Trout Grass DVD

Trout Grass – This documentary highlights Hoagy Carmichael on his first visit to China, where he experiences the country’s mystical bamboo forests. As a legendary split-cane fly rod craftsman and author of the art’s seminal study (A Masters Guide to Building a Bamboo Fly Rod, with Everett Garrison), these far-off lands have fuelled Hoagy’s dreams for over 40 years.

While in China we follow the hands of a bamboo importer who travels to a remote Chinese village to individually sort through thousands of bamboo poles. He is looking for poles perfectly suited for bamboo rod makers around the world.

In Montana, we see master-builder Glenn Brackett tap into “the power of unseen hands” in his shop, while converting this hardy piece of grass into a fly rod. The result is an instrument so revered for its strength, precision and beauty one wonders if trout feel lucky when caught and released by one of Glenn’s rods.