"Filmed in stunning high definition the film features some of the most incredible fly fishing cinematography yet seen. Three years in the making ‘Once in a Blue moon’ portrays the incredible story of a once in a lifetime event.
Set amongst the spectacular scenery of southern New Zealand, a most strange and bizarre tale unfolds. The stuff of folklore, ‘Once in a Blue Moon’ unravels the mystery of an event that occurs briefly once a decade. This strange and unreal journey takes us into some of the most remote and beautiful parts of New Zealand as we follow one anglers quest to document and unravel a childhood mystery and catch the fish of a lifetime.
In an unpredictable chain of events a mass flowering of the ancient New Zealand Beech forest leads to an excess of seed production. Mice and rodents take advantage of this abundance and numbers reach plague proportions. Incredible footage follows these rodents as they embark on a strange migration, attempting to swim across the expanse of New Zealand’s rivers and lakes. There they fall prey to the largest predators in the waterways - monster Brown and Rainbow trout. Gorging themselves on swimming mice, these fish become extremely aggressive and grow to epic proportions. For a fly fishing Angler, this is the stuff dreams are made of. This bizarre phenomenon has remained a mystery, until now… Shot in beautiful high definition ‘Once in a Blue Moon’ reveals this bizarre story. Stunning cinematography, never before seen underwater footage, fantastic fly fishing and amazing trout behavior will take you deep into the tale of the fabulous and mysterious “Mouse Year”. Once in a Blue moon is receiving critical acclaim from viewers and reviewers alike, with the general consensus being that not only is this the most beautiful fly fishing film produced; it has further lifted the bar for fly fishing films."
On a personal note, having watched it just yesterday, all the above is true. It is a wonderful art work. The video, music, transitions, cinematic style and atmosphere are all what the industry needed to make a professional turn away from the gonzo world of alternative fly fishing video that we've seen creep in. It is as good as any video I've seen. That all said, it fell quite a way short of being what many are saying it is. The plot fell off the story line for 1/3 the duration, and the focus fell away from large brown trout in lakes to river rainbows far too soon. The coverage of fishing night time browns was under developed, left as a foot note of 30 seconds discussion. It was if the producers went fishing 2 days - one day of fishing browns in a lake and a day of rainbows in a river and called it a wrap. The point is understood - that the watershed ecosystem produces more biomass available to everything - including trout - during a beech mast year. However, far more could have been done had there been more time allotted to developing sub plots and building the mystery of those. A 90 minute production could have explored far more avenues than what was presented and another year of filming and assembling such footage would have taken this from a very good production to one of epic, impossible to replicate standards. Instead of being the piece of art that nobody dares to attempt to replicate, like a classic Stones or Clapton album, it leaves the door wide open to many copy cats that will undoubtedly arise, taking the bar higher for all the wrong reasons. All told, however, it's an excellent art work and comes highly recommended. For the critical eye, 7 of 10. For those that just love watching fly fishing entertainment, 10 of 10.
followed by three fish in one wonderful run that were all in this size range:
