
He views the synchronistic arcs of life like legendary fish with distinct markings -a ragged fin, an aberrant spot -that you catch every three years or so, and say, "Hey, I know you," as you find yourselves connected by the same line time and again. Like this annual birthday trip or his consistent pilgrimage to Montana. "The return of all things" is one of Flip's mantras. After six years, she still wouldn't pay attention to me." All of this because of that girl with long, black hair. I still go out there every year and wander around throwing flies at big trout. "He took a dozer and leveled a spot where I could take out my boat five miles below the last spot where everyone else had to get off the river. There was a cowboy behind me in line and we started talking." They do stuff like that in Montana, let you do your banking and give blood all in the same place. I went into a bank where I had my account, and she went in there to give blood. I ate so many donuts I thought I was gonna die. "She had long black hair that brushed the floor.

"So, one season in Montana, I fell in love with a Sioux girl who had no idea I existed," Flip remembered. But in spite of his status as a legendary saltwater angler, he spent years as a hunting and fishing guide in Montana during the Florida off-season. Palm leaves crossed ragged, rasping fingers in the light breeze.

The hum of boats returning to dock wove through our conversation. It was just before mosquitos swarmed, the yellow-pink dreamtime hovering over still water, occasionally and barely broken by silver flecks of skipping baitfish. Flip had just observed his 74th birthday here, his ninth such celebration at the lodge owned by his protégé, Oliver White. We sat amid flaming red porch posts at Abaco Lodge, looking east to the labyrinthine mangroves of the Marls. It's not the setup for a joke it's just another day in Flip Pallot's life. A Florida tarpon guide, a Montana cowboy, and a Native American beauty queen walk into a bank on the Crow Reservation for a blood drive on a Friday.
