VIDEO: When Winter Ends

What do you do when winter ends?  I had the pleasure of meeting John Spriggs this fall in the Helena shop.  He was a really super nice dude!  I had no idea that this is what he liked to do.  Crazy!  I hope you enjoy the film – When Winter Ends.  (FYI… there are some explicit lyrics. Since I’m a mom of three, I just wanted to let you know in case your young ones, like mine, watch it with you.  And yes, there’s great trout fishing footage!) 

John Spriggs, waiting for When Winter Ends.

Throughout the summer of 2013, professional skier John Spriggs explores the mountains of Montana for ski mountaineering potential. After the snow finally melts away in the late summer, John turns to Montana’s blue ribbon trout waters to occupy his time and waits for the snow to fall once again.

Official Selection and Honorable Mention for Best Picture – Documentary 2014 Flathead Lake International Cinemafest

Official Selection of the 2013 Coldsmoke Winter Film Tour.

Official Selection of the 2014 Flathead Lake International Cinemafest.

Featured on the 2014 Fly Fishing Film Tour online theater.

Special thanks to Batalla Skis, I.N.I. Cooperative, Dakine, Scott, Marker, Cheeky Fly Fishing, Idylwilde Flies, and Fishpond.

Fly Shop Experience

When it’s 27 BELOW Zero outside -with no chance of fly fishing unless you jump on an airplane and head to lower latitudes -it’s fun to read about the life I live. As I was reading this, I was recalling how it fit perfectly with so many of my customers and I could actually see faces in my mind as Chief Rocka described all the characters you’ll find in a Fly Shop. So, I hope you enjoy the read on this arctic day.
PS- I hope to see some of you tonight at my talk at Montana Wild in Helena. I’ll be blabbering about BC Steelhead and have some fun photos and videos to ogle over. It starts at 6:30pm. Thanks, -Strainer

I love fly shops, I could live in a fly shop.   Often times shops have an abundance of just about everything I need to survive (beef jerky, cheap beer, and fly gear).  I spend a lot of time in the shop, which about 15% of that time is spent looking at gear/flies, 20% is remembering what the hell I came into the shop for in the first place, and the remaining balance is spent standing around chatting and listening in on conversations.  I find the conversations that can be heard and/or witnessed by a casual observer in the fly shop setting to be fascinating and highly entertaining.

1. 1 out of every 4 times in a shop you will run into someone with a pattern so incredibly productive that they will show you, but it has to be in complete and total secrecy.  Sometimes it is a shop employee, a…

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