Hooked on Fly Fishing: Why State College is THE Fly Fishing Destination

[00:00:00] Brad Groznik: This is the Rediscover State College podcast. On this show, we talk to locals about how they were able to find their happy place in Happy Valley. I’m your host, Brad Groznik. Today we’re joined by Jamie Sanfilippo, owner and guide for American Fly Fishing Company, through which she leads guided fly fishing trips.

[00:00:23] Brad Groznik: She is also a fly fishing guide for the TCO Fly Shop. In state college, she previously served as president and is a current board member of the Spring Creek chapter of Trout Unlimited. In this episode, we’ll explore what a fly fishing trip entails, why the state college area is renowned as one of the best fly fishing destinations in the world, and how you and your kids can get involved in the sport.

[00:00:49] Brad Groznik: Jamie, so excited to get connected with you and to get to know you.

[00:00:54] Jamie SanFilippo: Yeah, no, I’m really excited to be here.

[00:00:55] Brad Groznik: Tell me a little bit of how you got started with fly fishing.

[00:00:58] Jamie SanFilippo: So, I’ve been spin fishing my whole life, and then when I graduated, I wasn’t playing sports anymore, I wasn’t studying anymore, I just needed a new hobby.

[00:01:07] Jamie SanFilippo: And then I was connected with my local Trout Unlimited chapter very early in my fly fishing career. I was lucky enough to be connected with, you know, some of the best guides and instructors that the state has to offer. Some of these people are some of the best in the nation, if not in the world. So I kind of just dove in head first.

[00:01:24] Jamie SanFilippo: I have kind of a competitive type A personality and uh, I just kind of ran with it.

[00:01:28] Brad Groznik: Yeah. You went to

[00:01:29] Jamie SanFilippo: Penn

[00:01:29] Brad Groznik: State, right?

[00:01:30] Jamie SanFilippo: I did.

[00:01:30] Brad Groznik: Yeah. And so were you part of a fishing club? You said you didn’t get into fly fishing until after college, but were you part of a fishing club then?

[00:01:37] Jamie SanFilippo: So actually, no, I wasn’t. So I was on the boxing team and we had two a day practices sometimes.

[00:01:44] Jamie SanFilippo: In rec hall. And the fly fishing class would come in as we were finishing up practice. And they would be laughing and having fun and, and casting, you know, and, and here I am, you know, I just ran probably five miles and I just thought that looks really cool and that looks really fun.

[00:01:59] Brad Groznik: One of the things that you often hear when you move here is that it’s a great place for fly fishing.

[00:02:04] Brad Groznik: One of the best in the world. I think there’s always a rumor that Jimmy Carter went fly fishing here. Can you tell us a little bit about like why, like why, why, what makes this area so special when it comes to fly fishing? Well,

[00:02:17] Jamie SanFilippo: Pennsylvania in general. Is just a phenomenal place to live. If you’re an angler of any kind, you know, in terms of water and fishing opportunity, Pennsylvania comes 2nd, only to Alaska.

[00:02:30] Jamie SanFilippo: So, it’s just an amazing place to live central Pennsylvania. However, we have some of the best class. A. wild brown trout streams in the nation. I can drive 20, 30 minutes in any direction and be on a world class stream. Spring Creek has the most fish per mile than any other stream in the state, which is super cool.

[00:02:51] Jamie SanFilippo: It’s actually one of the most preserved and protected streams in the nation as well. And just an incredible amount of Conservation work has also gone into these streams to make them what they are as well. Some of the reputation with fly fishing is that it’s

[00:03:03] Brad Groznik: really hard. It’s, it’s like a difficult, it’s a skill.

[00:03:06] Brad Groznik: So tell me a little bit about when, when you were a beginner, how did you learn? How hard is

[00:03:11] Jamie SanFilippo: it? It can be difficult. It can be difficult if you don’t have the right tools and if you’re not connected to the right people. So I would argue that most anglers, most fly fisher men are probably self taught at least at first.

[00:03:25] Jamie SanFilippo: So, you know, we do all the things, you know, we watch the YouTube videos and we read the books and the blogs and we talk to the guys at the fly shops, you know, but I do find that you do pick up bad habits that way. I do suggest that people get connected to a professional pretty quickly because, you know, that that’s ultimately what they’re there for.

