My boat is a Maverick Mirage HPX-Tunnel Hull, powered by a smooth-running and quiet Yamaha four-stroke outboard. This is a high-tech skiff, made of carbon kevlar, designed for stealthy poling in extremely shallow water.

With its quiet hull, ultra-light weight, shallow draft and low profile, the HPX is the perfect craft for sneaking up on wary fish. For safety, it’s equipped with GPS and VHF radio.

It’s also a comfortable ride in the water we fish, with adequate storage for the gear needed by a guide and two anglers.

As for fishing tackle, I’m fully equipped with G.Loomis fly and spin rods, Tibor fly reels and Shimano spinning reels.

In both cases, rods should be equipped with a reel with a smooth drag that has the capacity to hold 150 yards of backing in addition to the fly line. It’s rare that a snook or redfish will take an angler deep into his backing, but it’s good to be prepared. I use Tibor reels, but there are many other good makes on the market.

For all snook and redfish fly outfits, I recommend a floating weight-forward line with a tropical core. I particularly like the Scientific Anglers Mastery Bonefish taper. Rio makes a similar line. The tropical core is essential; lines designed for coldwater fishing will wilt in the South Florida heat.

I keep extra reels with an intermediate sinking lines and sink-tip lines on board for those rare occasions where a sinker will be useful.

As for fly leaders, I tie my own out of Hard Mason monofililament (for floating lines) or Seaguar flourocarbon (for sinking or sink-tip lines). They’re usually around 10 to 11 feet in length and will turn over easily in the wind. I use 30- or 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon as a bite tippet for snook.

Every season brings a new “hot” fly that the fish just can’t seem to resist, at least for a few outings, but you can’t go wrong with a few of the basic patterns. Among my favorites are the various Enrico Pugliesi offerings, particularly the mullet imitations like the Everglades Special; the old standby Clouser Deep Minnow; the Mangrove Bunny; and Lefty’s Deceiver. Favorite colors are white, green and white, brown, and purple and black. It’s preferable to tie flies with weedguards.

Fly gear for tarpon is more specialized. For large tarpon, you need a stout 11- or 12-weight rod matched with a high quality reel. The reel must have a smooth, strong drag and the capacity to hold 200 yards of 30-pound dacron backing (or the equivalent amount of 50-pound gel-spun).

If I had only one line to choose for Everglades tarpon fishing, it would be a floater with a clear intermediate sinking tip. Both Scientific Anglers and Rio offer lines like that. A line for a second rod would be a clear intermediate. For this, I prefer the Scientic Anglers Mastery Tarpon Taper line.

Sometimes for sleeping tarpon, especially if they’re running 80 pounds or less, we’ll use a lighter rod, a 10-weight equipped with a floating Mastery Tarpon Taper line.

As in the case of outfits for snook and redfish, I tie my own leaders for tarpon. Good knots and good materials are essential for these strong-fighting fish. I prefer Hard Mason monofiliament and Seaguar fluorocarbon. For large tarpon, leaders will have a 60- or 80-pound shock tippet.

Flies for tarpon vary greatly depending on where the fish are. In the Everglades, a 3/0 hook is perhaps the standard. In the early spring, three color predominate: purple and black, purple and black, purple and black. Later in the season, other colors come into play, green and white, gray and white, white, yellow. Favorite patterns are the Enrico Pugliesi bunker and variations of the deceiver built on polar fiber.