It’s been a while…
Man, I’ve been neglecting this blog! Since the start of the New Year, I wrote my first short story, did a podcast, and had a trade show. I wrote my first underwhelming short story for the Degenerate Fish Hippies. The barrier of entry to be considered an Author is pretty low apparently. I’m actually working on my next article for them as we speak! I also did the “Guys Fishing Weekly” podcast which was a blast. In between those two things I’ve been tying dozens upon dozens of KO Shiners and Blacknoses. Other than that I experimented with some homemade dubbing dyed with Pomegranate Rinds. It came out great! Now I have a Natural Golden Stonefly Dubbing! That’s about it for now. Until next time!
A hell of a year. On to the next!
Thank you 2024
I’d like to take the time to say thank you to all of my customers and supporters in 2024. When I started this last year, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, 2024 really took it into a different direction. The interest you all have taken in my variants and patterns really makes me excited for the years to come. I have an endless amount of creativity, my mind is always looking at bugs or fish and wondering how to translate it to a fly, and if that fly will catch fish. That being said, the KO Shiners have absolutely blown up. I pretty much have spent the last couple of months tying and shipping KOs in various forms across the country. I’ll have some news coming up with those as well. I have so many experimental patterns tied up waiting to be tested, and I’m excited to show it off when it’s done. 2024 has been incredible, and I think you’re really going to like what 2025 will bring. I have some good collaborations coming up going into new territory for me. My overall goal is to offer things you can only get from me. I want to create an experience that’s uniquely mine. From patterns and variants, to materials, tools, and merchandise, I’m really trying to build this brand to be something special. There’s a billion generic fly shops, and I don’t want to be one of them. I’d also like shout out all of the incredible people I’ve met since starting this. Between my locals, national, and international customers, I have to say that you’re quite a unique bunch of people. Somehow I’ve attracted the weirdest bunch of fishermen, and I love them all. I never thought in a million years I’d be having regular conversations with sausage makers in Argentina, flats guides in Florida, dudes who spend their summers in national parks, morticians who really like KO Shiners, Cuban American steelhead fishermen who only want size 18 stoneflies, former professional athletes, Grammy nominated artists, or a Canadian cannabis farmer who insists the pearl midge is the worlds greatest invention. I can already tell 2025 is going to get weird, and I’m here for it. Thank you all. Here’s to a healthy, successful, and drama free 2025!
Food drive, earrings, other stuff
‘Tis the season for the second annual Nemeth Plumbing Solutions Christmas Food Drive. Last year I was able to buy food to feed hungry families for Christmas. This year I’m pretty much donating the profits from anything sold from Thanksgiving to December 15th. I decided to make some limited edition earrings to maximize to profits donated. These took off like crazy, which is pretty surprising. Last month I did two special fly packs for Diabetes awareness as it’s something I’ve dealt with in my family. It went alright, a small amount was donated. I reached out to prominent name in the industry and asked if he were interested. I told him there was no obligation, and he never even responded. I donated a few dozen flies to help his cause the previous month, a yes or no would have been great. Oh well, can’t rely on others I suppose. Some of these people aren’t what they portray, that’s for sure. Anyway, doing some good this holiday season. Can’t wait to see how much food can be purchased.
Mystery Boxes!
It’s been a long time since I made a blog update. I’ve been pretty busy, and business has been good! I decided to start offering mystery boxes at different levels for fishing and tying. I have a lot of unreleased patterns that I’d love to get out there. Some of these things, nobody’s ever seen before. The values for the fishing boxes are $5 stuff in a baggie. $10 Stuff in a tube. $20 stuff in a small box. $50 Stuff in a larger box. I’m also offering fly tying ones. These may include some tools and materials. Maybe even fly kits. Not sure. If I can figure out how to make a giant game of clue out of it, I’ll do it. I’m excited, it’s time to get a bit creative! Thanks to all that have ordered!
Materials Updates
Since 99% of the flies sold on here are my patterns or variants, sometimes I have to change them up due to different circumstances. The KO Shiner has been a pattern of mine for a few years now. I still have the original KO Shiner Dozen that I tied up, and I still fish with them. I had recently did a saltwater test on them, as well as fished them in freshwater a ton this year. I noticed that the green coloring I used after a few years started to fade. The one thing I will stand on is quality of product, and this was unacceptable. I did a lot of searching for different materials to fit my needs. I have finally found one and the KO has been updated. It’s not the original color, but it’s close enough to still be incredibly effective. This just goes to show, that no matter how solid a pattern is, improvements can always be made! I didn’t even have to share any of this, but I want anyone to be aware that if you have these for long enough, you may see this problem.