[00:03:43] Jamie SanFilippo: I mean, fly fishing is hard. Yeah. And it does take many years to perfect as we like to say, you know, you could live 10 lifetimes and still not know everything there is to know about fly fishing. No two situations are ever going to be the same. And I think that’s, that’s what I personally love about it.

[00:03:57] Jamie SanFilippo: You know, you never ever stop learning and you’re never going to be perfect at this sport.

[00:04:02] Brad Groznik: How do you get connected to a teacher locally?

[00:04:04] Jamie SanFilippo: This area is just polluted with some of the best guides and instructors in the country and the best competition anglers in the country. We have local fly shops. But, you know, there are also free resources as well.

[00:04:18] Jamie SanFilippo: So, you know, getting connected with your local Trout Unlimited chapter, getting connected with, you know, the free courses that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has to offer. Fly fishing can be expensive as well, but it doesn’t have to be. Just be resourceful and get connected to these free resources as early as you can.

[00:04:34] Jamie SanFilippo: You know, I’ve been heavily involved with, uh, My local Trout Unlimited chapter for over 10 years now. And that has helped me grow as a person and as a leader. And you know, it’s, it’s taught me a lot.

[00:04:43] Brad Groznik: Yeah. Tell me a little bit about Trout Unlimited. I’m a newbie to all this. What is Trout Unlimited? What is the local chapter?

[00:04:49] Brad Groznik: Where do you guys meet? How many people are there?

[00:04:52] Jamie SanFilippo: The Spring Creek chapter of Trout Unlimited. We are Well, it was founded over 50 years ago by a gentleman named Joe Humphreys, who also was a professor of fly fishing at Penn State for a long time. Great friend and mentor of mine. We happen to be one of the most active chapters in the nation.

[00:05:08] Jamie SanFilippo: Large chapter. We have an active women anglers group, veteran service program, youth education committee, conservation committee. I mean, right now we’re juggling almost 900, 000 worth of grant money for extreme restoration projects. We’ve just done an incredible, incredible job with, with Spring Creek. You know, I think that we should definitely be proud of that.

[00:05:30] Jamie SanFilippo: Always looking for board members, always looking for volunteers. We have regular board meetings. We also have regular general meetings where we have guest speakers come in. We have free fly tying and free fly fishing, one on one opportunities throughout the year. All this stuff is free and we have many opportunities where you don’t even need to be a member of China limited.

[00:05:48] Jamie SanFilippo: So. Springcreektu. org is the website. It’s updated with all of our upcoming events on there, so check it out. Springcreektu. org. Take me out

[00:05:58] Brad Groznik: on an expedition. So, when do you get out there? When’s the best time to be doing this? Is it kind of like the surfing community where like, you need to, you know, stake out your spot early and people have their own spots and oh you don’t go to this certain place because that’s where these old school guys are or

[00:06:15] Jamie SanFilippo: the best time of year to fly fish is april may june we have the majority of our large insect hatches and that’s when you know those those trout get really fired up But also, you know, I love the fall.

[00:06:26] Jamie SanFilippo: I love fly fishing in the fall. As far as the time of day, that varies in terms of insect hatches, water temperatures, but you know, April, May, June, most of those insect hatches are happening right before sunset. So if I’m guiding, I like to do maybe like a noon to eight o’clock for a full day or like a 4 p.

[00:06:44] Jamie SanFilippo: m. to 8 p. m. so we could hit that evening hatch. In the summertime, it gets a little bit warm. You know, if it’s too hot for us, it’s going to be too hot for the fish. So there are times when I’m up and on the water. That’s 6 30 in the morning doing like a 6 30 to 10 30 or 7 to 11. It all depends. It all varies.

[00:07:00] Jamie SanFilippo: We have an incredible amount of public water here. So much stream access. So, rarely are you going to be on top of other anglers. So there’s plenty of room, there’s plenty of space, and there’s plenty of opportunities for everyone.

[00:07:15] Brad Groznik: Tell me a story about when like this spark just really lit inside you of like, this is, this is for me.

[00:07:21] Brad Groznik: I’m going to devote the next 10 years of my life doing this for recreation.

