Jesse Burneisen of Oil City is only 16 years old but his passion for fishing has landed him a seat on the board of the Oil City-based Keystone Fly Fishers.

Started two years ago as a charter club of the Boseman, Mont., based Federation of Fly Fishers, the group is becoming a model for folks who like to fish and tie flies together.

Saturday the Keystone Fly Fishers will join another FFF club, the Cleveland-based North Coast Fly Fishers, for the second annual Northern Ohio Fly Tying Exposition in Wickliffe, Ohio, an event expected to top last year's expo, which raised $3,000 to purchase fisheries access.

The success of both clubs is heartening at a time when angling is competing -- and not all that well according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's most recent statistics -- with other, faster-growing outdoors activities such as nature photography and bird watching. The Fish and Wildlife Service's 2001 survey shows that fishing license sales were down nationwide by more than five percent since 1991. Fly fishing was off by less than one percent in the same period but, with more anglers buying tackle on-line or at big chain stores, groups such as the Federation of Fly Fishers offer fishermen a sense of connectedness often missing today.

"We have our meetings on Oil Creek and then we fish," Burneiser said. "We also do longer trips, like Erie for steelhead. We just set a date every week and whoever shows up fishes. We usually get good turnout."

The Federation of Fly Fishers is trying to drum up more support in the eastern part of the country. With 11,500 members, it is much smaller than the 130,000-member Trout Unlimited, though there is some overlapping membership in the two groups. Trout Unlimited's biggest membership state is Pennsylvania and the Penn's Woods West chapter in Pittsburgh is one of the largest in the country.

Nationally, 97 percent of Trout Unlimited's members fly fish and, though 67 percent don't attend monthly meetings, said Trout Unlimited's chief operating officer Kenny Mendez, their dues support trout and salmon that all anglers enjoy, since the organization is first and foremost a cold water conservation group. By contrast, the Federation of Fly Fishers has a fishing first agenda that includes all species; conservation is secondary.

The Federation of Fly Fishers was begun 39 years ago by fly fishing legends Lee Wulff and Ken Anderegg as a networking and teaching vehicle for aspiring anglers.

"The education infrastructure that exists today -- the books, the videos, the seminars, all those opportunities to learn to fly fish -- didn't exist in their time so they created an organization," Federation of Fly Fishers executive director Jim Rainey said. "But there are ancillary benefits, like conservation, because they also believed that fly fishers are the most conservation-oriented."

The federation's certified casting instructor program is part of its education legacy. "Not all people teaching casting understand the mechanics and even those who do don't necessarily know how to teach, so we put people through a course and an exam to certify them as instructors," Rainey said. "There's a basic course and a masters level course."

Jeff Barefoot of Munhall is one of the few Federation of Fly Fishers certified instructors in this area.

"Once you're in Federation, you're part of a network of the finest teachers in the world," said Barefoot, who worked for a year for basic certification and is training for master's certification. "Being FFF certified means you've proven yourself against tough standards."

Tying is the Federation of Fly Fishers other big draw, though it is attempting to become more active environmentally and has identified aquatic nuisance species and noxious weeds as an area where its members can make a difference.

"Weeds limit access, yet states don't have the resources to control them. It's labor intensive and we've been providing volunteers," Rainey said.

In addition, it has helped bring awareness to the Chicago River in Illinois and the Ventura River in Ventura County, Cal., by naming them two of the most threatened fisheries in the country. The federation cited the Chicago River for the migration of non-native bighead carp, which also pose a threat to the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, and the Ventura River for disruptions to the spawn of a biologically significant steelhead population.

But most conservation efforts are left to individual clubs and regional councils. The Keystone group doesn't have a project though it keeps an eye on its home water of Oil Creek. It has put its energies into cultivating the next generation of angler. According to an American Sportfishing Association, today's average fisherman is 42-46 years old and his favorite freshwater species isn't trout, it's bass.

"As a board member, I'd like to see us continue to work with youth," said Burneisen, who also is president of the Oil City High School Family Tyes fishing club which has made fly fishing and tying a part of the school's physical education curriculum. The Keystone Fly Fishers will again sponsor a fly fishing camp this summer since the one it held last year, it's first, attracted 15 boys and girls.

"I like seeing people having fun with fly fishing," said Burneisen, who started out spin casting but three years ago got hooked on the fly rod. "Everything I learned about fly fishing came from the guys at Keystone."

Saturday's event near Cleveland will feature tiers from Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio, including deer hair expert Chris Helm of Toledo, foam tier Bill Skilton of Boiling Springs, Pa., and trout dry fly tier Kim Boal of Franklin.