Instructional DVD


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The Merge - Jonathan Boulton personal Flyfishing guide is a 1 hour 15 minute instructional DVD shot in High Definition with Dolby digital sound. Internationally experienced guide and instructor, Jonathan begins with a brief history of flyfishing, the equipment used and the basics of tackle set up, knots and casting. Be personally guided through magnificent waters in pursuit of still-water trout in the height of summer, river fishing techniques and trophy rainbows in the depths of winter. Share the excitement of stalking small and largemouth yellows with nymphs and dry flies and finally the nerve shattering duels with the toothy tigers and the regal Nembwe of the Zambezi River systems. The production is not only one of stunning scenery and beautiful fish but full of technical content including leader construction, fly selection and reading the water. Whether rank beginner or well traveled, accomplished angler you will find this DVD enjoyable and informative - or your money back guaranteed.

Recommended retail: R295
Launch Special through the site: R249

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As appeared in the TCFF April edition

THE MERGE
A Fly fishing DVD from Jonathan Boulton

As my laptop spun Jonathan's DVD on everything that opens and shuts in fly fishing - well, nearly everything, because he stops short at including any saltwater action - it struck me we'd have killed to have something like this back in our dark, formative age in fly fishing, our equivalent of a fly fishing Renaissance, the period between the 60's and 70's. At the time, outside of Ray Bergman's Trout and the regular Piscator magazines, there wasn't much you can hang your hat on. Yet here Jonathan neatly condenses a lifetime's experience of fishing lakes, rivers and streams into just less than two hours of concentrated, full colour, high resolution, voice-over instructional photography. It could have ended up a boring and forgettable product that joined the already long list of boring and forgettable instructional fishing DVDs. It won't. It's a gem, even if the 'how-to' fly fishing DVD genre is already a little over-subscribed.

What sets this DVD ahead of anything else is the sensitive handling of subject and scenery. The photography is exquisite, the subjects are treated with the flair and imagination of an artist and for once it's not as loud as a night tour of Las Vegas or fly fishing's equivalent of soft porn. In that sense it's good for what it lacks - the all too common chorus of cliché-riddled narratives flowing from barely articulate anglers, all described in a flat-pitched monotone interspersed with orgasmic whooping and hollering when a fish is hooked. But the real strength of this production is Jonathan Boulton himself. He's made for starring in fly fishing DVDs. He's young, intelligent, articulate, well spoken, good looking and most important, he handles a fly rod extremely well, though on really small streams he and I might just end up having a friendly debate about high line speeds. But that's neither here nor there. So instead of watching arbitrary casts spraying across some lifeless-looking stillwater, Jonathan describes what he's doing with carefully chosen words, adds a touch of humour, is alive to the nuances of what's happening around him and what you need to know to catch the fish in the water in front of you.

The same can be said for the photographer who I later discovered is also a fly fisher, though I needn't have discovered that because I could probably have worked it out myself. Every sequence has memorable scenes, every aspect is well thought out, the fish caught appear authentically caught, as if nabbed on closed-circuit CCVTV pulling off some clever heist. It's intuitive, artistic photography, the sequences well thought through and informative. If you don't learn a heap from this DVD go see your doctor and if you don't enjoy the natural beauty in the photography you maybe want to think seriously about giving up fly fishing because it's this kind of thing that makes fly fishing so special.

Jonathan begins where you would expect, with a description of basic fly tackle and how to assemble it. There's nothing new here, but it's well presented and manna from heaven for someone starting out. His sequence on casting is superb with just the right emphasis on the important things, including the need to nurture your back cast if you want to produce a worthwhile forward cast. The section on stillwater dry fly fishing is an outstanding piece, as good in content as it is on visuals and the sub-surface stillwater fly fishing is just as sensitively handled, including a neat expose of the under-done technique of double-rig nymphing in lakes. I also appreciated his regular reference to barbless hooks. Too many producers overlook this, as if it were something that you either take for granted or needn't bother worrying about and I learned something about yarn indicators. Jonathan mixes two colours, grey and orange in this case, but I guess the sky is the limit. It was a sort of, 'Why didn't I think of that?' revelation.

River techniques for trout are handled with skill and completeness and they were as interesting and informative as they were varied. Many of the river scenes - as in his scenes of sight fishing for yellows on the upper Vaal - evoke the twin emotions of, "I'd love to be there!' and, 'let's do whatever we can to preserve all this, no matter what!' His sequences of a trout taking a CdC emerger on late season water are quite brilliant, but then so are his illustrations of the subtle and the not-so-subtle takes you get with strike indicators. A few pictures, a thousand words.

You will enjoy watching him catching the elusive largemouth yellowfish, but even more, his careful description of the subtle anatomical differences between the two species that make the largemouth such a highly evolved predator. But then he gets full marks for his piece on yellowfish, full stop. I've never seen anything better.

The DVD spends a fair amount of time fishing for tigers on the Zambezi, including on pretty water like the Kasai Channel and the Chobe Rapids and he could have gone on all day I enjoyed this sequence so much. The scenery and the photography are sumptuous and the fishing, as you guessed, is extravagant, again in ways that evoke those same twin emotions we spoke of earlier. The territorial and aggressive Nembwe had the difficult job following the dramatically predacious tigerfish sequences that were brilliantly shot against backgrounds of bleeding sunsets, elephants grazing close by, soaring fish eagles, even a weave of a few of nature's prettiest and most polished beak hunters, the kingfishers. But the Nembwe does as well as the tiger, and for much the same reasons. Not only is it an equally challenging freshwater game fish, but as Jonathan illustrates, it's as flamboyantly beautiful as well.

The DVD ends with a word or two on buying tackle, hiring guides and the merits of using specialist fly shops to source your gear and scrounge great ideas and I endorse all that. Fly shops, like fishing magazines, are part of our oxygen. But right at the end of the programme there's a subtle little sub-title called 'Lost the plot' that I nearly overlooked. I clicked on it and discovered a collection of scenes where for one or other reason Jonathan slips clean off the rails during the filming. It's brilliant, not least in the way that it illustrates the ever-hovering vagaries of Murphy's Law. It's not often you end up watching a fly fishing DVD with tears of laughter in your eyes. I did.

Summary: First class angler, first class camera work, brilliant DVD. Jonathan should not end here. We see too many fly fishing DVDs with plenty of fish and screaming reels that are entertaining - if a little loud - where you end up thinking, 'That was good, but what happened to the quietness, the poetry, the artistry?'

You won't think that after watching The Merge.

Tom Sutcliffe
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