particularly enjoyed the Streamer and Wet Fly titles, not because they are better than the other two with regards to content or quality, but because these fishing methods are considered simple and even old fashioned by many. This really isn't fair, because both methods can be just as effective and elegant as dry fly fishing or Czech nymphing. Dry fly is by many considered the "finest" type of fly fishing, which is also mentioned in the Dry Fly volume, and Czech nymphing is of course very exciting and popular (not to mention productive!), but also so much in fashion that you get a bit fed up from time to time.
Talking to Paul Proctor (wet fly fishing with spider flies) and Roman Moser (streamers) clearly demonstrates that streamer and wet fly fishing is both effective and an excellent fishing method for contemporary fly fishermen.

As is the case with many of these series of DVD's, I will have a hard time choosing one over the other, and my Solomonic solution is as always to recommend them all! Don't choose one or two, but treat yourself to all four, and you are in for many hours of entertainment and education.