The Movie "A River Runs through It" was Quite Accurate. Peak

wolfagain · Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 2

Though I really doubt Brad Pitt could throw a line 65-70 feet! Not
with the fly lines of the day. Rods used were bamboo; correct. Line
was was brown-yellow also accurate. Fish were Rainbows; accurate. No
salmon in Montana!

Archived from group: rec>outdoors>fishing>fly

MajorOz · Joined: 17 Aug 2007 Posts: 9

On Feb 19, 1:47 am, wolfagain wrote:
> Though I really doubt Brad Pitt could throw a line 65-70 feet! Not
> with the fly lines of the day. Rods used were bamboo; correct. Line
> was was brown-yellow also accurate. Fish were Rainbows; accurate. No
> salmon in Montana!

The big fish caught by Pitt just before his was killed was a Dolly
Varden, or maybe a Bull Trout -- they are almost identical.
But what he was fighting as he swam downstream was a plastic bucket.

cheers

oz, who thinks Skerrit (Skeritt?) got screwed out of supporting actor
Oscar that year

Bob Weinberger · Joined: 17 Aug 2007 Posts: 23

"MajorOz" wrote in message @h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

> The big fish caught by Pitt just before his was killed was a Dolly
> Varden, or maybe a Bull Trout -- they are almost identical.
> But what he was fighting as he swam downstream was a plastic bucket.

I am very familiar with Bull Trout (As far as I know there are no Dolly
Varden in MT. They are generally restricted to streams w/ direct access to
the Pacific , though about the only way to tell the 2 species apart is
through DNA testing) and I remember the fish shown as kept definately being
a Rainbow. In fact I remember commenting to my wife at the time that I
wished they had used a fish that wasn't so obviously a hatchery broodstock
fish (rounded tail fin, worn down dorsal, etc.). BTW Bull Trout are listed
as "Threatened" on the Endangered Species List so they woudn't have been
allowed to kill one.

Bob Weinberger

rw · Joined: 17 Aug 2007 Posts: 209

Bob Weinberger wrote:
> "MajorOz" wrote in message
> @h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
>>The big fish caught by Pitt just before his was killed was a Dolly
>>Varden, or maybe a Bull Trout -- they are almost identical.
>>But what he was fighting as he swam downstream was a plastic bucket.
>
>
> I am very familiar with Bull Trout (As far as I know there are no Dolly
> Varden in MT. They are generally restricted to streams w/ direct access to
> the Pacific , though about the only way to tell the 2 species apart is
> through DNA testing) and I remember the fish shown as kept definately being
> a Rainbow. In fact I remember commenting to my wife at the time that I
> wished they had used a fish that wasn't so obviously a hatchery broodstock
> fish (rounded tail fin, worn down dorsal, etc.). BTW Bull Trout are listed
> as "Threatened" on the Endangered Species List so they woudn't have been
> allowed to kill one.
>
> Bob Weinberger

Bull Trout are doing quite well in central Idaho. In recent years I've
been catching some with dry flies, which is strange because they're fish
eaters. I once caught a large one that took a 10" stocker rainbow that
I'd hooked. I was horsing the stocker in when it suddenly seemed like
I'd hooked a submarine.

The largest bull trout I've ever seen was at Kelly Creek. It was a
female, well over 30" it appeared, in the fall spawning season, being
followed around by several smaller males. I made a good presentation
with a woolly bugger (Willi was watching from the cliff above), but it
refused.

I fish for them on the lakes right after ice-out. They're pretty tired
and skinny and hungry after the long winter, but it's the only action
available at the time.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

Bob Weinberger · Joined: 17 Aug 2007 Posts: 23

"rw" wrote in message $0$26337$9a6e19ea@news.newshosting.com...

> Bull Trout are doing quite well in central Idaho. In recent years I've
> been catching some with dry flies, which is strange because they're fish
> eaters. I once caught a large one that took a 10" stocker rainbow that I'd
> hooked. I was horsing the stocker in when it suddenly seemed like I'd
> hooked a submarine.
>
> The largest bull trout I've ever seen was at Kelly Creek. It was a female,
> well over 30" it appeared, in the fall spawning season, being followed
> around by several smaller males. I made a good presentation with a woolly
> bugger (Willi was watching from the cliff above), but it refused.
>
> I fish for them on the lakes right after ice-out. They're pretty tired and
> skinny and hungry after the long winter, but it's the only action
> available at the time.

Yes although Bull Trout are thriving in a good many watersheds (most notably
the Metolious and Lake Billy Chinook here in Oregon where 10-15# Bulls are
commonly caught), and I have a hard time keeping them of my hook when
Steelheading on the Lower Grande Ronde, they are on the Endangered Species
List because of the drastic decline in their distribution and the number of
watersheds where they are struggling to hold on. Because of their listed
status, it is illegal to kill them anywhere in ID, OR, CA, WA, MT, or NV.,
and in many areas, including the Lower Grande Ronde, it is illegal to
specifically target them at all.

Bob Weinberger

Tom Nakashima · Joined: 17 Aug 2007 Posts: 166

"wolfagain" wrote in message @41g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> Though I really doubt Brad Pitt could throw a line 65-70 feet! Not
> with the fly lines of the day. Rods used were bamboo; correct. Line
> was was brown-yellow also accurate. Fish were Rainbows; accurate. No
> salmon in Montana!

Brad couldn't, but he had experienced stand-ins, actually three,
Jerry Siem, Jason Borger and John Dietsch. In the scene where Pitt
is casting 65-70 ft., the rod was a modern made to look like bamboo,
and the line was also modern. The final fish scene was a mechanical fish.
You can read more about it in "Casting a Spell" by George Black,
under the chapter Brad Pitt's Waders.

"He called it Shadow Casting, keeping his line above water long enough
and low enough to make a rainbow rise".
I'm not sure if the Shadow Cast was an actual cast.
Borger had to combine three different cast, the galway, the pendulum,
and the climbing hook to fit the description Norman Maclean used in
novel describing the cast.
"Then I realized that in the time I was away, my brother had become an
artist".
I thought it was a great movie, but I enjoyed the novel even more.
-tom

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