Skip to main content

120 Days: A Big Fish Story

120 Days: A Big Fish Story

In the climactic moments of the new Yeti film 120 Days, guide David Mangum is engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a tarpon. His guest has the giant-eyed fish near the boat, and with his bare hands, Mangum grabs the leader, tries to grab the lip of the fish with his other hand, and that's when the fish jumps.

Fortunately for the fly-fishing world, aspirational filmmakers Travis Rummel and Ben Knight provide a slow-motion, over-the-shoulder look at this bare-knuckle fight, and the result is mesmerizing. Slow-motion is often overdone in fly-fishing films, but in this close and frantic sequence, there's so much going on that you'll want to hit replay repeatedly to watch the fly stuck in the lower lip, and the way the fly tail swings and throws a perfect curl of water framed by a cavernous mouth. The giant eye of the fish seems locked onto Mangum as it snakes side to sidehalf its 7-foot body length out of the water, and the other half thrashing against Mangum's outstretched hands and tearing the leader through his fingers.

Screen Shot 2017-04-18 at 3.19.06 PM

I have hooked many, many tarpon (and landed a few) but I have never been eye-to-eye with a tarpon raging at the gunwales, felt the spray from its head-shakes, and watched its gill filaments waving like sea-grass. That's the point of 120 Days, to give regular folks and occasional saltwater fishermen an idea of what it's like to be a Florida tarpon guide and focus all of your energy, passion, and talents on those four months of the year when you have a shot at catching tarpon on a fly. This is a guide's view of the tarpon experience.

In 120 Days, Mangum says "I never wear gloves, I feel like it's a little fight, you know, and you want to let him beat up on you a little bit. He deserves it."

The filmmakers share this same bare-knuckle honesty and they don't try to glamorize the fishing or sanitize their subjects Mangum or guide Brett Martina. They are both intensely serious about tarpon fishing. Mangum has used a para-sail to scout for tarpon, crashed, and injured himself in the process. He uses a skull for an anchor buoy to warn interlopers to "stay the f*ck away from me," and to his clients, journalist Tom Bie says "I don't think he's overly a dick." Which is to say, you better not trout set when a tarpon takes your fly.


Screen Shot 2017-04-18 at 3.19.18 PM

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Recommended Articles

Recent Videos

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
News

Orvis Presents “School of Fish” Full Film

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
News

Orvis Presents “School of Fish”

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
News

Hilary Hutcheson's videos of Hurricane Ian aftermath

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
News

Bronze Statue of Lefty Kreh Unveiled in Moving Ceremony

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
Destinations/Species

Costa Marlin Fly Project

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
Destinations/Species

Rio Dorado Trailer

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
How-To/Techniques

How to Tie the Harrop Ant

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
Destinations/Species

Rio Dorado

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
How-To/Techniques

Building the Perfect Fly Rod with Mud Hole Components From Blank to Casting

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
Destinations/Species

South Platte River Flooding, July 31, 2023

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
Gear

Simms Wader Makers

On newsstands July 4th! Available in both print and digital.
News

FF Mag Promo Aug-Sep 2023

Fly Fisherman Magazine Covers Print and Tablet Versions

GET THE MAGAZINE Subscribe & Save

Digital Now Included!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Give a Gift   |   Subscriber Services

PREVIEW THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Buy Digital Single Issues

Magazine App Logo

Don't miss an issue.
Buy single digital issue for your phone or tablet.

Buy Single Digital Issue on the Fly Fisherman App

Other Magazines

See All Other Magazines

Special Interest Magazines

See All Special Interest Magazines

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Get the top Fly Fisherman stories delivered right to your inbox.

Phone Icon

Get Digital Access.

All Fly Fisherman subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets.

To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine.

Get Digital Access

Not a Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Enjoying What You're Reading?

Get a Full Year
of Guns & Ammo
& Digital Access.

Offer only for new subscribers.

Subscribe Now