Archival Film: Anything I Catch: The Handfishing Story

Anything I Catch: The Handfishing Story (1990) by Charles Bush& Pat Mire - http://www.folkstreams.net/film,186

Louisiana filmmaker, Pat Mire, teams up with veteran filmmaker and cinematographer, Charles Bush, to capture the natural drama of handfishing in this award-winning documentary. Highly visual, the film examines the thrilling regional phenomenon of Cajuns who wade in murky bayou waters to catch huge catfish and turtles by reaching into hollow logs and stumps with their bare hands. Friends and family accompany the handfisherman to the bayou banks for Cajun music, festive cooking, and storytelling, and to witness this increasingly rare tradition. Told from the inside with multiple voices, Mire and Bush explore the chain of events set off by man's attempt to "improve" his environment by dredging bayous in this remarkable study of the relationship between cultural and natural resources.
Anything I Catch is a remarkable study of the relationship between cultural and natural resources. It is one of the best documentaries I have seen on any aspect of Louisiana French culture.
--- Barry Jean Ancelet, folklorist

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Thanks a lot Rick! You made for a pleasant evening of viewing with two of my favorite activities. Traditional woodworking and hand fishing. I know that in just the last ten years there has been a huge increase of young folk getting back into both of these activities. When ever I can get back down south, the first thing I do is look for log choked backwater to do a little "aquatic" hunting in.

Regards,

jay