Fishing From the Camera’s Perspective

by: Tom Sorenson

These past few days were a whirlwind of excitement for me as my brother, Benji, called on Thursday with the news that he and his father-in-law, Kelly, were going to float the South Fork of the Snake River and that there was going to be an open spot on the boat.  I jumped at the oportunity – and with camera in tow, I was off to meet Benji on Sunday afternoon.

A six hour drive put us at the river where we would take out.  After filling out the necessary permit information, we left Benji’s pickup at the take out and piled into Kelly’s pickup to put in at Spring Creek for the 27 mile float where Benji and Kelly would target german brown and cutthroat trout with streamers and big dry flies.  Benji was excited because the salmon fly hatch was supposed to be on, and I was excited because a salmon fly hatch meant it would be a prime opportunity for some exciting filming!  I never thought I’d see the day when I was just as excited to pack a camera on a fishing trip as a fly rod!

We put in and floated our first evening down to Pine Creek camp #1 – which Benji and Kelly figured would give us a two hour headstart on the way they usually float the river – a one day affair.  The sun was in our eyes, making it difficult to see what I was getting on film, but upon watching it yesterday, I’m very happy with the results!  The country was all new to me, and quite frankly, would have been worth the float even if there was no fishing.  Right off, Benji had two fish jump on his streamer and missed them.  I got a taste of that a little later when a fish jumped all over his streamer and he hooked it – and I missed getting the set on camera!  I was soon realizing that a fishing show was going to require hours and hours of footage, and I was glad that I took the extra tapes and batteries!

All told, we saw three moose – including a very nice bull – beavers, pelicans, bald eagles, hawks, numerous ducks, incredible country – and by Benji’s count, 19 boated fish.  I learned a lot about the difficulties of filming a fly fishing adventure – and on a drift boat just to make things a bit tougher.  I was glad for the opportunity to tag along on this trip – my first experience on a drift boat.

We took out at Byington and Kelly and I took the pickup up to Spring Creek to take the pickup and trailer back to Byington where Benji stayed to get the boat cleaned up and everything packed up.  We got the boat on the trailer, and Benji and I headed back home, making for a very quick trip – but what a trip it was!  We had the six hour drive, ariving at Spring Creek at 7 pm on Sunday, then floated the river, taking out at Byington at 8:30 pm on Monday – and I was home and in bed at 2:30 AM on Tuesday morning a very tired and sun burnt guy!

Although we took this trip on our own because Kelly is familiar with the river, this is not a river I would suggest a person that doesn’t know it well to go by themselves.  So, if you’re ever in southeast Idaho and you want to float the river, check out the fine folks at South Fork Outfitters and they’ll set you up with a great time!