Dan LeCount
01-06-2014, 10:28 PM
I first moved up to Truckee about 13-14 years ago to work at the Truckee River Outfitters Fly Shop. I got to meet a lot of different people from all walks of life. One of the guys I worked the shop with was a cool dude named Tim Haddon. Now Timmy got into fly fishing later on in life as an alternative to extreme big mountain skiing, once his knees couldn't keep up with his desires. He still skied a ton, but fly fishing became more and more important in his life and he devoted more and more of his time to it. At first it was just something he could do during the summer time when he wasn't skiing. Eventually he got into steelheading and that started biting into his skiing time as it gradually turned into an obsession (it happens.)
His fixation and joy he got from fly fishing spread to many of his skiing buddies. Soon our little fly shop had all sorts of people from the ski industry, from pros to cameramen, event planners and so on, but many of them were buddies of Timmies that wanted to learn how to fish the Truckee. I got to talk, help and watch a lot of these guys develop as anglers. One of them was Shane Anderson.
To put it simply, Shane was a rock star skier. He partied hard, skied hard, dated models, all in all he lived the life of a rock star. He had won a bunch of events and toured the globe for his passion.
When I met him he was going through the beginning of a life transition. In the 2000 X-games Shane had broken his back, and ended his professional ski career at a relatively young age. When you spend your whole life trying to push your physical limits, then almost get paralyzed, I think it effects your perspective. Shane still had that drive to get out there, but he couldn't go the same route for the release. I think it was a confusing time for his soul. At a certain point, I'm fairly sure fly fishing ended up being a therapy for him, a different release. I'd see Shane in the shop,(usually with another pro skier in tow) he'd ask about bugs, and nymph rig setups or where he could put in or take out with a boat, the typical questions guys ask in the shop. Then he'd charge out there after the prospect of catching a big brown or rainbow. After a few years I stopped seeing him around so much. He had moved to southern California and I think he was trying to find another release. I'd hear rumors of him dating actresses in Hollywood and other sorts of funny stuff. Then I heard he had moved back to his original home in Washington state and for the last 4 or 5 years has been obsessed about steelheading (it happens.)
Recently I got back in touch with Shane and it appears his been putting together a conservation oriented documentary, about the plight of the pacific steelhead. One thing I forgot to add, Shane is Kerry Burkheimers nephew. If you don't know who Kerry Burkheimer is, he's one of the most respected spey rod builders in the pacific northwest, if not the world. Thanks to his connections through his uncle, and thanks to Shanes obsessive mind, looking for a new outlet, Shane has put together a pretty awesome documentary. I've been checking his various updates and snippets. From the last update, it looks like he's going through the final audio mixdown before its ready for release, so it should be on the horizon fairly soon. I pulled out a snippet and figured I'd share it with you guys to spread the word. It's just a short segment, but it really looks good.
http://vimeo.com/83466877
His fixation and joy he got from fly fishing spread to many of his skiing buddies. Soon our little fly shop had all sorts of people from the ski industry, from pros to cameramen, event planners and so on, but many of them were buddies of Timmies that wanted to learn how to fish the Truckee. I got to talk, help and watch a lot of these guys develop as anglers. One of them was Shane Anderson.
To put it simply, Shane was a rock star skier. He partied hard, skied hard, dated models, all in all he lived the life of a rock star. He had won a bunch of events and toured the globe for his passion.
When I met him he was going through the beginning of a life transition. In the 2000 X-games Shane had broken his back, and ended his professional ski career at a relatively young age. When you spend your whole life trying to push your physical limits, then almost get paralyzed, I think it effects your perspective. Shane still had that drive to get out there, but he couldn't go the same route for the release. I think it was a confusing time for his soul. At a certain point, I'm fairly sure fly fishing ended up being a therapy for him, a different release. I'd see Shane in the shop,(usually with another pro skier in tow) he'd ask about bugs, and nymph rig setups or where he could put in or take out with a boat, the typical questions guys ask in the shop. Then he'd charge out there after the prospect of catching a big brown or rainbow. After a few years I stopped seeing him around so much. He had moved to southern California and I think he was trying to find another release. I'd hear rumors of him dating actresses in Hollywood and other sorts of funny stuff. Then I heard he had moved back to his original home in Washington state and for the last 4 or 5 years has been obsessed about steelheading (it happens.)
Recently I got back in touch with Shane and it appears his been putting together a conservation oriented documentary, about the plight of the pacific steelhead. One thing I forgot to add, Shane is Kerry Burkheimers nephew. If you don't know who Kerry Burkheimer is, he's one of the most respected spey rod builders in the pacific northwest, if not the world. Thanks to his connections through his uncle, and thanks to Shanes obsessive mind, looking for a new outlet, Shane has put together a pretty awesome documentary. I've been checking his various updates and snippets. From the last update, it looks like he's going through the final audio mixdown before its ready for release, so it should be on the horizon fairly soon. I pulled out a snippet and figured I'd share it with you guys to spread the word. It's just a short segment, but it really looks good.
http://vimeo.com/83466877