[00:07:26] Jamie SanFilippo: Well, I was lucky enough to catch my first trout. Ever the first time I went fly fishing and that normally doesn’t happen for people. I just understood fish in general, where they like to hide and where they like to hold in the water and I’m resourceful.

[00:07:40] Jamie SanFilippo: So I was talking to some of the guys at the fly shop and they gave me some flies and I just kind of dangled my nymph under this log at one point and caught my first trout. And I remember reeling the reel the wrong way, the line is coming off the reel the wrong way. And then I remember. Having to very quickly, you know, reel the correct way.

[00:08:00] Jamie SanFilippo: I don’t even think I had a net. I ended up just kind of bringing the fish up onto the bank, took a picture. And I was, you know, so excited and really happy. I kind of just put the pieces together really quickly, but it’s not always easy. You know, this sport, there’s something about this sport. It will humble you, you know, it humbles the best of anglers.

[00:08:18] Jamie SanFilippo: There are days when I go out there and I say, man, I really know what I’m doing. You know, I think I have a really good grasp on this. And there are days where I just feel like I have no idea what I’m doing and I’m a guide and I’m a professional, you know, and it’s definitely not for everyone. But if you have that type a competitive personality, typically, those people do well.

[00:08:36] Jamie SanFilippo: Do you need a type a personality because of how challenging it is? So, yeah, it’s challenging, but it can be relaxing and it can be really fun to if you’re on the water at the right time and you have the right fly on. You know, you could have an amazing time.

[00:08:50] Brad Groznik: I can just imagine because my wife was born in Fisherman’s Paradise, which is just a little area outside Belfont, which I’m sure you’ve heard about.

[00:08:58] Brad Groznik: It’s just beautiful. If you’re just standing in Spring Creek, you know, at sunset, I can’t, I can only imagine. It’s just really beautiful and serene. And it’s

[00:09:09] Jamie SanFilippo: beautiful. And it’s like I said, it’s relaxing. And I always tell people Don’t forget to look up fishing is cool. You know, reading the water and looking at those fish and, you know, all of that is fun, but remember why you’re out there.

[00:09:22] Jamie SanFilippo: Don’t forget to look up. It’s beautiful out there. There are many reasons why we fly fish. And it’s not just to put fish in the net. You know, it’s, it can be therapeutic for us and it’s beautiful. You know, it’s active fishing. You are hunting the fish. You’re not waiting for those fish to come to you. So it’s very active and it’s very physical.

[00:09:39] Jamie SanFilippo: It gets people moving. Which is, I don’t think something that we talk about enough, throw your fly out there, you know, 20 times. And if you’re not catching a fish, maybe take a few steps up the creek, find another fish. There are so many fish in these streams. And, you know, you will find one that will ultimately take your fly.

[00:09:55] Brad Groznik: That’s really fun. I’m curious, like, so tell me a little bit about your life outside of fly fishing. What do you like about State College? What do you like to do when you’re not fishing?

[00:10:03] Jamie SanFilippo: What I like about State College in this area is that it’s country when you want it to be, and it can be city when you want it to be.

[00:10:10] Jamie SanFilippo: I could walk in my backyard and be on a world class trout stream. Or I can drive 20 minutes to State College and go to a Penn State football game or, you know, like a Luke Combs concert. It’s so cool. So, you can be a hunter and live here and be an angler and live here. When I’m not fishing or guiding, I do like hunting.

[00:10:29] Jamie SanFilippo: And I do like, my friends and I sometimes will go out in the woods and look for mushrooms, you know, at certain times of the year that are edible. There’s just so many opportunities here for everybody. Now, I know you have some youth fly fishing programming. Can you talk a little bit about that? Trout Unlimited, we’re not a fishing club, we’re a conservation organization.

[00:10:46] Jamie SanFilippo: So, any opportunity that we can connect kids to cold water streams and conservation. Currently, I think we have seven or eight trout in the classroom programs. Where schools actually raise trout and they learn about them and they release them into the wild we offer Free fishing classes for kids throughout the year as well They get a chance to do some hands on stuff with some aquatic insects, which they just go nuts over every summer We have a family fishing picnic at Tussie Mountain Pond and it’s free fishing and free food for the community Do you have fishing rods for the kids?

