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u.s. southeast

Snook sharpie Mike Thiels makes a 2 a.m. toss for bait from the Lantana Ocean Avenue Bridge in Florida

The Thump

Who answers the phone at 3:30 a.m., chats amiably, swaps helpful information, wishes the caller good luck but doesn’t go back to sleep humming a lullaby of curses?

Key West guide Justin Rea is equally adept with fly rod and push-pole as he scours the flats for the wonderfully maddening permit.

The Permit Whisperer

Justin Rea has a love/hate relationship with a fish that doesn't play fair on the fly

Rybovich Hull 1 - Miss Chevy II - running shot

In the Beginning ...

The Evolution From Dories And Wicker Chairs To Miss Chevy II And The Modern Fleet That Followed.

Nick Smith has established his share of fishing benchmarks

The Natural

Competitive, curious and obsessive-compulsive, Nick Smith has laser focus once he sets his mind on something.

Al Barnes captures the vast panoramas of the flats, where fly fishermen and their quarry are but tiny figures in a majestic world

Where Water Meets Sky

Al Barnes scans the flats, his trained eye picking up the flick of a tail, the flash of a bonefish or permit prowling the shallows for a shrimp or a crab.

Dolphin mahi mahi

Fast and Furious

The dolphin were running small off southeastern Florida last summer. You learned that if you were in the Gulf Stream fishing sargassum weed lines for Mr. Big, but you also could have found out from a police blotter that the catch was not as hot as the weather.