Going Bananas in Southwest Florida !!!

Bananas + Capt. Rick = BAD CARMA!

WARNING! This is not a joke. It may seen funny but it is NOT! Bananas are hazardous to your Deep Sea Fishing success. There is no place on a fishing trip of any kind with ME that includes any sort of banana or related product! Please, we insist you do not bring any bananas, or banana related products like sunscreen, muffins, etc., fishing with you on your Charter with us. Just a note, we did not invent this theory or curse. We strongly suggest you don't take them on ANY fishing or boating adventure! I avoid them like the plague! If your charter has the pleasure of fishing with Brittany my young first mate, Captain in training, you will find she is very serious as well about screening for the nana stuff.

Superstitious, maybe, but after many, many, examples of this little yellow fruit being present on a difficult fishing day..... well lets just say:

WE BELIEVE! (You should to!)

I have seen evidence over and over again that anything even slightly related to bananas can ruin fishing or a day on the water, one way or another. We will ask you not to wear any clothing that is banana related as well. I have asked both male and female guests to put such items back in their car and wear my spare stuff to save a day. NO its not a joke, especially if this is discovered several miles out in the Gulf. Its also true that removing the offensive clothing, banana brand sunscreen, or fruit, that fishing has improved fishing and mechanical problems DRAMATICALLY! Please don't make me yank a banana from your hands or cooler. Please don't make me ask you to get off the boat, to go change or wash off sunscreen! Its your day, help me make the best day it can be! Many times our vessel has left the dock while banana's or a new tube of expensive sunscreen were left behind. Some folks can't resist and insist on smuggling the fruit aboard as a joke. For those of you that feel that need all I can say is its your day and your dollar. You are paying us for our knowledge, we beg you to listen. Do it right, don't eat anything nana before your trip, and don't bring anything nana with you.

I guided a well known lady angler on a permit trip. Conditions were perfect and fish were everywhere I looked. We worked hard all day and we never caught a fish. Hundreds of perfect presentations were ignrored. We switched to bait again ignored! Finally we got a few hookups! Guess what? You name it, no matter how hard I tried, something went wrong. Broken lines, tangles, Goliath eating the permit, broken rod, etc. We were doomed. I was totality dejected. While running in I almost cried when I saw what her snack was. Guess what? Yup... a FREAKING NANA!! Same lady, two days later out for poons without the fruit. Horrible conditions, but guess what? Yes, first bait in the water and we hooked, fought and released a nice tarpon about 125#. There was rain and lighting all around us while we sat in the only sunny dry hole in the sky for hours. Happen chance??? Maybe but I don't think so and on my boat that's what counts.

While fishing with my dad on a day we could not buy a bite in the middle of a King mackerel blitz. Any other day I could have caught them on a bare hook, but nothing this day. I was flustered and frustrated! Even the boat ran bad that day. Live Bait was impossible to net as well. After tearing a net one net then loosing another, I chose to just use lures which were can't miss the day before. Still it was to no avail, few bites at all. Tangles, bite off's, and just slack line with no lure left. I spent the afternoon changing gas filters and plugs on the water. While unloading back at home what do you think I found in the top of his tackle box, all rotten, smashed, and had been there for god knows how long? Yes, you guessed again. Dreaded Nana's!

Do you see a pattern forming here?

We entered a kingfish tournament with a very good friend aboard his beautiful Venture 34. Conditions were perfect, our bait was perfect, we were good to go. After making a long run to a proven big fish spot we open the live well on our beautiful fishing machine only to find our bait half dead? No matter, frigates were circling, bait balls were being hit, it was awesome and conditions were perfect. First bait out was hit by a HUGE king, surely a tournament winner! But after only one minute the rig broke! Rig broke? Yes.... for some reason the factory made kingfish rig by a well known company failed at that moment! Okay baits right back in the water "we will get another one" (sound familiar?)...but alas not another bite all day long. Spot after spot nothing. Late in the day our host and very good friend picked up his sunscreen tube to reapply. Low and behold I do NOT need to even say what label was on that tube do I? Of course not. NANA Boat has NO place fishing with ME PLEASE! (Even on your boat!)

On a recent tarpon charter the fish were very active and had been all that week. These were great folks and were very excited. Somehow Brittany missed the sunscreen during her nana search that morning. Of course catching live bait was beyond difficult, but finally we managed enough to start. A good friend found a nice school and called us in for a shot. We saw them as we eased in, but they disappeared just shy of casting range never to show again. No big deal, we moved along the beach to hunt for another school. None were found. Another friend called is into a school again. Again the replay of the first encounter! Again and again, we could not find a single fish ourselves. Again and again friends would find a school of fish only to disappear and not show again upon our arrival! Was in the nana? Are you willing to test fate on your day? NO YOU ARE NOT!

Even the ancient Hawaiians wrote of the bad fishing
and banana connections its just not a Naples Florida dilemma!

Its reported that navel battles have been lost due to having them aboard!

Its very true that there have been stunned anglers aboard watching me frantically digging in
their cooler throwing nanas and sunscreen overboard on our way out! Returning
to the dock to deposit sunscreen in the trash can, washing off sunscreen, and wearing the Captain's shirt to protect modesty can and does happen! Save us the trouble and save the day, LEAVE IT HOME!

Our daughter Jennifer tried removing the label from the popular brand of sunscreen during our annual family vacation to the Keys. Six days in a row of small craft warnnings, gale force winds, pouring rain and of course rough seas meant there had been no blue water action for us, only shopping and eating. The last evening was our last ditch effort to CATCH SOMETHING so we headed to the bridge were a local guide assured us there were tarpon or permit feeding. As we were leaving the dock her boyfriend at the time now husband Jim insisted we turn back. We did and he dropped the non-labled tube on the dock. It was to late, and too much bad mojo. NO poon or permit. But guess what... the weather turned perfect in the morning for the drive home of course. Please don't test it with us, just comply. Please don't eat, wear, or bring it with you! Especially as a joke or prepair to waste your money!

PLEASE: Remember don't bring any banana's, banana brand sunscreen or ANYTHING banana related on your charter. Not for me sake but yours. Please save Brittany the drama of ejecting them before your vary eyes in order to provide you with every chance at great day of angling adventure here in Naples and Fort Myers Florida. The absents of this fruit will help the Deep Sea Fishing and related boating and bait catching chores more than I can or care explain here!

Capt. Rick & Brittany

Serving: Naples Florida, Fort Myers, Sanibel, and all of Southwest Florida for over 20 years.

Home | How Do I Book? | Info and Rates | Map |E-mail