Inside the Box: Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen is not your typical bonefish fanatic. For one thing, he is best known as a fiction writer, not a fly fisher. His name often appears when something ludicrous happens in Florida environmental politics, because he is outspoken about preserving what remains of the state’s resources. But backstage he is, as one top guide noted, “one of the fishiest anglers out there.”
This week Hiaasen shares the contents of his fly box with MidCurrent readers. How he describes his collection — as a “horrendous mess” — says a lot about how he manages to catch so many fish: he refuses to obsess over details, and he picks fly patterns based on experience and instinct rather than their popularity.