[00:11:19] Jamie SanFilippo: Yeah, it’s not fly fishing because toddlers fly fishing rods, probably not the best idea. So we’re just, you know, we’re just bobber fishing. We have bobbers and those button rods and worms and those kids are playing with the worms and the dirt and stuff and the parents are out there fishing, which is fun too.

[00:11:37] Jamie SanFilippo: So the kids, they just have to love it. There’s so much about fishing that’s not just fishing. You know, let those kids explore that. That’s what makes them fall in love with it. Let them play with the worms. Let them get dirty. That’s they have to love it. I, you know, I don’t believe that. Child unlimited should be your community’s best kept secret any opportunity that we have to get in front of families and kids and to teach them about what we do and why.

[00:11:58] Jamie SanFilippo: Conservation is important. We take that opportunity.

[00:12:01] Brad Groznik: That’s awesome. And then if you could also talk about the on the other end of the spectrum, the highly competitive competitions that take place in this area, are there opportunities just for someone like me? I don’t fly fish right now. Currently. But I would love to go see, like, the scene at a big tournament.

[00:12:18] Brad Groznik: Is that something I can participate in while I’m here?

[00:12:21] Jamie SanFilippo: Yeah, so there are actual USA sanctioned fly fishing competitions. That is not something that I have gotten involved with at this point. Mostly because, like I said, I am very Type A competitive. And that can very quickly kind of take over my life.

[00:12:36] Jamie SanFilippo: However, there are also some other great opportunities. The youth service bureau every year holds an on the fly tournament and it is very competitive. Don’t get me wrong. There’s at least 130 people that compete in this tournament every year guides instructors, actual comp anglers. That’s usually in May every year.

[00:12:55] Jamie SanFilippo: And there are other, you know, sportsman’s groups as well that have trout tournaments. There’s one on Bald Eagle. There’s one on Kish Creek. There are opportunities as well to get involved in that kind of fun competition world as well.

[00:13:07] Brad Groznik: My grandpa loved fishing. He did it into like his like late 80s. Can you do that with fly fishing?

[00:13:15] Jamie SanFilippo: My mentor is 95 years old.

[00:13:17] Brad Groznik: No way.

[00:13:18] Jamie SanFilippo: Yeah.

[00:13:18] Brad Groznik: Is that Joe Humphreys?

[00:13:20] Jamie SanFilippo: Yeah.

[00:13:21] Brad Groznik: Wow.

[00:13:22] Jamie SanFilippo: And he fly fishes. He’s still, he’s still fly fishing. He was at the fly fishing show a couple of weekends ago with me and he was doing casting demonstrations. 95 years old. Yeah. Um, if you haven’t seen his movie, by the way, definitely watch it.

[00:13:36] Jamie SanFilippo: What is this movie? It’s called live the stream. So they do talk about the spring Creek chapter of trial limited in there. And there’s actually one of our conservation projects is highlighted. And he talks, I mean, it’s a phenomenal movie. It’s won a ton of awards. It’s been playing at the State Theater. It plays there occasionally.

[00:13:53] Jamie SanFilippo: You can watch it, I think, on YouTube.

[00:13:55] Brad Groznik: Yeah, now that you say that, I feel like I have seen that on the marquee of the State Theater. Yeah. Mm hmm. But who put it, what, did locals put it together, or was it like a national kind of production?

[00:14:06] Jamie SanFilippo: It’s an actual production. It’s like, professionally done, and it’s, Incredible.

[00:14:13] Jamie SanFilippo: Incredible.

[00:14:13] Brad Groznik: So does Joe Humphreys have a reputation much larger than, you know, the local fishing scene?

[00:14:21] Jamie SanFilippo: Yeah. So he is known around the world. He’s probably the biggest name of fly fishing ever. Some of the best anglers. In the country, if not on the planet, we’re born and bred in central Pennsylvania.

[00:14:34] Jamie SanFilippo: That’s something that I didn’t know at 1st. So I was unbelievably lucky to get connected with Joe very early in my career. He taught me a lot and he has influenced me a lot. And some of the ways that I teach people. Is exactly the way that he teaches, so I’ve just been lucky enough to teach side by side with him and to learn from him this water.

[00:14:56] Jamie SanFilippo: It’s technical. You know, it’s not easy to fish here. This water is area. Just just breeds phenomenal fly fishermen, men and women. If I’m guiding a man and a woman, most of the time, that woman’s going to out fish the man just it just takes patience. It takes time. It just takes finesse. It just takes a lot of understanding.

