2017 Kuiu Film Festival

It's finally 2017 and we've released our first two adventure films into the annual Kuiu Film Festival! We have a "Pro Short" film that is called "High Climate" that focuses on conservation and climate change as Jeff struggles to find Mule Deer in the high country country of California. Our second film is featured in the "Pro Long" and it's a great story following angler Ryan Foley in his search for the right water to land a coveted Steelhead on the fly by way of Redington Spey Rod!

Give them a gander, feel free to share on social media and tell us what you think! The team worked their tails off and it's the first few of many! Don't forget to subscribe and vote by following the link!

An Oregonian fly fishing Southern California

Since I Moved down to Southern California, I have seriously neglected my fly rods. I have been inundated by countless hours of work, kids and everything else life has thrown at me. I grew up in Oregon and had the fortunate opportunity of being able to fish at will pretty much within minutes of wherever I lived at the time. Now that I am just north of Los Angeles, I am stuck at well over an hour to anywhere there is water to fish. Now I know those are all excuses but with a day job and growing three new businesses, it's not easy to manage time for play. 

This past August I finally got out with Tony Catalde (@beardedboar) and we had a few days to fish the upper Kern River. With temperatures over 100 degrees, the fish were lethargic and not active. Besides getting too much sun, hangovers and filming our latest culinary piece "Venison Burgers", it was nice to get on the water. 

I started fly fishing around 8th grade. With a friend, I learned in my backyard through books and practice. I remember buying a used rod and reel from a local pawn shop in Newport, Oregon called The Eager Beaver. If you're from the coast, you know about this gem of a place. A lot of my "firsts" came from that little shop and I eventually sold it back for beer money once I got into high school! After a few days of experience and finding flies at local shops and at garage sales, we hit the river to start the labor of love that is Fly Fishing!

 

I think it was a few days of fishing before we caught our first fish. I spent my high school days in the small town of Waldport on the Central Oregon Coast which has an amazing river for fishing called the Alsea River. Boasting of Steelhead, Salmon and Rainbow Trout, we for sure thought it would be easy to get a tight line. After bait fishing our whole lives, we had to get our training wheels back on. I learned fast on how to identify what the fish were feeding on and local insects. That was the funnest part for me. I loved doing the investigating and that would prove to make me pretty successful. 

So fast forward 20 years, I am now in an unfamiliar area that is much different than I'm used to. I have to schedule around high temperatures, low water and so many other people in small stretches of water. I now dream of the opportunities I had while I was in Oregon and sometimes feel like I never really knew what I had. They say hind sight is 20/20 and I know I enjoyed every chance I had but never truly appreciated it. This coming January, I will be putting together a series called "Beyond the Reel" in which we have a small trailer for, and we will be exploring the many different waters throughout the West Coast with the RE team and our friends. We would love to hear from you and would like to get any suggestions on where you would like to see us fish. Email the team at info@sycanmedia.com