PREDATOR is the latest effort from renowned fishing film maker Nick Reygaert of Gin Clear Media. Reygaert’s previous films included the acclaimed Hatch and three-part Source series. He’s also the man behind the highly successful Rise Fly Fishing Film Festival that tours Australia and New Zealand annually.
At Sydney’s 2012 Rise Festival Reygaert screened a short of Predator, which is as its name suggests, about big predatory fish that live in rivers, lakes and oceans – and the anglers that target them. The short highlighted much of the feature length film’s amazing slow motion action sequences. This includes some spectacular footage of wild backcountry trout in New Zealand, leaping billabong barramundi and hot-to-trot popper chasing queenfish in northern Australia.
Viewing the full length DVD version of Predator had me wondering about the extraordinary amount of time and effort that must have gone into its making – both in capturing the footage and editing what was, no doubt, hours and hours of footage. The opening slow-mo sequences of trout leaping after damsel flies would do a David Attenborough documentary justice. This stuff is simply mind blowing and of a standard rarely seen in fishing films.
At the screening last year Reygaert said he’d used a special (and very expensive!) slow motion camera for the making of Predator. It shows. The footage is stunning and carries on throughout most of this world class production.
Beautifully shot on the whole, Predator highlights a diverse range of fisheries from the remote swamps of New Zealand to slow winding rivers in Japan where the huge ito or Japanese taimen rules and is highly sought after by fly fishers from around the world. In contrast the film also documents the fly fishing opportunities found in rugged coastal locations such as the Abrolhos Islands in Western Australia – home to big samsonfish and kings – and Exmouth in the north where big queenies and other lightning fast pelagics are ready to pounce on cast offerings.
As a testament to the quality of this film, Fishing World’s veteran writer David Green – not one to give praise lightly – was blown away after watching Predator one night during our recent Coffs Harbour trip. If Greeny proclaims it to be “one of the best fishing films he’s ever seen” you know it’s something special. I for one can’t wait to what Nick Reygaert comes up with next.
Predator on DVD runs for approximately 50 minutes and features 20 minutes of bonus material. Available now at gin-clear.com.
