This fall I was honored to work with the Sage Fly Fishing team on their coveted “Swing Season” campaign, targeting spey culture with an anticipated yearly cadence.
“The river and its steelhead are only described in superlatives: best, greatest, strongest, fastest, brightest, toughest. It’s hard to help the uninitiated—friends, family and acquaintances unfamiliar with steelhead—understand just what it means to fish there. If steelhead were built for the swung fly, these fish broke the mold. Phrases like “trip of a lifetime” are thrown around unironically. You explain, you describe, you implore them to understand what it means to fish a place like this—all to no avail. They nod and say good luck. They turn their lips up in noncommittal grins. They don’t get it.”
“The next day it happens—at least enough to buoy hopes. A fish hits midstream in a fast run seconds after the fly snaps to attention on the swing; it pulls so hard your vision blurs for a moment, then goes free. For several moments you question reality. Did that just happen? Should I take another pass? Will it eat again? It did, you do, and it doesn’t.”
“What comes to the fore is the fact that you were fishing for steelhead on a river with no roads, swapping runs with the same group of fewer than a dozen people each day, swinging flies through water that is as hallowed as it gets. Even the third lost fish of the week—a violent grab on the hang down, line evaporating from the reel, a jump and a departure—doesn’t change the sum total.
When you add it all up, they were still the strongest, fastest, toughest fish. They were still steelhead, and you were still steelheading. Steelhead are steelhead are steelhead—even on the greatest steelhead rivers in the world.”
As one of the most highly-regarded names in fly fishing (well, top outdoors equipment in general), it was truly a pleasure to work with their team, as well as other talented creatives like Jason Rolfe and RC Cone.
