Customer Reviews

Fishing Fundamentals DVD

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This brief DVD (under 40 minutes) does give you what you need in order to get started fishing, but it could have greatly benefited from having professional actors deliver the information, and more of it. As it is, the narrator, while pleasant and attractive, seems fairly new to acting and presenting, making it obvious that he's reading cue cards or a teleprompter. Better film editing also could have spared us his search for the director's approval at the end of a take. A couple of children are included to show that fishing can be fun for kids, but much like the narrator, they're rather stiff while sporting forced "smile for the camera" grins. Only the second presenter, who shows us how to filet a fish and fry it up, is natural before the camera, convincing us that he actually knows what he's doing by heart and is comfortable instructing others.

Most annoying is the "background" music. Raucous rock music plays at ridiculous audio levels in an attempt to convince us that fishing is a kick-ass sport, rather than have us realize that fishing sometimes involves sitting for long periods, waiting for the fish to bite. The music doesn't complement the video at all, and often greatly competes with the narration. Also, there are no closed-caption or subtitles options to benefit hearing-impaired viewers or to help other viewers escape the ill-paired music soundtrack. A more laid-back music score would have been more appropriate.

I bought this video for the sole use of having it play in the den to add interest prior to a family fish fry, to help promote the "Goin' Fishin'" theme. With the audio turned OFF, it provides such ambience. I'll supplement it with the "The Great Salmon Run" portion of the BBC's "Nature's Most Amazing Events" DVD, with the audio turned ON.

"In-Fisherman's Fishing Fundamentals" is informative about the basics of fishing, but suffers for the most part from overly-ambitious music and amateur acting. The very brief views of various freshwater fish moving about in their natural underwater habitat were very interesting to see. A whole other section on that would have been great as a bonus feature. I was hoping for more detailed instructions (casting techniques are brief, and safety advice when reeling in a fish seems to be missing); however, the excellent unexpected section on preparing and pan-frying fish whetted my appetite for more. The professional instruction on filleting fish is the best part about the video and the most palatable section to watch, making it a nice addition.

In summary, this DVD would probably be best for kids and teens as an introduction to the sport of fishing; however, the all-too-brief bonus feature on cooking the catch is the most helpful feature on the disc.