VINTAGE WOTF - Swinging for Steel

Produced and filmed by Joseph Daniel and Roy Tanami, edited by Penn Daniel, narrated by Joseph Daniel, 2007 – Here's a blast from the past! Over a decade ago veteran double-hander Vern Olson, and filmmakers Joe Daniel and Roy Tanami began fishing the remote Bell Irving, Nass and Damdochax rivers in Northern BC. This is a little known and very wild steelhead destination accessed and supported by a heli-skiing lodge. It was the venue for one of our first video efforts produced for television. We brought along Andy Murray, English Spey fisherman extraordinaire, in the hopes of filming this Atlantic salmon maestro catching his first steelhead. Right from the start we dove into the angling and native sub-culture of British Columbia (as in tattoos and mushrooms) and got introduced to winter-conditions steelheading by outfitter Geoff Straight. It was cold and miserable but Andy was used to this kind of weather. He focused on catching his first slab of steel, especially after he sees Vern land an absolute hog only a few miles from the lodge on the Bell Irving River. The crew then decides to head up the Nass river by helicopter, pick up a cached raft and fly it further upstream to several tantalizing runs. The effort pays off as Andy and guide Jeff Straight find the mother lode. Our film ends with the boys reaching the confluence of the legendary Damdochax, where they decide to taste those fabled waters as well!