Get the subject matter right

Not if you used Steelhead Salmon. Salmon that are landlocked grow up to be Rainbow Trout. those that make it to the Ocean become Steelheads

Thoughts:

- They should get the casting style and gear right. A movie that's supposed to look realistic to the whole audience should really have an expert advisor to say, "Wait! That's not the right rod!" or whatever. Then again, that level of inattention to detail is pretty typical in movies. And, of course, it went right by the vast majority of the audience who (like me) don't know much about fly fishing. But, since there are evidently 2 million anglers in Britain alone (and presumably many times more in the US), that part of the audience isn't nonexistent.

- I'd kind of give them a pass on the salmon-transfer method, for exactly the reason you say. It wouldn't be filmic to show eggs sitting there or smolts wriggling about, nor would it have really worked with the plot very well. To be accurate, they could've stocked the river with eggs, then waited several years to see if the Salmon returned to spawn, when the climax of the movie could've occurred. Obviously, a multi-year gap would have presented some rather insurmountable plot issues.

- "Trout Fishing in the Yemen" would be little too direct a reference to Brautigan, wouldn't it?

- They were somewhat stuck with the title (and, I suspect, the transfer method) by the book.

- Kind of a bigger point: salmon fishing wasn't the "subject matter" of the movie. The subject of the movie was the interaction of the characters, government institutions, cultures, etc. The salmon project was really just the premise and informing metaphor.

You would think that the film makers would have tried to get this right - using the correct fishing rods! Especially knowing that people who fish, such as yourself, would be drawn to this movie.

Believe me, that's not their only issue. They could have done five minutes worth of research on Yemen itself and known that country wouldn't even HAVE a leader with that much cash, a river good enough for the job, or let a chick wander around like that.
Crazy. They use a tiny country, use some pretty shots of fish and assume no one knows how to use google or knows about salmon breeding.

Don't be such a pompous wind bag. I've been fly fishing for 20 years and have caught everything from bluegill and shiners to Large Mouth Bass and Northern Pike all on the same rod. Fisherman, and if you were one you would know this, have their own idiosyncrasies. The Prince learned to cast a certain way on a certain rod and that is what he continued to do. Fred, who outside of his office, never casts his own rod, was using the equipment the prince provided.

There are plenty of landlocked salmon.

There are farms that raise landlocked salmon. In fact, I was trying to figure out why they didn't go immediately to a fish farm instead on insisting on wild caught. Although, some of these fish get quite big I was surprised they didn't release fry but I guess catching one would not be such a good photo-op.

I liked the film but wish they gave the science a little more screen time. The question that Fred raised that was never answered is, what are the fish going to eat? Once, the fields are planted there would no doubt be an abundance of insects but until then it is still the desert. Are they going to introduce mayflies?

I have some information for this pinhead and the others: Discovery Channel - National Geographics - Nature - Wildlife channel - Fishing and Rods - Mad Magazine.
You won't find women/guy stuff nor anything really interesting but surely this movie is for real people only.

If every animal had wings the sh*t of this world would be evenly spread