HomeOverview - Skills & Techniques

Overview - Skills & Techniques

Hone Your Skills and Techniques with PFF

PFF provides opportunities for our members to learn and improve their knowledge and skills to maximize their enjoyment of the sport. Whether it’s fly casting, fly tying, learning and practicing essential fly fishing knots, how to wade safely or dress warmly when winter fishing, we leverage the extensive knowledge and expertise of members to help other members of all levels enjoy the sport.

We host workshops the first Thursday every month and host classes and other activities at other times in our clubhouse, on the water or at other designated locations. You can view our scheduled workshops and classes on our Event Calendar.

Fly Casting Skills Development

This program (designed by FFI) is a set of demonstrable, real-world fly casting skills to learn, practice and master. Starting with basic foundation casts, there are three certified levels of skills with increasing difficulty that will help make you more successful in casting accurately to fish in challenging situations and conditions. Click HERE for more information on how PFF offers its members fly casting instruction and certification in this valuable program.

Fly Tying Workshops and Classes

PFF encourages all members to tie their own flies, and if they’ve never tied before, to enroll in one of our beginner classes. Our beginner and intermediate fly tying classes are 4-6 week programs in which we cover the basics of fly tying (beginner) or improve your skills with all types of flies, from small dry flies to Euro nymphs, to traditional and Intruder-style steelhead patterns to terrestrials or other valuable, effective patterns. Often these classes are held in both our Highlands Community Club location and member homes on the SF Peninsula.

If you’ve never tied flies and don’t own any equipment, no problem, PFF has spare vises, bobbins and other fly tying tools that you will need to try it out.

We also will feature a fly pattern of the month, in which you can join one of our experienced club members to tie their favorite patterns. These patterns are often timely, with upcoming hatches or fishouts and these sessions are great for restocking your fly boxes.

Please check our Event Calendar for the monthly workshop and fly tying schedule.

Spey Casting Instruction

Spey, or two-handed casting is a great method for swinging flies for steelhead, salmon, shad and even trout. The technique has become extremely popular and enables fly casters of all ages to make long casts with minimal effort, particularly in tight quarters with little or no room for a backcast. Click HERE for details on PFF’s spey casting instruction.

Fly Fishing Skills or Workshops for Specific Seasons, Fishouts or Species

We also feature workshops and roundtable and panel discussions on various skills and techniques required for fly fishers of all levels including but not limited to:

How to fish stillwaters with personal watercraft, safety considerations
How to rig your leaders and flies for Euro nymphing, dry fly fishing or swinging flies when spey fishing
Wading safety, how to survive a fall in a cold, rushing river
Fishout-specific workshops with fishout leaders provide details and answer fishout attendee questions on techniques, fly patterns, camping needs or meal plans for our fishouts.
Season or species-specific workshop on popular species like steelhead, striped bass, shad or how to fly fish the Northern California surf.

Fly fishing can offer you a lifetime of enjoyment in some beautiful outdoor settings, and any expert fly fisher will tell you that they never stop learning, no matter how proficient they become. PFF wants to be your partner in your lifelong enjoyment! Please review our upcoming workshops and classes in our Event Calendar.