The Natrona Midge
You know, a lot can be made from biots, tinsel, some wire, and peacock herl. These 4 materials pop up in my patterns over and over again. It’s no secret that I love Midges. I love tying them as much as I love fishing them. In my collection are pearl, flash, and quill midges. These are also some “emergers”. I decided to give them the Biot and herl treatment, and the Natrona variant was born. The name has some purpose behind it. There used to be a company that operated in Natrona called Penn Salt, or the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company. They first started manufacturing in 1850. They mined plenty around the area and employed hundreds of local residents. Even building houses for the employees, that is currently a historical district. One of the products that they made was called Lindane, which is an agricultural pesticide as well as a pharmaceutical treatment for both kinds of lice. It just happens to be a cancer causing chemical (big surprise). They decided to bury a bunch of this stuff on a hill, and allegedly it’s all been dug out and it’s now a baseball field. My grandmother lived in Natrona for many years, and still brags about how great it was not having bugs. The unorthodox appearance of the biots jutting out of a midges thorax is probably what happens when your environment leaches pesticides out of the ground when it rains. The mutant midge wasn’t enough fun, and I like to take small digs at Natrona any time I can. It’s a fun pattern to tie and fish!
The Fire Stone
On July 13th in Butler Pennsylvania, an American hero lost his life protecting his family. Corey Comperatore was attending a rally when shots rang out, he immediately protected his family and lost his life doing so. This tragedy hits very close to home, as he Buffalo Township is a few miles from where I grew up. I decided to make “Fire Stones” available for purchase, and all profits were donated to the family. In all, we were able to donate just over $500. I’m very thankful to everyone who purchased these, I had to make multiple material restocks. I spent quite a few hours tying them and shipping them out. I still have a few dozen to get out. Thank you all!
Degenerate Fish Hippies
What’s not to love about that name? Degenerates recognize other degenerates. The DHF are a group of three men, who are simply living the dream. They’re fishing guides who spend their summer guiding and fishing Yellowstone National Park. Since I started my instagram, I noticed a name that would constantly like, comment, and share my posts. They’ve been supporters for quite a bit. I started looking through their social media content, website, and digital magazine…and I love it. I’m a huge fan of what they’re doing, and you will hear of these guys in the near future. Anyway, I sent these guys a couple of Yinzer stones, flash midges, and pearl midges to test out. It didn’t take long for them to send these beautiful pictures of trout they caught on my flies. We got to talking and decided to do an interview for their magazine. When I called, I spoke with Rod. Rod was incredibly friendly, professional, and most importantly has a sense of humor. He prefaced me on the questions, and gave me plenty of time to answer. Honestly, I could have talked to Rod for hours. Like I said, Degenerates recognize Degenerates. The issue will drop today. Along with the interview is a review of their top three flies I sent. Remember, I only sent a couple of different ones. They absolutely killed it, and I’ll be sending the rest of my signature patterns to them. To close it out, I highly recommend you follow them at https://www.instagram.com/degeneratefishhippies?igsh=Y2pkOTdhMmFnZzhz. I’ve never been much of a hippie, but if I had to pick I’d be a Degenerate Fish Hippie.
Burrell Lake Youth Fishing Derby
The Tri County Trout Club holds a youth fishing derby every year at Burrell Lake Park. This is a great event with food and prizes and really puts the focus on the kids. The lake is a no kill lake and holds bass, bluegill, crappie, and catfish. Last year, my daughter and I had attended and only caught two very small bluegill. So this year, I was determined to increase our odds of catching more fish. I came across a spot on the lake that nobody was at, and three people walked past and told their kids it was a bad spot and too shallow. 30 feet to the left there is a small stream that comes in, 20 feet to the left there is a weed patch, directly to the right there’s a tree in the water, and there is a nice green film on top of the water that extended about 15 feet into the lake from shore. In my mind I see endless good things, a fresh water source, cover to the left, cover to the right, and cover for 15 feet. We caught multiple bluegill, crappie, and missed a large catfish. I picked the spot and tended to the lines, but she did all of the work. All of the work she did paid off as she won 2/4 biggest fish categories. Biggest bluegill and biggest crappie. The catfish we had on snapped our line due to two mistakes that I 100% own. I didn’t check the quality of line as I haven’t fished with a spinning rod in a long time, and the drag was way too tight. She potentially could have had 3/4 categories. The wins were a complete surprise, but I was very proud of her long before we caught the winners. She showed incredible interest and methodically picked where to cast her lines. She showed patience and determination after missing a few hits. This girl has become an amazing fisherwoman and a young age. We didn’t set out to win anything, all I wanted was for her to have fun. As an added bonus, the winning crappie was caught on one of my black stoneflies under a bobber.
