Paul steadies the wheel from the starboard side of the boat while Captain Scott Hamilton hand ties leaders for our 12 weight rigs as we idle through the no wake zone of Palm Beach’s busy harbor. We’re flanked by countless other fishing boats, day cruisers, dive boats and yachts. As we emerge past the jetty’s point and step up to speed, we can see the earliest of beachgoers staking their spots for the day, the busy Florida town’s high rises looming behind them.

There is a reason why the woolly bugger is chosen by a vast number of anglers in "one fly" competitions around the world: they work. And they don't just work, they work almost everywhere. Perhaps chief amongst the reasons why woolly buggers are so effective is the leech, which woolly buggers imitate so well. Leeches are found in virtually all manner of freshwater, whether it be a stagnant farm pond, a big, windswept lake, a slow moving spring creek or a tumbling freestone stream.