Review – Land of Little Rivers

Land of Little Rivers is a documentary that looks at the sport of fly fishing and to be completely honest, I knew little to nothing about fly fishing before going into this film.  I’ve seen it in movies and T.V. shows, I know it involved some sort of rod and that you did it standing in the water, but that was really it.

Watching Land of Little Rivers was really an eye-opening experience.  This is an in-depth look at the art and the skill of fly fishing, looking at its past, its present, and the major players who shaped the sport and are advancing it today.

We are taken to the Catskills of upstate New York to small towns like Deposit, Roscoe, and Hancock, cities that if you told me were real, I wouldn’t believe you .  Around these small, quaint cities are rivers like the Delaware River and the Neversink River, which takes claim as the birthplace of fly fishing.  These rivers are the most popular destinations for fly fishing and ones that fishermen and women flock to yearly.

We are introduced to a cast of characters who live around these parts and who have devoted their lives to fly fishing.  Each one person is different, like Rob Lewis, a fishing guide who lives and breathes everything fly fishing.  Or Rachel Finn, a Fine Arts graduate from Yale who has established herself as possibly the best guide/wrangler there is in these parts.  We also meet people who create the dry flies the fishermen use for as bait and see the intricacies of their creations and how thorough and detailed these small creations are.  It’s a lot of people to meet, yet every single one of them shares the same passion for fly fishing.

In watching Land of Little Rivers, there were two things that really stood out to me.  The first was learning about the sport of fly fishing itself.  This is a sport I knew nothing about and didn’t think about what actually went into it.  But what I learned was really eye-opening and interesting.  Watching the skill that goes into this sport was something to behold.  Like any other sport like basketball or football, there is a skillset that goes into the sport, but it’s the little things that separates the great ones from the average fisher.  Noticing the correct ripples in the water to see where the fish are, having the best fishing rod, and what kind of dry flies you use and how you make them, these are all things that can make a fisherman great or average.

The second thing that stood out in the film, and the one that hit home the hardest, was the passion that these people share for the sport.  Whenever anyone talked about fly fishing or was actually doing it, you saw their faces light up.  They glowed with passion and love for the sport.  They loved this sport and immersed their entire life in it.  It warms your hearts to see how much these people love this sport and how much it has taken over their lives.

Land of Little Rivers is a fascinating, fun, beautiful looking documentary about the sport and the art of fly fishing.  This is a documentary that taught me a lot about something I knew little about and I now have a new found appreciation for the sport and the art of fly fishing.

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