Here’s the second part of our interview with Joe Cummings of the Missoula River Lodge, catch Part 1 if you missed it yesterday here.
We think eating good food can be almost as fun as fishing – who do you think serves the best post-float burger in Missoula or the Bitterroot (if you’re not eating in your own kitchen)?
The Missoula Club is pure old time Missoula. Get a PBR with it and some chips. In the Bitterroot Blacksmith’s Brewery in Stevensville is exceptional. If you are there on the right night you can catch my band knocking out some country music jams.
Friends and neighbors have been telling some good Skwala stories lately, how’s the season starting off so far?
Sadly, this has been the toughest start to the season we have seen. We have had huge rains lately and left our flows where the best fly is a San Juan worm or a trip to the Missouri with Midges. It is looking like the dry fly eat should be back by the weekend, but March has been warm and wet. The hatch lasts until April as it spreads down the Bitterroot and into the Clark Fork, so we have plenty of time to turn the dry eat back on.
We’ve been enjoying the videos you’ve done over the past couple of years tremendously; what’s your ‘magic sauce’ secret to putting such great cuts out there?
Take chances and break the norm. We did a film call “Winter Worm” that was a huge flop last winter, but had a huge growth value as a film maker. One of the scenes we run a camera slider over a pile of San Juan worms to my daughter in black nails acting as a tempting demon. Weird, right? Yeah, very weird and not received well, but pushing concepts has shook loose ideas that worked in other more successful videos. I try to figure out how to get an emotional response from the audience in a way that hasn’t been done and do it in less than 5 minutes. Make your first cut then find a way to shave 40% off it. The modern video consumer has a very short attention span and has seen it all.
Best advice for the videographer and photographer wanting to up their game on the river?
Shoot, Shoot, Shoot, Shoot, and then keep Shooting.
Then share it everywhere you can. People are brutally honest on the internet and if you don’t get too worked up on someone you don’t know kicking you in brutalizing your work with a review then you will start to figure out your own recipe. The goal is always trying to share something that is worthwhile and involves the audience emotionally in the resource that we are all trying to protect. I value greatly feedback both positive and negative, probably the negative more. We are all struggling to figure out what the new fly fishing media is.
If you could encourage fly fishers to do just one thing in terms of stewardship this next year, what would that be?
Give money to a conservation minded non-profit. TU is solid start. If all you can do is $5 then great. I say money, because what in the end threatens the resource is those men that care nothing of wild things when they can exploit it and make a buck off it. We fight those people with money that hires lawyers, gets public participation, and contributes to politicians that side with our conservation ethic.
Many thanks to Joe for taking the time to chat with us and provide these gorgeous images. See you on the Clark Fork or the Blackfoot this summer or fall.
Cheers.
