Trout Grass

Director: Ed George
Narrator: David James Duncan
Runtime: 48 Mins
Language: English
Year of Production: 2005
Country: United States

For many anglers, a fly rod is more than a fishing instrument. It's an antenna, capturing signals of the natural world. But what of the process that turns ordinary materials into extraordinary tools? And why do people around the world continue to spend their days happily wading in rivers if they do not keep what they capture?

Unveiling the magic of international camaraderie, fine craftsmanship and flowing water, Trout Grass tracks the 10,000-mile journey of bamboo around the world. From a lush forest in China's Guangdong Province to a rustic workshop in Montana this film follows the transition of bamboo from a living plant to a finished fly rod. As a renowned rod maker treks to the source of his inspiration and a craftsman half-way around the world feels the "spirit of the bamboo world" we find what it takes to convert a piece of grass into a six-sided baton ready to conduct an orchestra of trout and water.

From the hands of a builder to the hands of an angler we follow American novelist and fly fisherman David James Duncan (The River Why and The Brothers K) and fly fishing legend Thomas McGuane (The Longest Silence, Ninety-two in the Shade) to one of Montana's resplendent waterways. Here, these two anglers reveal the magic of fishing with a fly rod made of grass and connecting with the order of rivers and flowing things.