For working the Cedar Key shallows, a conoe is ideal.

Cedar Key is flyfishing central for Big Bend waters. The island offers access to a sprawling salt marsh complex of tidal creeks and channels, Spartina grass, oyster bars, and islands covered with pine, cedar, and cabbage palm. In this quiet corner of the state, anglers pursue redfish, seatrout, sheepshead, big black drum and the occasional flounder--all of which can be taken on flies at various times of the year.

A good starting point for fishermen learning these waters, whether by canoe or shallow-draft power boat, are numerous oyster clumps.

Colonies of live oysters harbor lots of crabs, a favorite redfish food. They also provide better cover for finger mullet. Add a rising tide into the equation and you get prime territory for gamefish.

Fly casting around this gnarly, abrasive structure calls for some specialized tactics. The first time I fished here, I found sheepshead and black drum tailing on the crown of an oyster bar. For several hours, I tried to catch them, but all I did was lose flies to the oysters. In season, an oyster is a choice picking for the seafood lover, but they put up a lousy fight on a fly rod.

Flies with wire weedguards are of immense value, and a floating fly line is crucial. Leaders, too, should be extra abrasion resistant, and you should check tippet sections frequently.

The best time to fish the clumps is when the water is deep enough that the fish can get close to the oysters, but before the water covers them and obscures them from view.

On a recent trip with Cedar Key's Capt. Lloyd Collins, my companion Joe Mulson boated a 5-pound seatrout at the edge of an oyster bar on a rising tide.

As we learned, even when the water covers these clumps completely, redfish and seatrout still stay on their edges, seldom moving over the clumps themselves.

"I've fished here for over 50 years and have never seen a tailing redfish," confirmed Collins, a true Florida cracker and a Cedar Key native. "Plenty of cruising reds, sure. But the only fish I see tailing here are sheepshead and drum."

Besides the crunchy shell bars, the waters around Cedar Key are well known for vast Spartina marshes. Since the water tends to be murky here, flies that are flashy, noisy, weighted, or that push water are preferred. On low water, the fish congregate in holes, especially around the points of bars where the current comes ripping through. Unlike fishing the oyster bars, you'll want a sinking line. Make long, probing casts and retrieve slowly.

When the water temperature dips into the 60s or 50s the fish often won't chase a fast moving fly. Besides, you want that fly right down near the bottom, where the fish will be.

"Fish get thick in these deep holes back here when it's cold--bone chilling, finger numbing cold," said Capt. Jim Dupre. "When it's good back here in some holes you can catch a fish on almost every cast." Dupre is something of a Cedar Key flyfishing ambassador, having popularized his Dupre Spoonfly, which has found statewide applications. The flash and vibrations this epoxy flyrod spoon (more spoon than fly, some would say) allow fish to find it without trouble. It works especially well on a sink-tip line.

Other good choices include weighted Rattle Rousers, Clouser Minnows, Whistlers, and Sea-Ducers, both weighted and unweighted. What was mentioned earlier about weedguards and oyster bars also applies to the edges of Spartina marshes, where snags are imminent.

With so much water to cover, it's hard to pin down a starting point for the visiting angler.

Mostly undeveloped, much of this watery wilderness is part of the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge or the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge. Access to most of the area is only by boat. And while you can fish some of it in a skiff or a johnboat, exploring and fishing this marsh in a canoe makes a great deal of sense.