He's a native Rhode Islander who has a unique and highly effective fishing technique based on freshwater fly-fishing traditions. In his book Striper Moon, Abrames describes how he has incorporated traditional salmon and steelhead quartering-downstream casts or the greased-line swing to drift his flies naturally in the current. His fishing method is used mostly with a floating line, but for deeper water Abrames sometimes adds short segments of lead-core ranging from 11/2 to 12 feet long.

Estuaries, salt ponds, and rocks typically have lots of current flow where flies can be drifted easily, but I've caught fish on flats using Abrames's technique.

Abrames's long, dyed hackles are the key to his impressionistic series of patterns, all named after the latin name of the fish he worships, the striped bass.

Since mending is critical for proper fly swing, Abrames has developed a rod that he calls "The Stick." Made from old-fashioned graphite to approximate the feel of bamboo, the rod series is 101/2 feet long and is available in 6/7, 8/9, and 9/10 line weights. The lower-modulus graphite is soft, and the rod has a slow, full-flexing action that makes for easy mending and line control.

In his second book, A Perfect Fish, Abrames discusses the RLS series of flies that he has tied specifically for his fishing techniques. He dyes long, thin hackles to blend length, color, and movement. His streamers are easy to cast and, because of the bucktail wings tied over a wrapped-tinsel body, they expand in the water and imitate herring, mackerel, menhaden, silversides, sand eels, worms, squid, and eels without requiring synthetics or large amounts of material.

Abrames runs a dropper rig with three different flies by adding a 22-inch braided butt to his fly line and then a monofilament leader. RLS is Latinate for Roccus Leneatus Saxatilis, or striped bass.

Striper Moon, A Perfect Fish, The Stick, and RLS hackles are available through Ken Abrames's website, www.stripermoon.com or at The Saltwater Edge.