Careful positioning of the caster led to this snook; and it's just as important in tarpon fishing.

There's nothing like a seductive fish tail to get you into trouble, and I'd done it again.

Crawling into the shallows to throw at a single redfish had left us hopelessly out of position for the school now chugging down the edge. I could get the boat almost close enough for my friend to try a shot, but with a 20-knot wind I knew I wouldn't have time to get in front of the fish. His cast was five feet short, but may as well have been in a bathtub for all the good it did.

Given time, most of us can find fish but I'd failed my basic responsibility. I didn't consider how I'd arranged the boat relative to the fish so my pal could get a decent cast. Thinking back on that judgment error, I'm reminded of the simple fact that most of us are better off getting a few really good shots, instead of lots of bad ones.

What do I mean by a good shot? Finding hungry fish, and getting into position for an effective cast. Sounds simple, and it can be, but sometimes it involves compromise.

Most of us throw baits, lures or flies best slightly down and across the wind. If you can find fish that are facing the wind, this angle is easy to attain. With the boat pointing downwind, and fish at 11 o'clock for right-handed casters, or one o'clock for left-handed casters, everything works at maximum efficiency. It also keeps the boat out of the caster's way. Excited spin and plug anglers are apt to wrap line around misplaced rods or upright push-poles. Polers only stand once in the way of a fly caster.

The tougher conditions become, the more critical a comfortable casting angle becomes. Luckily for us, while lighting and wind conditions change daily, Florida's coastline has thousands of bends, curves and points that allow us to approach fish from the best possible angle. Maybe you're reluctant to leave a consistent spot, but if the wind's all wrong you might be better off finding a lee, or perhaps reconsidering how you approach a productive flat.

One of my favorite fly tarpon spots is the edge of a bank shaped like a giant backward question mark. Fish push into it from the east with a rising tide but as they come around the bottom of the C, they come out of the morning sun. I can set the boat up to handle winds from northeast to due south by adjusting along a 100-foot swath. I can move to the far side of the C if the wind comes up from the north, for right-handers.

With north winds, the fish may be tough to see for a while early in the morning but we can throw at those we can identify. Leading into the C is a small point where the fish roll. That allows us to see where they are--if not the individual fish--and make a good cast to them.

I have to leave with lefties when the wind turns north, but half a mile up the road my flat points again toward the sun. We hide behind a small point the fish bounce water on so we know where they're at and have a head-on shot. Little of this path offers good visibility without glare.

I didn't always have my question mark figured out. The light bulb finally went on when I realized some less experienced anglers caught more fish there than seasoned veterans. With anglers capable of handling a bit of wind on the wrong side of the boat, I tended to take a position where we could reach every fish we could see. One of my best anglers spent two days here without a fish.

When he left, I had some first-timers who could not deal with any hint of wind. I made the 100-foot move to put their fish down and across the wind. In two days they hooked nine fish and landed three. It was a rude awakening for me but the revelation that great shots were more important than covering all the fish served me well a few weeks later.

Angie Lucas and I faced a 20-knot north wind on the second day of the 1990 Women's World Invitational Fly Tarpon Tournament. There are few good north-wind tarpon spots for fly fishing in the Upper Keys, which was what we needed to find.

We needed a downwind shot at fish we could see in time to get a cast to them, so we staked out upwind of a ditch tarpon used to cross a north-south bank.

It wasn't the easiest place to fish, but if Angie could drop a fly into the middle of a school and let the current work it, she'd have a chance of hooking up.

That's exactly what happened, and the fish Angie caught that morning won the tournament. The combination of her skill and ability to take advantage of the setup made the difference.

There are particular configurations on flats that consistently funnel fish, and you'll notice certain patterns that stand out.

A shallower edge like my backward question mark also works on bonefish, redfish and snook. Various parts of the edge provide easier angles for approaching laid-up or feeding fish, as the wind and currents allow. Depending on wind and visibility, feeding fish may work into the current or across it.