With over 10,000 registered members, 250,000 unique visitors, and 3,500,000 page views a year Paflyfish has a very enthusiastic community. Members include of course beginners, experienced anglers, authors, guides, fly shop owners, scientists, conservationists, and trout bums. The website consists of several community resources including Blog, Forum, Stream Reports, Stream Locations, Maps, Photo Sections, and Polls. The forum is a very enthusiastic community that is not only knowledgeable but very passionate.
The Paflyfish activities extend offline as well to include beginner clinics, fly tying workshops, fly fishing meet-ups, support to conservation efforts, and other on-site events. Many of the activities are informally organized by members anxious to help share with others.
Paflyfish was created by Dave Kile initially as a way for anglers to find fly fishing locations across the Pennsylvania region and a way to give back like those who had helped him first get started.
Dave grew up in Southeast Pennsylvania and first got started fishing with his father as soon as he could pick up a Zebco rod. Spring times were spent trout fishing in the Poconos and summer family vacations were largemouth bass opportunities in Canada.
While attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) he was first introduced to fly fishing. The friends who took the time to teach him how to fly fish were a significant inspiration for Paflyfish. After graduating with a degree and a concentration in digital cartography, Dave pursued a technology career that initially landed him a position with Apple Computer. Working with some of the early web server technologies presented him the opportunity to bring together his passion for fly fishing, knowledge in digital mapping, and desire in giving back to the sport is all that started Paflyfish. It took almost a full year of drawing the early stream locations maps, creating web pages, and setting up servers before the site even got started with about 200 pages of fly fishing information.
Dave was recognized in 2014 by the Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited with the Charles K. Fox Rising Trout Award. He was recognized for the passion he provides to anglers with Paflyfish and the opportunity for this community to share, learn and collaborate about fly fishing in Pennsylvania and the throughout the Northeast. In addition, to fly fishing, Dave is an avid photographer and traveler.
The site is supported by a group of very knowledgeable and excellent moderators.
Maurice began to fly fish in the mid-'80s and found Paflyfish soon after the website launched in the mid-'90s. A lifelong Pittsburgher with a career in printing and an interest in the outdoors spurred a move to south-central Pennsylvania for a job and fly fishing of course. This occurred right around that time the Paflyfish Jamborees started under the old board. He has worked closely with Dave since the early days of the site providing a lot of help evolving the features of the site and forum.
Maurice calls York PA home now with his wife and four children. His home water is Muddy Creek where he is active in Trout Unlimited which ultimately spurred a career change during the challenges of the recession.
Paflyfish and its member's helpfulness had an influence in both life-changing shifts of geography and career moves. He enjoys fly-tying on-demand before trips and sharing his local knowledge and onstream techniques with new friends and TU members.
Dave Weaver has been an avid fly fisherman for over thirty years, having spent much of that time on the trout streams of the Cumberland Valley. Dave especially enjoys warm water game fish and inshore saltwater fishing - his favorite fly rod fish being the smallmouth bass. Also, an avid fly tier and fine artist, Dave's paintings often depict wild trout or river landscape scenes and have won four trout stamp competitions. In his own words, "Paflyfish is a great community of good friends and passionate fly fishermen. It's a privilege to be part of it and to support the community in whatever capacity I can." To learn more about Dave's fly fishing art and thoughts about the sport, click here.
Tom Ciannilli began his fishing career when his Dad first took him fishing at age five and began to fly-fish and tie flies when he received his first fly rod and fly tying kit at age ten. He grew up in Northeastern PA, right along the Susquehanna River, and called the Susky, the upper Delaware River, as well as many of the lakes and streams throughout Northeastern PA his home waters.
After college, Tom traveled quite a bit in his job and often took time off in his travels to fly-fish all over the country. Tom now lives in Southeastern PA. While he calls the wild trout streams and smallmouth rivers of Pennsylvania his home waters, he loves to fly-fish for all that swims, in the east, out-west, both in freshwater and in the salt.
After reading and posting on PAFF for close to a decade, Tom became a Moderator for the site in 2010. In November of 2010, Tom took the position of Fly-fishing Manager for the Orvis store in Plymouth Meeting, turning his avocation into his vocation. He is often quoted as saying, "fly-fishing is a tough job, but someone has to do it!”
JackM started fly fishing over 20 years ago. His introduction to the long-rod was the direct result of fall stockings on a DHALO section of stream that I had fished with bait for many years. In that particular first year, after the normal summer hiatus from trout fishing, he learned the local creek would be stocked in October. Jack was faced with either using spinners or trying his hand at fly fishing.
It must have taken him a half dozen trips before he hooked a trout on a wooly bugger. He eventually found my way to an Internet site known as Paflyfish. By asking questions and questioning conventional wisdom, I eventually learned how much those first dozen folks knew about fly fishing, all of which I had ahead of me to learn. I ultimately became an ever-present board regular and Dave Kile asked me to help him, Maurice and Padraic to moderate the Board. Out of gratitude to him and all other participants, I agreed without reluctance.
Paflyfish supports the efforts of Rivers Conservation & Fly Fishing Youth Camp and Trout Unlimited.
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