Teton Valley is home to world-class skiing and mountain biking, so it’s no surprise when a rad new skiing or biking movie premieres here. Teton Valley is also home to world-class fishing. So where are all the fishing videos?

“We haven’t even started fishing yet and I’ve already caught the biggest trout of my life.”

That is one of the first lines of the trailer of “TENKARALASKA: A short film about 4 dudes catching big fish on Tenkara rods,” a film from A Pack of Wolves media house.

The film will make its premiere at Tenkara Rod Co. in downtown Driggs, Wednesday, April 13 at 7 p.m.

Filmmaker Spencer Turley followed the crew from Tenkara Rod Co. as they used the company’s Tenkara style rods to catch some huge fish in Alaska.

Tenkara is a type of reel-less traditional Japanese fly-fishing, usually practiced on quiet, mountain streams. The rods from Tenkara Rod Co., however, are meant to survive a much wider array of circumstances.

“Even for people that don’t fish, it tells the story of how we went to Alaska to see what the Tenkara rods could do,” said founder Tanner Flake.

The film tells a great story and will hook even those who haven’t held a Tenkara rod before, but the real stars are in the water.

“There’s a lot of fish, there’s talking, and there’s narrative,” Turley said, “but it’s about fish.”

The premiere will be at Tenkara’s shop in Driggs at 47 S. Main Street. There will be free hot dogs and burgers as well as prize giveaways with the film starting as the sun goes down at around 7:45 p.m. Beverages are bring-your-own.

Tenkara recently moved into their downtown Driggs location after moving to the Valley two years ago. The company moved to its current, and larger space, in the former home of Blue Ox Crossfit.

Two of their newest offerings, the mini Sawtooth and mini Teton models of pocket fly fishing rods, came out of a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign last fall. Flake said the company aimed to raise $12,000 but ended up raising $222,960.

“We just want people to see our new shop and know where we are,” Flake said, “and see that we’re just a local company making great videos.”

This article appeared on the Teton Valley News website on April 6, 2016.

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