Dubbing Round 2
At the Appalachian Fly Fishing Festival, I handed out 40 small bags of dubbing with a business card. The feedback I got was very good, to say the least. So, I’m branching out more into the dubbing side of things. I’ve been playing around with processing methods. Where the first batches were wash, dye, wash, dry, and blend…I switched it up it up to wash, dye, wash, dry, brush, blend, and a final brushing. This leaves the fur with a wool like consistency. I also did a half and half trim, which has really held the dubbing together and gives a great bugginess when picked or brushed. Since my main source has been American rabbit, I’m also in the process of including new materials. I’d really like to have another natural line, and a synthetic as well. I know acrylic is very good, but I’ll have to experiment with the process. It opens up a new level of creativity and personality. I’m not sure what I have to offer, but I want to offer everything I can. I know I’ve said it a thousand times, but I want to offer things you can’t get from anyone else. You can get a perdigon or hares ear from 5,000 different places. There’s nothing special about it, it’s all been done a million times. But, even tying someone else’s patterns still leaves you with a great feeling when someone catches a fish on a fly you tied. That feeling is multiplied by 10 when someone catches a fish on your pattern tied with your dubbing. I got a picture of a fish caught on a Goliath stonefly, a pattern in which I created and made the dubbing for. I was the only one involved in the entire process. That’s a feeling of accomplishment that kicked off an obsession with offering materials. I’ve never been more excited for the future of this company. I have all of the time in the world, and I’m going to do something great with it. I appreciate all of my customers and testers for coming along for the ride. The fact that any of you follow me at all makes this whole thing worth it.
Appalachian Fly Fishing Festival
I had the pleasure of being invited to attend the Appalachian Fly Fishing Festival in Thomas WV. My father accompanied me on my trip and I have to say, it was amazing. The town of Thomas is a throwback to the 50’s, with a strange dichotomy of old West Virginia and new West Virginia clashing in the most beautiful of ways. Old buildings, with new boutique shops, and even an old style English phone booth with plants and an old pay phone. I met all kinds of new people, and I can honestly say I liked every single one of them. We were very warmly welcomed, and everyone was incredibly nice. In today’s world, it was a breath of fresh air to see people who are genuinely good and friendly. The event was amazing, Tyler and his crew made it seem effortless. I would have never known it was the first year. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of people from my neck of the woods that made the trip down. I met a couple of guys there who live within 20 minutes of me, which I didn’t expect. I sold about 500 flies, a bunch of tools, stickers, koozies, and a few shirts. The fundraiser dinner was amazing as well. The building it was held in was an old bar that was converted into a very nice hall. The food was phenomenal, the environment was upbeat, and once again the people were incredibly friendly. Sunday got rained out a bit, I still was able to make a few sales and chat with some locals. Before I even got home I received pictures of some fish that were caught on flies purchased the previous day. Overall I rate the experience a 10/10. I can’t wait to get back down to Thomas WV, and I’m already in for next years festival. Thank you all for stopping by and chatting with me. I appreciate the support!
Dubbing!
For the past couple of years I started playing around with manufacturing dubbing. I started off with some yarn and a coffee grinder. I eventually gravitated more towards animal fur. I have four pet American Rabbits that I collected sheddings from. Right off of the rabbit, the fur is hard to use as the guard hairs make a very coarse dubbing. I played around with separation methods and found a really good one involving nitrogen (or compressed air) and a large plastic bag. Unfortunately separation loses about 1/4 to 3/8 of the total Volume of fur. Quite a few coloring methods were tried and I landed on a good process, which involves a couple of extra steps. The process of making a dyed animal Fur dubbing goes-Harvest, separate, wash, dry, dye, dry, wash, dry, trim, and blend. It’s something that turns into multiple days and sometimes involves throwing away a batch. It opens up a whole new opportunity of creativity and the chance to offer something uniquely mine. This week I’m sending some off to one of my favorite tyers. He’s linked with Daiichi and Veevus, and creates some of the most picturesque flies I’ve ever seen. He will offer the honest feedback that I need before putting them on the market. My opinion on the dubbing is absolutely biased, so the opinion of a true professional is the only way to know what I’m going to have to offer. I pretty much wrote this post so anyone that would make a future purchase will see why the price is more than others. My brain is always going, trying to create something that can benefit others. I’m honestly excited at the thought of selling dubbing I harvested, colored, and blended.
