An all-star cast -- and casting -- will be featured at this year's Cabin Fever, the Penn's Woods West Trout Unlimited fly fishing expo Saturday at the Palace Inn, Monroeville.

Flip Pallot, one of the world's best-known, light-tackle saltwater fishermen and host of ESPN's "Walker's Cay Chronicles," will headline the event. You can expect him to share his love of south Florida and the Florida Keys -- areas more accessible to many anglers than some of the more remote locations he fishes for his show.

Pallot has ventured around the world -- from Walker's Cay, an island in the northern Bahamas, to Argentina's Ibera marshlands to the Alaskan wilderness. But Pittsburgh will be a first. The closest he has come is Spruce Creek near State College and the Letort in Carlisle. "That was 30 years ago, which was early in my trout fishing career," Pallot said. "And they were magnificent."

He was introduced to those streams by casting legend Lefty Kreh, whose biography he is now writing. It was Kreh who encouraged Pallot to leave guiding to pursue a career in TV and print. Pallot's talent for poeticizing the outdoors while landing great fish has set his show apart from others.

"There's so much more to fishing than just holding onto the face of a fish," he said. "The show has to do with my very, very strong views on friendship and on conservation and preservation.

"With fishing, it's about leaving the dock. I'm speaking lyrically. It could be shutting the door of your car. It's not about the fishing, but what brings you to the fishing. As our world gets faster, smaller and more complicated, leaving the dock becomes more and more important, not just for the recreation but for the spiritual [value]."

Pallot left an early career in banking to be a saltwater guide.

"My rear end was on the seat but the rest of me was always looking out the window," he said. Guiding had him hunting and fishing in Florida and the Rocky Mountains 300 days a year for 17 years, collecting observations that would prove helpful in his current venture.

"When you guide for as long as I did, you stand on a platform at the back of boat and look down on each fishing situation and can see clearly all the successes and failures, and you learn from those things," Pallot said.

But he might not have made the move without help from Kreh, Mark Sosa and other outdoors industry icons. "And they expected nothing in return," he said, "except that I model my actions after theirs."

Pallot's book on Kreh will come in the wake of his first book, "Memories, Mangroves and Magic," which he'll sign at Cabin Fever.

He also he said he looks forward to talking with folks between presentations, as do the show's other notables. They include Dan Shields, of Flyfisher's Paradise and author of the recently published "Fly Fishing Pennsylvania's Spring Creek," rod-builder Jack Micklievicz of Jack's Tackle, and Jamie Dickinson, a maker of fly fishing instructional videos. John Nagy, whose third edition "Steelhead Guide: Fly Fishing Techniques and Strategies for Lake Erie Steelhead" was published last fall will be available all day to talk and sign books. And fly tier Dave Schmezer of Latrobe will give demonstrations.

This year's Cabin Fever is the most ambitious ever, TU event organizer Jeff Barefoot of Munhall said. "It's a chance to rub elbows with the best and ask lots of questions."

The hotel's pool area has been reserved for casting demonstrations and there's plenty of good talent to provide pointers, including Barefoot, a Federation of Fly Fishers' certified casting instructor. Talks, such as Pallot's, are scheduled throughout the day in the auditorium. There's also a flea market offering good buys on used tackle, clothing and books, and a raffle, which includes a grand prize trip to Spruce Creek and a bamboo rod handmade by Rich Bujak.

"This show is packed with all the necessities and toys trout and salmon fishermen dearly love and must have," Penn's Woods president Walt Reineman said. "It's the place to start the upcoming trout season."

Cabin Fever raises money for the non-profit Penn's Woods West Trout Unlimited, one of the largest Trout Unlimited chapters in America. Trout Unlimited is a coldwater conservation organization with 150,000 members nationwide -- most of whom fly fish. Tickets are $6 at the door, $5 if purchased in advance at fly shops. Kids under 12 get in free. Doors open at 9 am. For more details visit, www.pwwtu.org.