Welcome to the Updated Paflyfish Website
The old Paflyfish forum was based on a platform called XOOPS and was a critical step for the website sixteen years ago. The XOOPS platform had not kept up with contemporary Internet protocols, security standards, SEO search engines, mobile user access and many other important features. I have migrated to a new forum platform based on Zenforo with the plan on improving our fly fishing community.
The new forum will provide all the new features that is needed as well as maintaining pretty much all the old features you have been familiar with over the years. The new forum will offer better community access and convenience to all the old information too.
If you are new to the site, new user registration is back on and available in the upper right corner of the site menu bar. We look forward to you joining our fly fishing community.
New Functionality
Mobile Access - designed to work with smartphones and tablets
Security - Secure SSL access, a secure certificate for the site, hChapta for new secure user registration, advance blocking for bots and spammers
Unlimited file storage - We can add more and larger images to posts
Pictures - easy to drag and drop images and no codes
Multimedia - simple YouTub video without adding codes
Intuitive authoring tools - what you see is what you get
Watched Content - Users can opt to receive email or on-site notifications
Conversations (formerly private messages) - Private messaging to one or more member
What’s new features
Alerts
Enhanced Search
What got Migrated
All the old forums, threads, posts and replies
User names, signature lines and avatars
Private messages - now Conversations
What didn’t make it
Embedded videos
Photo Album
Links referring to the old site
Old Polls
Coming soon and still under...
A Knotty Approach to Time on the Water
By Maurice
While sharing some time on the water the other day with Dave Kile (dkile) I experienced what seems to happen often during a decent hatch with some wind, you guessed it, a wind knot! Or as Lefty Kreh calls them, bad casting knots. Everyone gets them now and then, especially when combining a breeze, long leaders and fine tippets. Or for the chuck and duck crowd, of which I am often a member, weight and multiple flies. So as Dave stands upstream pondering my delay to cast to a rising fish, he asks, what’s the problem Einstein? I said I have a wind knot, and it reminded me of a tip I learned many years ago.
Back in the 80’s we were on a bus trip to the Breeches from the ‘burg and there was a video on the tube for those not taking the time to sleep. Being full of interest in sponging any and all info I could at the time, one tip in the video stuck with me. Terminal knot tying efficiency. Think about it, every time we tie on a new piece of tippet, a new fly, etc., we are out of the game. It stands to reason that the faster you can tie on a fly (improved clinch knot in my case) or a new piece of tippet (surgeons knot), the quicker you can begin flogging the water again.
The video stressed the need to get your knots down to 15 seconds each. Practice, practice, practice until you can meet that goal. This will put your fly change or tippet adjustments into under one minute if you include the spooling off tippet, picking out a new and returning the old flies. If you find yourself taking 5-10 minutes each to accomplish that task, you could likely be wasting an hour or more tying frustrating knots. Practicing on stream is KNOT efficient! (pun intended)Now it’s not a race, and I don’t suggest it to be. But it is practical to be as efficient as possible when enjoying your streamside time. Plus, when a hatch is on, the fish and bugs don’t wait until you re-tie, it goes on...
The Spring Jamboree is Back! May 20-22, 2022
The last couple of years has made it difficult to formally plan this event. With some good luck and modern science, we are planning for the Jam in 2022.
The pavilion at Seven Mountains Campground is rented by Paflyfish and is used as a meeting point during the weekend. Plenty of impromptu conversations, fly tying and meet-ups take place at the pavilion. The idea of the weekend is to provide a setting for a casual weekend of fly fishing in a great region of Pennsylvania. As with every year, we will be meeting up in the evenings at the pavilion to catch up on the day's fishing trips. Friday and Saturday mornings we meet for coffee and plan the day. Often plenty of opportunities for some fly tying and casting lessons being shared.
Please contact Sevens Mountain Campground directly if you would like to stay there that weekend. They have a limited number of cabins and campsites. I encourage...
Trip Report: Lake Ontario Tributaries November 2021
For me, this was a new location and had me rounding up some new gear for such a trip. My friends and sponsor on the site, Allen Fly Fishing, helped me out with a nice 8wt rod setup. AJ from Allen, got me going with a great-looking Compass rod and beautiful Alpha reel.
Some coaching from the crew helped me out with some fly ideas too.
Fly Fishing
Typically the salmon are slowly up by early November and the big browns and steelhead are becoming more prevalent. On the way up Albatross, Turkey, and Glenfiddch took on some early action, and each hooked into some salmon.
It was a bit of a hike for most of us while the rest arrived on Thursday, we didn’t all get started together until Friday morning on Oak Orchard. The weather was sunny and pleasant for early November. Casey got into a zombie salmon (fish that are literally rotting to death as they end their migration route) to spawn very early in the morning. The rest of the morning was pretty quiet with some salm
Turkey showed us all up with his tailing glove...
The History of Erie Steelheading from the ‘60s till today with Jim Simonelli: An Odyssey
Interview edited for clarity
As the leaves begin to change and the temperature starts to cool off from the dog days of summer, there is one thing on the mind of nearly every fisherman in the Tri-state area: migratory lake-run rainbow trout, commonly known as steelhead. For the unaware, a steelhead is identical in genetic code to that of the traditional native rainbow trout of the Western United States, except that this rainbow trout decided to go on a so-called “big adventure”. Typically steelhead are an ocean faring fish, or anadromous as we like to call them, but they were historically stocked in the Great Lakes region as a sport fish and will behave exactly like their anadromous cousins but there is no ocean therefore we call them adfluvial.
