When sight casting the flats this month, you'll need to take summer conditions into consideration. Bright, placid July days are postcard pretty, but fly casting on a mill pond is demanding. Stealth is a must--you'll pole more carefully, approach more quietly, and cast lightly and accurately--or not catch fish. Fish are easier to spot through a calm surface, but so are you. On such days I wish I knew how to become invisible. Wind--the nemesis of spring--becomes a blessing, not a curse. Welcome it. Better yet, pray for it. On breathless days, lighter rods (within reason), longer leaders and smaller flies are the rule when fish are spooky and a thermometer will steer you clear of water more suited to tea bags than your flies.

In Panama City waters, July means variety--both inshore and offshore. Capt. Mike Ware becomes a jack-of-all-trades this month. Depending on the whims of his customers, he'll pole the flats of St. Andrews Bay for reds and trout, chum up blues and Spanish mackerel, stake out the beach for tarpon, or run offshore to toss flies at cobia, school dolphin and bonito. Although tailing reds are dependable on the St. Andrews Bay flats, big seatrout are turning up in impressive numbers. For the biggest fish, many flyfishers are wading and serving up big flies.

White Deceivers and Sea-Ducers on No. 3/0 hooks satisfy a big trout's appetite, although poppers are preferred by anglers who live for the surface strike. The Flash Fly, a No. 2 bendback with a gold-dubbed body and gold Flashabou wing, is a local redfish favorite. Big jack crevalle--commonly in the 20- to 30-pound range--occasionally storm the St. Andrews flats. Experienced locals have learned to keep an eye peeled and a rod rigged for them. According to Capt. Ware, when a pack of Buicks come bearing down a flat, it's a sight to behold.

Although July isn't considered a mackerel and bluefish month in Florida, St. Andrews Bay is an exception. Fishable numbers can be chummed off the points and shoals wherever good current is present. Clouser minnows (surprise!) fished on intermediate or sinking lines will take the macks while bluefish prefer to blast poppers on top.

Summertime fly fishing is in high gear around Apalachicola. Capt. Tommy Robinson of Robinson and Sons Outfitters says that anglers can target tarpon, redfish, big seatrout, and bruiser jack crevalle. Rather than jockeying with migrating beach tarpon, local anglers enjoy a non-traditional strain of tarpon fishing.

Early-morning feeding schools will bust baitfish at the surface in the bay inside the barrier islands. As is the case all summer, reds are on the flats, as are big seatrout. Sight casting for trout has really come on in the area. Midday heat and hot water doesn't faze these fish and they'll go so shallow that their fins are exposed. You need the sun overhead to see them, and long casts are a must. They're extremely wary, but will take big, 4-inch flies if presented quietly. Local tiers have devised what Robinson calls a "marshmallow," a buoyant, roughly trimmed deer-hair muddler for sight casting huge trout.

Dropping down in rod/line size is recommended on calm days, but this makes it tough to cast hefty flies long distances. Lengthening your leader allows you some additional stealth, but makes it unnecessary to cast quite so far.

Anglers working the region from Sebastian to Mosquito Lagoon will find tailing reds on the flats early in the morning, although by midday most of the fish will head for the comfort of deeper water. When this occurs, Capt. John Royall of Merritt Island relies on Plan B. He works the channels adjacent to productive flats by blind casting to the edges and retrieving his fly down the dropoff. Depending on the depth, Royall uses intermediate or full-sinking lines, or a shooting-head setup. For big seatrout, deer-hair sliders become the choice over poppers at first light when calm conditions prevail. Sliders produce the desirable V-wake that turns on trout. Blasting a popper will frighten a big speck in the skinniest water. Area anglers prefer brown or chartreuse flies in general, and a No. 1/0 Chico's River Shrimp has taken inshore slams.