Drift

John and Amy couldn't have said it better.  The water seduces you.  "Drift" is a new film by Klug and company set for release next year.

Comments

[Brad Curtis]

I'm not sure if this goes to Justin Coupe or Palmer Taylor, but I would like to wish you luck in getting this film done. It's a wonderful subject and stirs up a lot of passion in many people on the north coast.

First of all...the lore and history of fly fishing these great rivers is awsome. I remember as a young boy being at the end of the line of flyfishermen below Fernbridge on the Eel. This would have been in the early 1960's. The runs were huge during that time (500-600 thousand) but the names of the fishermen are still etched in my mind: names like Loyd Sylvias, Art Dedini, Ben Anderson, Woody Sexton, Curt Spinas, and many more. There was a comraderie, and competition and conservationism with these men. Some were the first catch and release guys. I saw some of them release female salmon and steelhead especially to the heated chagrin of some of the bait fishermen on the other side of the river. As a young man savoring these times, I felt in awe of these guys. And the fishing!! There were times in the 60's and 70's when the half pounder runs were so thick that you could catch and release a 13 to 18 inch fish ever third cast for an hour or more. Then they would stop biting for the day and you couldn't get them to even sniff a fly. I moved away for twenty seven years and then came back in 2001. I was shocked at the condition of the river. With so much water being diverted with the Potter Valley project, the heavy logging, the changing rain patterns and the introduction of the pike minnow into the system...well, it was inevitable things would go down hill fast. The shock is how far things have deteriorated. It's not just the runs being gone, it's the death of the river. You used to see crayfish, the native eels used to litter the banks of the river after the high winter waters. Today, you seldom see a single eel! If we were to re-name the Eel, it should be called the "Silt River" because that's pretty much what the river does now. It sends thousands of sq. feet of silt out into the mouth of the river. I think the Friend of the Eel River have done a lot to bring back the Eel and Russian Rivers with the small group of folks that help them and the miniscule funding they can acquire. But, truly legislation is required to get changes done that would allow these rivers to come back. If they can get striped bass back into the Hudson River, we should be able to bring back the salmon and steelhead to the north coast.

Please put me on a mailing list when your film gets completed so I can see it. Thanks for letting me vent.

Brad Curtis
Eureka, CA.