There are two kinds of flyfishers who come to the Florida Keys. The first is the newcomer – the angler who has tried freshwater flyfishing and has decided to test his or her mettle on the saltwater flats. The second is the addict – the person who has tried the flats and spends nearly every waking moment thinking about the next trip.

Usually, the transition from newcomer to addict comes in rapid order. Flats fishing is that exciting.

To hear the scream of your reel as a bonefish rips off 150 yards of backing on a single run... to feel the awesome power of a tarpon as it tailwalks across the water... to understand the challenge of tempting a permit into taking a fly... these are the thrills that turn the newcomer to flats fishing into the flats fishing addict.

There is, of course, a third category. That is the individual who has found the challenge too great... the wind too strong... the fish too wary... the need for perfection too demanding... These are just visitors. And, there are more than a few who meet the criteria.

For many, though, the Florida Keys is a flyfishers’ paradise. All along the 90-mile string of islands that splits the Carribean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are millions of acres of saltwater flats, ranging from one to five feet in depth. The clear, sapphire-colored water attracts schools of bonefish, permit, tarpon and redfish... and the thousands of anglers who pursue them.

Flyfishing the flats – or "backcountry," as many of the locals call it – offers a unique challenge to the angler who has spent a lifetime in pursuit of trout. Where the freshwater angler often searches a river’s surface for the rise of a sipping trout, the flats fisher searches the water for the fin of a tailing fish, or the mud clouds of feeding fish, or the shapes of fish moving over the white sands. It’s "sight" fishing, and casts are only made to fish the angler, or guide, sees.

It calls for pin-point casting, often over a considerable distance and in winds that average about 15 miles per hour.

The tackle varies depending on the quarry – with rods that carry line weights of 8 to 12, and reels that hold up to 250 yards of backing. This isn’t cane country; it requires rods with the backbone to throw a line 50 feet, and the strength to manage bonefish that go from 6 to 12 pounds and tarpon that can reach 150 pounds and more.

While many guides prefer flyfishing and provide all the required tackle, they also carry spinning rods for those times when either the angler’s skill or weather conditions require them to put the flyrod aside.

As in freshwater fishing, water temperature is a key to successful flats fishing. Fish don’t move onto the flats unless the water is warm. With water temperatures below 65 degrees, fish are pretty scarce – and they usually move onto the flats in big numbers until the water temperature hits 70.

That’s one of the chief reasons that guides trail their flats boats, rather than keep them in a fixed location. This allows them to move up or down the Keys to find water temperatures that are right, and to find backcountry bays that offer protection from the wind, takes advantage of the tides and provides better conditions for the angler.

All in all, the challenge of flats flyfishing is great, and significantly different from the challenge of trout and salmon. But, for the angler who has tasted success, this is a sport that can take over your life.