Former New Mexico youth pastor turned Louisiana redfish guide David Best was all smiles when this jumbo sheepshead came to net in Louisiana. Drizzly delta weather had turned off late season bull redfish. Anything other than a slimy black drum was reason to celebrate. The trick now? How to get the fly back. Photo: Robert Dotson

Ascension Bay, in Mexico’s southern Yucatan, is a wild and beautiful place. Though the opportunities are endless, success is hard won. Hilary Hutcheson casts into a small channel in the mangroves hoping for an encounter with a tarpon. Photo: Aaron Agosto

Rivers contain an infinite number of event horizons, points after which whatever happens next is entirely out of your control. Hilary Hutcheson points out one of those to Ryan Siron on Montana’s Middle Fork of the Flathead River. That day, the river took control. Photo: Aaron Agosto