The Mangrove Diaries // Fly Fishing for Tarpon

The Mangrove Diaries 

This striking new and colorful fly-fishing instructional manual is unlike any other in print: a lavishly illustrated how-to guide directed at helping the average freshwater trout angler who is tired of crowded waters and is looking for a new challenge.

Welcome to the world of bonefish, tarpon, snook and permit. That’s how author Mike Watt, a retired American orthopedic surgeon, introduces his readers to the exciting species that live in and around the magic of equatorial mangrove forests—thus the clever title.

Dr. Watt has spent many years voraciously fishing the flats of Belize, Christmas Island, Cuba and the Yucatán. He has learned a lot. He wants you, first, to know your quarry. He crisply outlines the basics of where bonefish, tarpon, snook and permit live, how they behave and what they eat. Each species is depicted in stunning original color paintings by Florida artist Shea Monahan.

Mike Watt’s next step is to teach you to refine your casting for the salt, beginning with simply getting ready. Then he demonstrates the double haul, the side-arm, the backhand release and the oval casts. In straightforward language and clear step-by-step drawings, he shows how to retrieve the fly, the essential strip-setting that vexes so many beginners new to the flats, and, finally, playing and releasing your prized quarry.