The Pearl Midge
My mind is always going. I’m constantly looking through my materials and thinking of something new. With the success of the flash midges, I wanted to add something a little extra. I’ve had a roll of pearl tinsel collecting dust and had to do something with it. I started laying strips of the pearl on top of rolls of tinsel to see how much color would come through. It was kind of amazing to see that in some cases it would completely change the base color. I tied a few larger flash midges and put a top layer of pearl on it. I started with red, purple, and black. The red became this fiery orange when looking straight on, but when you changed the angle of the light source, it became an almost neon orange. The black became vibrant green, and the purple stayed purple, but looks like an oil sheen on top of water. The only ones that don’t change much are the silver and green. These color changes are all based on perception, which is really going make things interesting. I haven’t been this excited to release a variant in a while, mainly because of the uniqueness of the fly. Pictures can’t do it justice.
A bit about myself
I often forget that a lot of my customer base has never met me. My name is Kurt Shaffer. I’m a lifelong resident of Western Pennsylvania and a lifelong fisherman. I started off as most others do, I caught my first trout on a spinning rod at age 4, and my first Great Lakes steelhead at age 5. Through the years I went from spin fishing bait, to artificial lures, then to a bait caster, then to a fly rod. I’ve always enjoyed art and I’ve always had a creative side. I remember when I was a young kid looking at fishing lures and thinking that someday I’ll make those. Well, things turned out a bit different. An encounter with a fly fishing guide at steelhead camp got me interested in fly fishing. He’s still a friend and critiques my work from time to time, and those criticisms are taken to heart and taken care of immediately. I got interested in all of the different kinds of flies, and got myself a vise and a few tools. I learned as many patterns as I could, but had the most fun coming up with my own. In 2017 someone had turned me to Lively Legz, and this opened up a whole new opportunity to explore patterns and techniques. I came up with the PGH Black Stoner and began catching a ton of fish with them. I refined it over and over to its final form that’s for sale today. After that I developed quite a few other patterns. Some worked really well, and some did not. In the winter of 2023, I decided to start selling flies online. I started off selling popular patterns like pheasant tails, hares ears, white death streamers and others. I noticed that almost every order was for one of my specific patterns. So, I decided to focus on that. There’s a million Kenyan tyers and discount fly shops on the internet, I really didn’t want to be just another tyer putting in countless hours to sell other peoples patterns. You can do a simple google search and get the same patterns over and over again. The world of commercial $1 flies is not for me. Instead, I’d rather give you something that came out of research, experimentation, and hours of trial and error. For every 10 tyers regurgitating the same old stuff, there’s one of me out there getting weird with it. There’s something about brushing my pet rabbits coats, separating the guard hairs, cleaning it, dying it, sealing it, and cleaning it again that’s just plain fun. There’s something about staring deep into a book about bugs and trying to figure out how to translate it to a pattern. There’s something about taking different materials and blending them together to make a dubbing. I’m really trying to give you a product that uniquely mine. If it doesn’t out fish in nets, I won’t sell it to you. I’m happy you’re along for the journey with me.
The flash midge
As a tyer, the midge is one of the easiest flies to tie. The zebra midge is one of the first flies most people learn to tie due to its simplicity. Keeping the theme of simplicity, adding a bit of flash instead of wrapping the hook and in thread has become my go to for midges. Using veevus holographic tinsel, semperfli stainless steel wire, and a bit of ice dubbing can make you a midge that will earn its place in your fly box. Generally I tie 14 for stocked trout, and 18 for wild trout. I don’t add any weight as I want the natural sink rate of my fourocarbon to get the fly in the first 1/3 of the water column. Keeping the fly high is the only way to assure the effectiveness of the flash. You could sink them in tandem, but the flashiness really takes on different characteristics the deeper it goes. Very effective, very easy, and relatively cheap!
Paying it forward, with flies.
For a couple of weeks i tried to think of something I could do to get people interested in fishing, whether it be fly fishing, local entomology, fish feeding patterns, conservation, or just plain spin fishing. I had a very good year, and really have been getting my name out there. So, I came up with the idea to have a few fly stations posted on some popular fishing spots on a local stream. Bull Creek has always held a special place in my heart. I caught my first fish there, I fell in for my first time there, I honed my fly fishing skills, and developed and tested multiple patterns in the DHALO section. I ran the idea past Nick and Jennifer at Sylvester Engraving and they graciously donated three signs to my project. I spent a few mornings this week tying 3 signature pattern dozens, and 3 signature streamer half dozens. I attached them to the signs, and set out to tie them on some trees. The nymphs can be used under a float on a spinning rod, same with the streamers. My father took me to bull creek when I was 4 years old, and then took me to Erie for Steelhead when I was 5. They’re some of my favorite and earliest memories. If there’s a chance I can be apart of that memory for someone else, then it will be an absolute success. There’s also a chance that these end up in someone garage or fishing room, and I’m surprisingly ok with that as well. If these go really well I think I’m going to open it up for sponsors to have their name engraved on it so they can put it on their favorite stream. Thank you all!