[00:15:13] Jamie SanFilippo: And, uh, women tend to pick it up a little bit quicker. Any guide will tell you that.

[00:15:18] Brad Groznik: Are there a lot of

[00:15:18] Jamie SanFilippo: women in the fish, fly fishing community? In this area, yeah. Female guys are few and far in between, generally speaking. In this area, I know of several. I am just one of, one of several in this area. The Spring Creek chapter of TU, we have a women anglers group that’s the biggest in the nation.

[00:15:36] Jamie SanFilippo: Yeah, there’s, there’s lots of ladies on the water. All ages as well. All ages.

[00:15:40] Brad Groznik: Yeah, so it’s not just an old man’s game or anything like that.

[00:15:44] Jamie SanFilippo: People think of Trout Unlimited and they think old white guys. You know, and. You know, sometimes they’re not wrong. You know, I’m just trying to make conservation. Cool.

[00:15:52] Jamie SanFilippo: You get like, 1 or 2 young people involved and then you get more and more and more. If you look at our board now, compared to what it was. When I 1st started completely different.

[00:16:02] Brad Groznik: Where do you see the local fly fishing community in 10 years, or where would you like to see it?

[00:16:09] Jamie SanFilippo: I see the population, one, getting younger, and two, getting more diverse.

[00:16:14] Jamie SanFilippo: I would like to see more women on the water. I would love to see more minorities on the water. I believe that’s how things grow and things get better. We all bring different things to this sport. I think that the more diverse this sport can become, I think the better than it can become. I would love to see more conservation in this area.

[00:16:33] Jamie SanFilippo: I think we do an incredible job anyway. There are certain creeks that I believe have a lot of potential. That could be up there with, you know, the spring creeks. So we are starting to kind of expand on to those creeks as well. A little bit. I would love to see these conservation organizations become younger.

[00:16:49] Jamie SanFilippo: They are aging. And that’s something that I see becoming a problem in the next 10 years. It’s something that we are actively working on to get more new board members and get younger people involved.

[00:17:01] Brad Groznik: I would agree. The outdoors in this area are just so beautiful and such an amazing resource. And it’s awesome that it’s attracted people like you to make it your thing.

[00:17:12] Brad Groznik: I mean, if we don’t, if I don’t do it, who will? If we don’t do it, who will? That’s awesome. Now, we’re going to enter our segment called how to do the thing, where we ask you to briefly lay out for us three actionable steps on how to do the thing, or at least how to get started doing the thing. The thing in this case is fly fishing in the state college area.

[00:17:30] Brad Groznik: What would you say are three actionable steps our listeners could take toward achieving that goal?

[00:17:36] Jamie SanFilippo: I highly recommend that people who want to get involved with fly fishing, that you get connected with as many free resources as you possibly can. So one, getting involved with Trout Unlimited and those free fly fishing classes.

[00:17:49] Jamie SanFilippo: And those free on water demonstrations and those fly tying classes as well. And check out our website, spring creek to dot org. Find us on Facebook, find us on Instagram. You can also get involved. With the Pennsylvania Fish and Bill Commission. Same thing. Check out their website. Check out their Facebook page.

[00:18:05] Jamie SanFilippo: They are always offering intro to fly fishing classes, fly fishing one on one classes all over the state. And again, those are free. So check those out. My favorite would have to be hire a local professional. Get online. Look for those local guides. Look for those local instructors. Go to the fly shops.

[00:18:22] Jamie SanFilippo: These are the people that know these waters. And that know the area and know those tips and tricks, you know, to get fish in the net.

[00:18:29] Brad Groznik: Awesome. Jamie, this is really great. I learned so much. I’m so jazzed about the fly fishing scene now. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me about fly fishing.

[00:18:38] Jamie SanFilippo: Yeah.

[00:18:42] Brad Groznik: Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Rediscover State College Podcast. If you like what you heard and you want to hear more, please subscribe to the Rediscover State College Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. If you want to connect with Jamie about anything we just talked about, or you just have some thoughts about fly fishing in State College that you’d like to share with us, email us at hello at rediscoverstatecollege.

[00:19:03] Brad Groznik: com.