How were your beginnings in fly fishing?
My father taught me how to wrap and cast fly rods when I was a boy. I think we started fishing together on the small stream that divided our property, when I was around two years of age. Living in the cottony on the outskirts of the nearest town, fly fishing was a constant baby sitter during my youth. I spent more of my life knee deep in mountain rivers than any other activity. I started working in the local fly shop at 14, and by age 18 was head guide. Guided through college, for 10 seasons total, then turned my focus to film and photography full time in 2005.

How did you get into making fly-fishing videos? Did you have any influences?
As kids, we used to run around with cameras filming everything from fishing and hunting to skiing. My grandfather was a sports announcer so I grew up in a media family. Making fly fishing videos was a natural combination of my two favourite passions: angling and filming. In the early days we just did if for fun, we never thought it would turn into a genre. I feel so deeply grateful to be able to film and fish as much as I do. Still have to work a normal “real job” to make it all work, but love every moment on the water or behind a camera.

Tell us about some of the places you have filmed around the world.
We’ve been fortunate to film on every continent. The doors keep opening and each season we’re invited to film more remarkable places. The best places really are not places, but experiences and people in outstanding outdoor settings. We make lifelong friends everywhere we film, which is a tremendous reward. Regionally, we have not done enough in Asia. Expect more from us from Asian in the coming years.

What is the process when making films? Do you have a plan or story?
The process is interesting, and very never the same twice. Having a plan is a fantastic idea. We always have a plan. Following a plan is easier said than down. Working in the outdoors, at the mercy of nature and wild animals, one never knows what will unfold. One thing is certain, there’s always a story. The key is being perceptive and understanding how that story is unfolding, and documenting it, before it vanishes in the past.

How do go about filming? What sort of equipment and supplies do you take?
The equipment side of things is a nightmare. Considering the growing restrictions and costs for commercial flight baggage, gear restrictions on small charter flights, and physical limitations for what can be carried in the outdoors - equipment is always an issue. We try and whittle down our gear to the bare minimum, and they go to extreme lengths to make sure it is super protected and ready to handle any weather.

This may come as a shock, but we don’t really travel with much in the way of fishing gear. There’s just not room, and we seldom have enough time to fish. Most people are really amazed when we explain that we don’t fish while we are filming. Sure, if we get everything we need in the can and there’s time - we’ll pick up a rod - but getting all the shots is very time consuming and rarely do we have free time on a project.

We usually run a few cameras: sony fs 700, Canon DSLRs and maybe a few GoPros. Again, we have to keep the gear pile manageable.

Is there a particular message you want to give through your films?
Each film should have a distinct message and unique story. Hopefully we showcase locations, species and fisheries in an inspiring way so as to encourage anglers to go outside and try it for themselves. I think inspiration is probably our first motivation or message, then respect for resources and people. Additionally, we want to make it entertaining. It’s fishing, it’s supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be entertaining. The last thing we want to do is showcase any form of ego. We want to make people laugh, happy and fired up to fish.

Any interesting memories or stories from the road?
I have a bit of a reputation within our filming group…. how should I put this… for taking people on wild and memorable adventures - that they don’t know are going to happen. There’s usually not a lot of information shared with the group. Just enough to get everyone on location. It can create a lot of tension and anxiety within some folks, which is expressed during the trip as drama. Let’s face it, drama is entertaining. So, I’ve been known to curate dramatic adventures by simply keeping the details of an adventure rather obscure. What does this have to do with the questions? Well, every trip and adventure is filled with comedy, tragedy and a little bit of danger. All of these elements in turn create lots of stories. There’s not room to tell them here - but someday they will all come out.

Tell us about some of your recent projects.
We’ve had a super busy year. We had two films in the 2016 Fly Fishing Film Tour (CARPLAND & Mongolia), and CARPLAND was awarded Film of the Year and Best Story at the Drake Magazine Video Awards. We also released two new DVDs, CARPALND and Fishtails. The latter is a compilation DVD with 12 films on it. We also formed a new team and we work under a new studio called Off the Grid Studios ( http://offthegridstudios.com/). The core filters are myself, Jako Lucas, Austin Trayser and Steven Yochum. Together, we’re producing 4 films for this years Fly Fishing Film Tour. The films are in the can - shot on location in Canada, Bolivia, the Seychelles and southern Africa. It’s going to be the best film tour in many years! All the info on the projects is here:
http://beattieproductions.com/?page_id=4871



Lastly, we’re releasing a new tutorial DVD about spey casting called Skagit Revolution ( http://skagitcasting.com/)- and we’re remodeling a mid 60’s Airstream Trailer as a new mobil, solar production facility (http://offthegridstudios.com/off-the-grid-on-wheels-meet-lola/).

What does fly fishing mean to you?
This is a great, and tough question. Fly fishing has meant a lot of things to me, at a number of different junctures in my life. I can only describe it now, as my essence. There was a time when I was fearful that fly fishing was, well, all that I was. When I was younger that was uncomfortable. But now I find peace in knowing that I’ve found the one passion that has and will continue to define my life.

Do you have any future plans or projects?
As Robert Earl Keen sings, “The road goes on forever, and the party never ends.”