Finding people that vibe on the same things you are passionate about is really, really difficult. Feedback and just being around people doing stuff I think is super, super important.

One way I'm considering doing this is running a local HN style invite only message board. There are lots of FB groups for my target activity (fishing) but people are notoriously guarded about their fishing spots so I'm thinking maybe a small $5 a month membership will keep the tire kickers out and reduce the riffraf.

Put it this way, if someone was doing this around here already I'd sign up right now. It's not just finding a community, it's finding a CURATED community where the things / people you need are available for you to interact with.