What is fly fishing and fly tying and what are its benefits?

• Aniya Faulcon
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  Aniya Faulcon is The Spark Host/Producer for WITF. She has a passion for shining a light on unique people, experiences, and perspectives within the community.
  
  Previously she worked as the People and Social Trends Reporter/Video Anchor for LancasterOnline | LNPNews. During her time there, she created video packages, provided Facebook Live coverage at community events, and wrote data-driven stories with census data and feature stories on local leaders, non-profit organizations, events, and people with unique talents and experiences within Lancaster County.
  
  Aniya also worked at WMAR ABC 2 News as a Sales Assistant and at the AFRO American Newspapers as an Executive Assistant and Media correspondent. Aniya interned at WEAA Gospel Grace 88.9 and worked at her alma mater’s radio station, WWPJ at Point Park University, where she gained skills and a passion for radio.
  
  Aniya grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the Baltimore School for the arts for high school with a concentration in acting. She continued to hone her skills and passion for storytelling and later graduated from Point Park University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Broadcast Reporting. Aniya is eager to continue her journey with storytelling in her role with WITF, as she aims to shed a light on real people and real stories within Pennsylvania in a variety of mediums.

Steve Schwartz demonstrates fly fishing technique in front of his home in Equinunk, Pennsylvania. (Matt Smith/WHYY)

Airdate: October 25, 2022

Fly fishing has never been the most popular type of fishing, but over the years it has consistently grown in popularity. According to the Outdoor Foundation, about six to ten million people go fly fishing ever year.

James Widmaier, senior master fly tying fly fisherman, said fly fishing is an art form, which involves making artificial flies with feathers, furs, and synthetic materials to entice a fish to bite on a fishing line.

Widmaier said, for those interested in fly fishing, it’s best to find a mentor who is good at the sport, contact someone in the local Trout Unlimited chapters, and develop a love and passion for it. 

He also said, the sport made a positive impact on his life as fishing outdoors is calming and requires some physical activity.

Through the course of Widmaier’s fly fishing career, he was able to achieve many accomplishments, one of them was catching the unofficial world record pacific sailfish on a flyrod.

“It’s a very satisfying accomplishment and it does take time. It does take patience,” Widmaier said. “It’s a lot of trial and error in the fishing activity, also in the fly time. You can’t become an expert overnight. It takes years of patience and also, you have to continue and make sure that you renew some of the skills that you’ve learned.”