It was an absolutely beautiful morning here on Marco Island. Temperatures in the mid 60’s as a low and high 70’s for the afternoon. My game plan for the day’s charter was to target some spotted sea trout and pompano while waiting for the tide to change.
My fishing charter guests,started off throwing a combination of different jigs, bucktails and rubber worms, out on the Cape Romano flats. The very first cast, we hooked up a nice 19 inch trout, and that’s how the rest of the trip went, one after another after another(wish all my days were like this one!).

The tide finally rose enough and we headed to the backwaters. I passed out the new weapons. Grandpa was first in and he laid his rod against the gunnel, not in the rod holder. I asked the gentleman to please put the rod in the holder, and he replied to me, “do not worry, I am not going to catch anything any way”. Not more than 2 minutes passed and I heard an oh-…hit!. You guessed it his rod was gone! Luckily I had a spare rod so we slipped even further into the back waters of the 10,000 islands. We caught a variety of fish including Snook, Red Fish , Snapper, and Grouper.

The trip drew to an end, so we headed back to the dock, located in Goodland. The folks disembarked and asked how much they owed, so I quoted the price of the trip plus the lost rod.

I thought the guy was going to have a frombosis when he found out the price of the rod and reel at a 50% discount. I bet he will never do that again!

Yesterday I was sitting at the Calusa Island Marina here on Marco Island waiting for my fishing charter when I happen to glance over at the Naples Daily News, Marco Island edition, and the title read, 2006 sea turtle standings set grim record!

Here we go again I said to myself. It seems that all I read lately are articles about the devastation of our natural resources here in S.W. Florida. People wonder, what is killing everything? Dolpin, Sea Turtles, and Manatees are high on this impact list. The government wants to keep receiving the tax dollar from big business but they are destroying the environment by letting certain concerns get away with pollution issues, which in my mind are causing these red tide outbreaks.

Tourism is one of our largest industries here in S.W Florida and without the tourtist, there are fewer jobs, fewer tax dollars, and less industry to support the people living here.

Someone should step back and take a long, hard look at what is going on.   I love being a charter fishing captain here on Marco Island and hope that I will be able to continue doing so for many years.The Snook, Red Fish , Snapper, Sea Trout, and Goliath Grouper are just a few of the fish that we need to protect. I hope that we can reverse this devastating trend and begin living in harmony with Mother Earth.  

Marco Island, Florida, Jan.16 2007 and winter is upon us ,80 degrees and holding steady.I have been fishing here on Marco Island, Naples and the everglades 10,000 islands for over 20 years and can not remember a time when the weather was so mild.