Containing no electricity, running water, or telephones, these cabins perched on the shoals of Pine Island Sound are not your average tropical getaway. Instead, these “Daddy long leg shacks” are remnants of a once powerful commercial fishing industry. Still used today, their continued existence is as fragile as the wooden stilts they rest upon. 

Since the times of the native Calusa, fishing has been an extremely important asset to the economic ecosystem of Southwest Florida. Up until 1897, the industry only sold to the surrounding area. All of that changed with the foundation of the Punta Gorda Fish Company, whose usage of ice allowed for locally caught fish to maintain their freshness and be shipped nationally. Under the tutelage of company founders Eugene Knight and Harry Dreggors, commercial fishing boomed in the beginning of the 20th century, and fish houses began to pop up along the coast for the company’s many anglers. 

They ultimately built two kinds of shacks, the first being ice houses that stored fish before transportation. The other half served as homes for fishermen so they wouldn’t need to return to the mainland during a storm or after a long day. Living a mostly solitary life at sea, these anglers saw the cabins as a lifeline to the world. Company run-boats would drop off groceries and newspapers trading these goods for the day’s catch. 

Sensing a “loss of Americana” and symbolism to the area’s fishing heritage, preservationists shack owners fought back against eviction notices. In 1991, ten fishing shacks were officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Like the grand canals of Venice, the humble fishing houses live to see another day, though who knows for how much longer. Their fate belongs to the sea that gave them life in the first place – as a shack cannot be rebuilt if it is destroyed in a storm. For now, however, the sea-salty spectacles are a memorial to the many fishermen who once occupied this Sound, and serve as retreat for any angler that desires to “reel in” an old tradition..

Florida has attracted visitors since the late nineteenth century, when tales of the tarpon, a mighty game fish, enticed northern anglers to the state's coasts. In the early twentieth century, sport fishing developed into a major tourist draw and spurred the establishment of fishing clubs and tournaments. Florida's lure as a sport fishing destination for saltwater and freshwater anglers continues today.

In 1885, a single, sensational catch at Sanibel Island's Tarpon Bay made international news - and revolutionized sport fishing. For the first time on record, a mighty, silver-sided tarpon was taken on a rod and reel, a feat that created a frenzy for the fierce-fighting - and made Southwest Florida the epicenter of a brand-new sport. The newly crowned Silver King of fish lured celebrities and presidents, and transformed Southwest Florida into the birthplace of big game fishing

August 17th and 18th

Lee County Civic Center, North Ft. Myers

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“As prices continue to rise across the board for goods and services, many shoppers may find themselves buying not what they want but what they need,” Steve Johnson said, and the good news is sales of Florida orange juice remain strong when compared to 2019 sales. “While the orange juice category has not been immune to the pressures of inflation, the year-over-year price increase of OJ remains below the national average of increases in prices of food at home.”

The proposed bill would direct the FDA to lower the required level of sugar/solids content for not-from concentrate pasteurized orange juice from 10.5% weight of orange juice soluble solids to 10%