Paying Forward

Call to Action: Buy a guided fishing trip

“We're closed. We have no way to make money. We've been crushed by this; nobody down here is fishing right now.” — Captain James Chappell, late April

When a fishing guide takes time to attend a fishery management or water quality meeting hours from home, he's thinking about tomorrow, or next year's fishing. These watermen are our fulltime eyes on the water. They provide expert input to fishery managers and intel to us weekend warriors on what's biting.

Unfortunately, fishing guides, captains and partyboat operators, much like others in the service industry, have taken a financial, and emotional, beatdown in 2020. Many in the southernmost end of the state couldn't get out on the water at all during the spring, typically one of the busiest times of the year.

Captain James Chappell, in Islamorada, summed it up to me in late April clear enough: “We're closed. We have no way to make money. We've been crushed by this; nobody down here is fishing right now.”

Up the state in Jupiter, Capt. Bill Taylor who runs Black Dog Charters remembers like it was yesterday when the Jupiter police showed up and wouldn't let him leave for his afternoon trip. As of press time, he hadn't fished since.

Captain Steve Dall, who runs seven boats in Southwest Florida averaging 1,300 trips per year, was all but dry-docked. “Our marina elected to shut down, closing the door on much of our operation,” lamented Dall. “And it's happening at the worst possible time, between Christmas and Easter is the peak season for us, responsible for 60 to 65 percent of our business for the year.”

Ironically, the pandemic and our state's safer at home policy seemed to lead to a lot more recreational anglers fishing, in some regions. Captain William Toney, out of Homosassa, said that the flats looked like the opening of scallop season on a July Fourth weekend. Photos being sent in to our magazine and Instagram page almost doubled a few weeks after social distancing became the directive. But with the shuttering of core tourism infrastructure, business, for so many guides, was drying up.

Without our pros on the water, the ripple effect could lead to white caps.

We won't have our sentinels testifying in Tallahassee, we won't have people like Capt. Taylor explaining to countless anglers why he no longer vents fish and why he chooses to use descender devices to release bottom fish. And you won't have a lot of tackle being broken and replaced. And you won't have as many homes and boats being bought.

Captain Chappell told me that in the last year four or five of his clients have bought homes in Islamorada. And that close to 20 of his customers have gone on to buy very expensive Freeman center consoles, like the 34-foot Freeman he runs.

The effects of COVID-19 are being felt worldwide, to some degrees hitting home much harder for some than others, but in our small fishing community we call Florida Sportsman, hopefully we have enough gas left in the tank to share some goodwill with some of our pros out on the water.

Let's pay forward, whether you buy a trip for tomorrow or later in the year, treat yourself to a guided trip. Pick a spot you've read about, dreamt about, but have never fished. Do it. Pay for it now, when a captain's cash flow might be needed for a boat or house payment, even if you can't go now. There will be a time when the tides align and you and a friend or family can take a well-deserved, fully catered fishing trip.

Book it. I'll book a trip, too. FS

CALL TO ACTION

BUY A GUIDED FISHING TRIP

Published Florida Sportsman Magazine June 2020