Generations of anglers have been making the pilgrimage to the Great Lakes region in hopes that they too will be able to dance with this fiery fish, but how did we get to this point and who is responsible for the fishery that we know and love? What were the tactics used through time and what was “Steelhead Alley” like in past years? Recently I sat down with Jim Simonelli, past President of the 3-C-U Trout Club, to discuss just that. Jim was a prominent figure in the Erie steelheading scene nearly from the beginning and along with some other amazing gentlemen played a critical role in creating the wonderful fishery that we have here today.
Alex Ciocca: Tell us a little about yourself and how you first got involved in the Erie steelhead scene.
Jim Simonelli: I moved to Girard, Pennsylvania in 1971 after I left the service to be a little closer to the Elk Creek region. Some friends and I were doing trial-style dirt bike riding back then and on a frigid winter day, I was riding through the Fairview gravel pits and I saw Bob Hetz leaning over a tank containing all these fish; and so I rode over and that was my...
Fall Fly Fishing in Pennsylvania Presentation Sept 21 at 7:00
The fall season offers some great weather and outstanding fly fishing after the heat of the summer. Trout behavior and hatches change during the autumn months, but there is plenty of angling opportunities if you know what to do. If you are looking at extending your fly fishing season this fall then join Derek Eberly and Dave Kile for a presentation on Fall Fly Fishing in Pennsylvania.
Topics
What’s different about trout fall behavior
Seasonal hatches and trout food
Flies and tactics
Where to find locations near you
Gear and clothing
Your questions and answers
Derek Eberly
Derek has been fly-fishing across Pennsylvania for over 20 years and he started his guide service, Keystone Fly Guides in 2013. Recently Derek joined Sky Blue Outfitters and is looking forward to working with their team to offer quality fly fishing experiences across the state. He has been a perpetual student of the sport and enjoys sharing what he has learned with others. Derek is a certified casting instructor through Fly Fishers International.
Dave Kile
Dave has been fly fishing for over 35 years and is the founder of Paflyfish, an online community of fly fishing anglers in the Pennsylvania region founded in 1995. He was recognized in 2014 by the Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited with the Charles K. Fox Rising Trout Award.
Audience: Novice anglers
Date: Tuesday, September 21 at 7:00 PM
Where: Online Zoom Presentation
Register in advance for this event: https://bit.ly/3ln7RY2
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Artist Residency
I was selected as an Artist in Residence for The Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, which gave me the opportunity to spend two weeks deep in the backcountry of The Bob Marshall Wilderness (technically, I was in the Great Bear Wilderness, but it’s part of The Bob) in Montana to write and explore. Mules packed all my gear into an old Forest Service cabin that had propane lights and a stove. No running water, no electricity, and an abundance of mice. The cabin sat on a high ledge above the river which gave me access to plenty of fishing for Westslope Cutthroat Trout and Whitefish, a number of trails for hiking, and a great view to watch while I spent each first and last light writing.The fishing was incredible. I fished four flies the entire two weeks: a purple foam hopper, a caddis, a purple haze, and a streamer (occasionally, when it got really windy). They seemed to be keyed in on anything purple. At first, I had trouble getting my timing down — the river was crystal clear and I would watch these cutthroats come up for my fly from ten feet away and get excited and set the hook way too early. I switched over to my McFarland 7’6” 4 wt Spruce Creek fiberglass rod which forced me to slow down. I ended up catching most of the fish on that (including some pretty big ones). It was a blast. Simple. Easy. Consistent.
I also hiked up a few mountains while I was there (which I go into more detail on in my blog post). It was a pretty amazing experience, but it wasn’t without its difficulties. Hiking and flyfishing in grizzly country (The Bob has the highest density of grizzlies in the lower 48) was a challenge and forced me to be hyper attentive (I did meet a grizzly, but I’ll save that story for the blog…). I also knew that if I slipped or tripped or fell while fishing or hiking...
Summer Warm Water Fly Fishing Zoom Presentation - July 27, 2021
Are you looking to continue fly fishing even as the summer heats up? Then join Dave Weaver and Dave Kile as they take a fun look at warm water fishing tactics and techniques for the Pennsylvania region.
TopicsWhy small warm water creeks are overlooked
Species, with emphasis on sunfish, rock bass and smallmouth bass
Scouting & public access
Safety issues/clothing
Wading and boating
Flies and tactics
Questions and Answers
Dave Weaver
Is a history teacher in Gettysburg Pennsylvania and a moderator at Paflyfish. He is an award-winning artist specializing in fly fishing-related topics. Dave has been fly fishing small streams in Pennsylvania for over forty years.
Dave Kile
Is the founder of Paflyfish, an online community of fly fishing anglers in the Pennsylvania region founded in 1995.
Date: Tuesday, July 27 at 8:00 PM
Where: Online Zoom Presentation
Register in advance for this meeting: https://bit.ly/3BlDYyq
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
You can see more of Dave Weaver's great artwork on his Instagram account.
