For anglers of all kinds, knots form the critical link between you and the fish. Without properly tied knots, you are completely wasting your valuable time on the water- and fly-fishermen are not exempt.

As a full-time professional fishing guide, I am extremely critical about knots because I need my clients to land the greatest percentage of fish possible. My reputation and livelihood depend on it. As a rule, when a paying customer steps foot onto my boat, the first thing I do is cut everything off the end of his or her fly-line and start from scratch.

The proper presentation is a SAD one.

As a native Floridian and professional light tackle guide, I’ve fished for and connected with countless tarpon along Florida’s West Coast. Specializing in fly fishing from Homosassa to Charlotte Harbor and Sarasota to Tampa Bay, I’ve been pursuing silver kings since the age of 14.

When talking tarpon, one immediately envisions giant, leaping silver fish, and rightfully so. Being a true game fish of world-class merits without the blue water requirements, no fluffiness is needed here. Here’s a species recognized to be at the top of the fly fisher’s game which provides more enjoyment than most athletes in the entire sporting world could ever know.

Visiting sunny South Florida for the first time? Looking to accomplish a number of angling’s greatest challenges that you’ve been dreaming of? Conquer all of your fly-casting problems with the world’s best instructors.

My client, who shall remain nameless because I sincerely wish to KEEP him as a client, was finally coming down from his euphoric high as we drove home. He had just finished his first night-snook trip, and although he was still a little bit dazed from the experience, he slumped in the passenger seat of my truck and simply couldn’t stop babbling about catching three slot-sized fish.

They say fooling permit on fly is the pinnacle of shallow water fishing success.

For those who haven’t already achieved this level of fame, the following advice will stack the odds in your favor when going up against the Florida Keys’ most elusive adversary.

Today’s fly anglers are reaping the benefits as chemistry, advanced technology, and manufacturing ingenuity have transformed this once primitive component into a specialized part of our fly tackle equation.

What would it have been like to employ archaic tackle in pursuit of gamefish glory? Can you imagine stalking the spooky ‘grey ghost’ on the flats with nothing more than a rod’s length of tapered horsehair fly line? Or perhaps roll casting to a pod of laid up tarpon in a distant backcountry bay wielding nothing more than a split bamboo stick with a length of the era’s finest linen material?