Safari and Film Africa

DVD Review
Touching Gold. Sightfishing Sterkfontein

Some fishing videos are too long. The problem with Touching Gold is that it’s too short. The way around that is to do as I did the first time I watched it, and view it three times consecutively.

This movie is good. It features sightfishing for smallmouth yellowfish on Sterkfontein Dam at its summertime peak. It’s basically dry-fly action from tip to tail and it’s pretty spectacular stuff. It’s hard to put a finger on this movie’s exact genre. It is not a technical how-to movie, but there’s lots of useable info if you look. I’d say that apart from documenting what South Africa has in Sterkfontein as one of the best destinations to drop a bushy dry in front of a thick-lipped yellow and see it get sucked down, the movie can be slotted into the inspirational box. The footage of slabs of gold muscle rising from crystalline green depths is entrancing and exciting. It reminds us of our own dry fly experiences, or shows those that haven’t been lucky enough to try it out for themselves, just how much it is they’re missing.

As many shots at sighted and rising fish as Sterkfontein offers, footage as good as this does not come easy. I understand that shooting the movie took one day per minute of the final cut, and it’s nice to see that videographers Rayno Egner and Kerry Wallace put the emphasis on quality rather than trying to scratch together a DVD after a weekend’s fishing. Everyone involved in this production is a fisherman and it shows in the way they were able to anticipate fish’s moves, set themselves up, and capture it for us to enjoy. That in itself is an accomplishment. Kerry actually makes a comment in the movie that there’s just as big a kick in a shot coming perfectly together and catching it all on film for the person behind the lens as there is for the rod handler whose backing knot is ripping through the guides.

A soundtrack can make or break a movie. Some say that music is not important, and for a technical film perhaps it isn’t, but for something that’s more about influence and inspiration, the choice of background sound is critical. Touching Gold’s visuals and mood are very nicely complimented and enhanced with the right choice of sounds from home grown group Gold Fish. I’m no music maniac, but it’s nice to see some local, mainstream music instead of the usual soul-less, software generated stock sounds. Movies like this one are art at the end of the day.

I especially enjoyed the chapter that shows the refusals. It shows that fish aren’t mere dummies that are programmed to eat anything that looks like a floating insect, but that they have the instinct to be cautious and calculating. In some of the sequences it’s almost like you can see the fish’s brain processes ticking over through its eye and I can’t see any fisherman not being grabbed by it. Aside from the fishing specifics, the movie also shows people who just enjoy being out there and having fun, none of them are dressed in what look like out-the-box glitzy uniforms designed to ‘attack’ nature, there’s no bandannas hanging uselessly and uncomfortably about anyone’s neck and no subtle pompous arrogance. And that’s nice. Most of all it’s people out there who love to fish and soak up the wide open spaces, and that comes across when you watch it. Invite the ladies in your life to watch this one, it will help them ‘get it’ if they’re still grappling with your obsession. If they’re already there, then they’ll enjoy it just as much as you, as should anyone who can relate to meaningful ‘outside’ time beyond the malls or motocross track.

- Edward Truter