The New Fly Fisher - Code of Filming Ethics

Like many viewers, The New Fly Fisher is very concerned about the environment and the impact we all have on it. The goal of our series is to educate viewers about all aspects of fly-fishing, including how to enjoy and not damage our precious natural resources. To this end we are taking several measures to ensure we achieve this. The following summarizes our Code of Filming Ethics.

Where ever The New Fly Fisher produces an episode we take as many precautions as is reasonably possible to prevent damage to the local eco-system. We do not cut down trees or brush to capture a particularly stunning scene. Nor do we drive our 4WD vehicles through small streams or sensitive environments. In each location we film in we clean up and remove any garbage. In fact we usually bring out more than we came in with!

Unfortunately over the last few years several fishing shows in both Canada and the United States have been caught doing some very unethical things in order to produce a television show. We want you to know this won't happen with our series. What you see in our shows is what happened on the water. If we catch no fish, then we tell you we had no success that day. Certainly that happens in fishing to us all! If we have a great day and catch a lot of fish then we try and show you that as well. Often we are limited by the amount of time we have to show you all the fish hooked & released versus the intent of our series which is to educate viewers through information. We strive to strike a balance of all aspects of what we feel is necessary to produce a quality fly-fishing show that has an instructional orientation.

When handling fish we minimize the time the fish is either out of the water or being handled. We will not hold a fish and discuss at great length the beauty of it's sides or how fat it is. Once hooked, we will quickly bring a fish to hand and then release it. Often this means we sacrifice the quality of the videography in terms of focus and angle. However, we feel this is a trade worth making and we are confident that our viewers would agree.

In some shows we will not specifically name the water system we are filming on because of concerns dealing with over-exposure. Many eco-systems, such as small streams, are very fragile. Excessive usage brought on by television publicity may adversely effect a specific environment. When possible and considered prudent we will detail our filming location. However, we do hope our viewers will understand when a location is not named due to environmental concerns that could be posed by excessive pressure or usage brought on by publicity.