"Large pelagic 'cudas move inshore to find warmer waters..... Their backs appear brown and the long shapes look like floating logs with pointed ends. Looks are deceiving - cast a chartreuse needlefish fly nearby, strip very fast, and a 'cuda may accelerate savagely to hammer it. Hooked, a barracuda launches its lean muscular silver and black body in greyhounding leaps and blistering runs before tiring. Then the angler confronts a baleful eye plus an impressive mouthful of canine teeth in front and razor sharp cutters in back: handle with care."

"Like old soldiers, the big tarpon start fading away. Plenty remain to be caught and enough still swim the oceanside points and bars to make waiting worthwhile. But the edge is gone. Like the post-spawn tarpon, local fly fishers are sated too. They have partaken of nearly three months of continuous, intense, demanding fishing for what is likely the greatest fly rod quarry. Keys' visitors who can finagle only a few days of tarpon fishing each year find it hard to believe that the locals have drunk their fill and are in need of a break."

"As summer heat builds, night fishing on the reef is an antidote to scorching days on the flats.....Looking inshore, lights twinkle along the narrow necklace of the Keys. Offshore, bobbing green, red, and white navigation lights mark the other boats. Bright tropical stars arch overhead in a black velvet sky. Sound carries well across the water and fragments of conversation and laughter waft in on the soft breeze. Only one downside mars these idyllic nights: there will be lots of fish to clean back at the dock."

"Big moon tides had the permit out in force. Each reliable flat held three or four and the brisk breeze let us get close enough for good shots. Made throw after throw, good presentation after good presentation -- nada. Late in the day, and three dozen good shots later, a pair of big ones came up on a bank tailing and mudding in the current. Two good casts got no interest. On number three, the right perm saw the fly, lit up, and charged with pectorals flared. Inches from the fake little crab, the fish jammed on the brakes, eyeballed it hard, and took off. Why is permit fishing like my high school sex life?"

 Book Details:  ISBN 9780811701174

                        Hardback   136 pages,   6 x 9 

                        12 b/w illustrations, 3 artistic maps, 40 b/w photos, 32 color photos

                        Stackpole Books