Fly Fishing on CD-ROM

by Ken Gabütner

Stony Brook Sporting Goods is where it all began. 3755 East Market Street, York, PA, 17406. It's closed now. Only a flash in my mind. But in that quaint Pennsylvania shop, I learned to love the art of angling. It was my first job. A kid who loved fishing getting his first job in a sporting goods store. Man, what a dream. While working there, one Charlie Miller took me under his wing. Charlie was a middle-aged, champion trap-shooting, fly-tying, pheasant-raising, deer hunting, trout catching outdoorsman. He taught me all of the outdoor arts to the best of his ability. I was an eager, if not impatient, student of the game. It was a singular time.

In college, I just didn't have time for all that outdoor stuff. I was busy doing college things. From there I moved directly (without passing Go) to New York City. The city so nice, it smells like steaming urine 8 months out of the year. Being a part of the official Rat Race, I kept whispering to myself that I would return to my oneness with nature; that I wouldn't rob myself of the joys of solitude on a misty trout-filled stream. I kept whispering, that, "Just as soon as I 'make it,' it's back to the simple life mister." I keep my rods and fly-tying equipment with me at all times, just in case it happens suddenly... It's been 12 years. Damn do I miss it.

A few days ago, someone plops the "Fly Fishing the Great Rivers of the West" CD-ROM on my desk and says, "Review that." Okay, I thought. This one's going to be an easy kill. If it bites the big one, I'll know it early. If it fails the test, it won't take me long. If, indeed, the disc would make a better lure than software delivery vehicle, I would know quicker than a long cast.

My test was simple. If "Great Rivers" is a good CD-ROM, it should make me ache to be out on the stream, waist-deep in rushing, icy waters, trying every tactic possible to get that native brookie to rise one more time. It did not let me down.

I only have one complaint of the disc, so let's get it out of the way. The typeface and cover photography look exactly like the movie poster for "A River Runs Through It." Such obvious marketing tactics seem like overkill to me, unless of course the publishers really wanted to squeeze out the 1 or 2 extra sales from customers who've had split-brain operations and can't tell the difference between a CD-ROM and a video cassette. Perhaps I'm being a little harsh.

The interface design is clean and sparse. The "white space" of the interface is most often filled with a gorgeous shot of a river or brook bottom. The sounds of trickling waters (while occasionally too loud) are tastefully done, and loop without harsh transitions.

Being an East Coast outdoorsman, I've never fished the Great Rivers of the West, but it's all you ever hear about from anyone whose ever been there. So from this CD-ROM I was anticipating easy access to the potential excitement of fishing those lauded waters. Finding the rivers was immediately apparent and with a click of the ole mouse, I was greeted with a Quicktime movie of Jeff Parin, a fishing guide who grew up on the Deschutes River in Oregon. Jeff's confident knowledge of the river bleeds from him and damnit, it just made me want to be there with him.