Paflyfish

Yet another fun and wonderful year for all the anglers who participate here at PaFlyFish. I have assembled a slide show of pictures that have been posted on the site over the past year. With over 1,000 pictures to look over it was fun to throw this together.

With events like the Spring Jam, Fly Swaps, the Steelhead Jam, and fly-fishing clinics it has been a great year. A special thanks to Pad, Jack and Maurice who moderate the forum and provide much needed leadership on the site. We all really appreciate and enjoy those that contribute to the site and our fly fishing community.

Happy Holidays!

Dave

Paul nice job. Thanks for your pictures.

The power of photography is a wonderful way we capture and share our perspective for fly-fishing. Those images are moments in our life we see forever. This year has been an especially fun and exciting year for sharing those memories.

We’re proud to recognize the winners of the first Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Photography contest. We announced the contest in July. Many wonderful pictures were entered over the summer and into the fall.



Our first place award goes to Tom Frank for his photograph "Early Morning Rise in Paradise.” Tom lives in Bellefonte and spends a lot of time in his neighboring stream of Spring Creek. The photograph was taken as he found himself on one foggy summer morning in the Paradise Meadow. Tom explained that as the fog began to clear and sun started to peak the trout were rising every so often. The one soft riseform captures the essence while keeping the balance of the reflections in the water. Tom’s picture can be found here.

The first annual Erie Steelhead JAM was a huge success! We had a great turnout with people from all across the state. A special thanks to Folly’s campground for their hospitality in the usage of their facilities!

In an attempt in not embarrassing myself in not remembering everyone’s names, I will not give a list of everyone who showed up. We had an estimated 25 guys (and one spouse!) came to fish the famous steelhead alley in Erie Pennsylvania over the weekend of October 30th to November 1st. A few members filtered in on Friday and braved the wind and the rain, but the majority of people showed up on Saturday morning.

We all met at the pavilion at Folly’s and planned our attack from there. Elk is about 50 yards away from the pavilion so it was the logical choice as the water was rising by the minute. A few headed down to the mouth of Elk to “beat the flows”. The fishing did not last very long as the creek visibly rose in front of our eyes. A few people got stuck on the wrong side of the stream and some of us watched in anticipation as they slowly crossed the creek. Those of us who were there then joined up the genius “beat the flow” guys and had a small window of fishing before the flows hit the mouth. Our early morning success was very limited as there were a few hookups and maybe 1 or 2 fish landed.

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Most entomologist and anglers would agree that trout feed most of the time under water and mastery of nymphing can be a very productive.

Czech Nymphing has been discussed for a while, but recently brought to my attention by Ken Sperry over at Fly Fishing Reporter about this European style of fly fishing. The biggest difference in this method of nymphing is using up to four nymphs 18" to 24" inches off a dropper rig. Very similar to the often used tandem dry fly and emerger rigs used here.

Presentation is very similar to our high sticking a nine foot rod with an an arm outstretched with a very short drift. Strike indicators are often a part of a set-up.

These weighted nymphs are tied with gammarus hooks, lead wires and traditional natural and synthetic materials. Imitations are based on freshwater scud, larvae or swanky coloring in size #10-#12 hooks. Local nymph imitations with some Czech style modifactions would work best. The video below by Johan Klingberg demonstrates tying a proper Czech nymph.

We have some fantastic anglers on this site and many who have shared some wonderful images from their fly fishing experiences. Whether photography is your passion, your hobby, or just an occasional pastime, we invite you to participate in the PaFlyFish.com photo contest, recognizing the beauty and character of Fly Fishing in Pennsylvania.

There are just a few days left to enter a photograph for the PaFlyFish Photo Contest. There have been many wonderful pictures entered already. Please have all pictures entered before October 31, at 12:00 PM EST.

There have been some people having problems entering pictures. If you do encounter any issues please email me you picture at info@paflyfish.com . I reminder that only one picture may be entered per person.

Full details can be found here: http://america-promo.store/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=82

Perkiomen creek in spring

The debut issue of a new on-line Internet magazine Fish Can't Read read appeared a few weeks ago. The site provides a nice mix of articles, stories, commentary and photography. Contributors on the site inlcude Adam Barker, Quinn Grover and Alex Landeen. Alex can be found on another blog which I enjoy Fat Guy Fly Fishing. The photography is worth the click. Good luck guys.

I fish the stream until the hatches show. I will not fish a stream I do not enjoy just for the hatches.

I have no problem with prospecting with "staple" foods like scuds, or terrestrials.

Luckily, I like streams that have hatches.

I have seven. One of them is an old glass fenwick, and is on perma loan to a friend. The rest are used semi-regularly at least.

All PAFF members, family, and friends are cordially invited to join us for the Rescheduled 2009 SE PA Trico Summit on the Little Lehigh.

The Trico Summit has been rescheduled for Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 8AM. Hopefully the weather will be a little better this time!

Same location as before, but please note that the time has been pushed back to 8AM, due to the spinnerfall occuring a bit later as the hatch progresses. We'll head out for lunch around noon, or so.

Due to the nature of fishing the Trico spinner fall, and the desire of many members to have a "mini Jam" that they don't have to make a multi-day commitment to, a central location in the state (ie. Spring Creek) was deemed impractical. Therefore, the event will be held on the banks of the Little Lehigh, providing good access to anglers from two of the three largest metropolitan areas in the state.

We'll meet in the parking lot off of Park Rd at 8 AM, and there should be plenty of room for everyone to fish. The Tricos on the Little Lehigh have been providing outstanding fishing for a few weeks now, and there should be plenty of rising fish.

For those members that have never fished a Trico spinnerfall before - we'll try to pair you up with an experienced fisherman to help you out.

Waders are a good idea, but wet wading is an option (if you can stand the cold water). I'll have a case of spring water on ice in my truck, but it would be a good idea to carry some with you. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted in the Allentown Parkway system.

After the fishing we'll be heading out to do lunch.

DIRECTIONS -just right click twice on the parking lot and choose your option. http://bit.ly/arUKP

FOR MORE DETAILS - please follow the thread in the PAFF forum. http://bit.ly/Nf4rk

Picture by onemorecast

I picked 50/50. I always go with others when steelheading. Cuts down on costs of driving and tolls, and if I'm in a croud, better to be with friends. Stocked streams I try to bring people with me, especially the few guys I've taught to fly fish the past 2 years. I sometimes skip out of work, or hit a stream after work and if it's a short trip I'll go alone. I almost always go to my wild trout streams alone too. Close to 50/50, but maybe 60/40 with a group compared to alone.

Ryan