The Rabbit Prince
Rabbit princes are becoming a favorite, mainly due to the fact they’re based on supply and demand. They catch a ton of fish, and the entire process is fun. When the summer came to an end, I noticed that every time I’d pet one of my rabbits, I’d have fur all over my hands. As a fly tyer, my natural instinct was to get a bag, and start collecting. I started searching fly tying forums about DIY dubbing and ways to separate guard hairs. One of the ways I have come across was called an air separation. I used Nitrogen, and once I dialed it in it’s become a very efficient way to separate guard hairs. After the separation, I put the remaining fur into a grinder, and spin it until it’s makes a nice little ball of loosely intertwined fur. For the longest time, all I would offer was white and gray. It didn’t take long before white and gray weren’t enough, and I ordered some dye. It took me a very long time with a lot of wasted rabbit fur, but I found a formula that works very well. The only issue is that I can never get the purple to be exactly the same from batch to batch. I’ve also found that a light wash in dish soap before the initial air separation makes the process a lot smoother. As of now, the process goes like this. Harvest the fur, wash, air dry, air separate, blend, dye, wash, blend again, then bag for later use. It really is a labor of love, honestly it’s probably not worth the trouble. Could i just buy a bag of rabbit dubbing? Yes…but i won’t. I want to give you something that is uniquely mine, something you won’t get from anyone else. When someone posts a picture of a fish caught with a rabbit prince, it really makes it that much more special.
One year in Business
It’s crazy to think how far this has come in a year. I started off with an idea just to sell a few flies in my spare time. It’s grown into shipping flies across the world, doing events, consulting, and putting together a class. In the beginning, I just tied whatever patterns I knew how to tie, and offered a few patterns that I came up with. About 6 months in, everyone requested the PGH Fly Co signature patterns, so my business plan changed. I’ve seen hundred of fish caught on things I thought up in my brain and made a reality. My favorite thing is getting the picture with a fly of mine in its mouth, that makes any stress worth it! I’ve learned to do a crazy amount of things in the past year. I’ve learned a bit of graphic design, website design, photography, marketing, networking, social media management, clothing manufacturing, and a lot about customer service. Looking back through pictures I took in the beginning of my journey, it’s crazy to see how far it’s come. Not only in picture quality but in product quality. I’ve really focused on offering a durable fly only tied with quality materials. I’ve gotten in with some of the best manufacturers in the world.
Lively Legz
I’m going to start this off by saying that I have no affiliation with Lively Legz, I only use their product. Back in 2017, I was starting to get pretty serious about fly fishing and learning to tie. I had started to have a pretty good collection of materials by that point, and learned several different pattern. Looking back through pictures of flies that I thought were great, I now can see that the proportions were a mess. Hardly any consistency in thorax length, tail length, and amount of materials used. These flies did catch fish though. For Christmas, my brother in law got me a two pack of their benefit flies, as one of the owners was a teacher at my nieces school. I looked on their site and bought a few packs of legs to play around with. I started trimming them to fit my favorite patterns, and tied dozens of them. An odd thing happened when I started tying these patterns without legs again…my proportions were spot on. An unintended bonus of messing around was finding the thing I needed to get my proportions consistent. Since then, I’ve built entire patterns around a set of their legs. What is a tool to create a semi realistic fly can also be used a measuring tool when sized properly. I don’t know if I’d have my business, or this hobby that’s been apart of my life for this long if not for them. That’s why they’ll always have my support. That and the fact they’re a local (kind of) company. I highly suggest you support them as well!
The Pittsburgh Prince
The Pittsburgh Prince is a Copper John and Prince Nymph hybrid. It came about playing around in 2018. There’s something about biot tailed nymphs that just looks like it works. I started tying prince nymphs and copper johns to fish my local streams, and they became my favorite flies of the time. Like many other tyers, I combined the two with great results. It wasn’t until the thorax redesign that I thought I could give it a name. At the back end are two white biots jutting out at 45 degree angles. The body is tightly wrapped colored copper wire that tapers up towards the thorax. The thorax is a base layer of peacock quill, biots tied on the side pointing upward, a top layer of peacock herl, a piece of holographic tinsel, and finished off with a bubble of UV Cure. The nymph has caught a lot of fish, and is diverse based on size. Size 18, the pgh prince can produce during midge season. Size 14-16 can produce curing caddis season. It’s an all around good producer for stubborn trout and steelhead, and also was my first fly published in an app.
