Reading through the posts here I've had a bit of a chuckle.

I'll play Devil's Advocate -

I reckon the fly should get a whole bunch of credit -
Just think, without a fly attached, you're not going to catch anything.......period...... unless of course you're impaling and drowning worms! (Let me put my can opener away!):biggrin:

The other observation here is everything is slanted towards trout!

The fly is super important in salt.
Slight imperfections such as too much flash in clear water, fly swimming on its side, too big for the baitfish in the area..... and you're going to struggle (read FAIL!), no matter how good your double haul is and how expensive your rod is.

I do agree a lot of it is confidence in what you have on your loop - and that bit on the end of the loop keeps you attached.