Goodland serves both a Northern Gateway
& jumping off point of Ten Thousand Islands.

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The first time I saw Goodland the jumping off point for the ten thousand Islands, its number one attraction was a waterfront saloon that hosted a Mullet Festival. I’m happy to report that Stan’s is still standing, even after the Category 3 storm, and that organizers looked foward to a big Festival Jan. 20-22 this year.

At one time, this was strictly commercial fishing country. Species like mullet, snook and seatrout provided the region’s inhabitants with a living for decades. Then things changed dramatically. Someone might go so far as to wonder what’s in store for Goodland, now that gill nets are a thing of the past. Spotlight on Goodland

I usually launch at the Jolley bridge gateway to Marco Island or ten thousand islands. Take U.S. Highway 41 to State Road 92, then follow the signs to Goodland. Take the first left after crossing the causeway and then the first right before following the road to the marina. You’ll find a launch ramp and floating dock, as well as a ship’s store. The marina charges a launch fee.

Goodland is the geographical epicenter of thousands of square miles of waist-deep shallows that stretch endlessly toward Florida Bay. Navigational charts identify hundreds of shallow bays and nearshore grassflats.

Charter Captain

"I cater to a lot of trout fishermen, but my customers also like to fish for snook and redfish,” he said.

During wintertime when the trout season shuts off, drift fishing over grassbeds and jigging for pompano take over. There's lot of Spanish mackerel and bluefish over the inshore reefs and grassbeds. It’s mostly a winter fishery, but lately, the mackerel have been hanging around all year. Off the grassey flats we move to the mangroves The mangrove gods immediately granted me two undersize redfish. A bald eagle circling overhead threatened to rain on our parade.

Nevertheless, I decided to forget about everything else and pay close attention to my jig, which was the right decision since we subsequently landed several other reds, plus two or three small snook. The action eventually slowed, and since the tide was falling rapidly, we decided to slip our surly mangrove bonds and back to the grass flats.

Moments later, we're racing toward the open Gulf. We passed only one other guide while in transit. From the looks of things, his party was jigging shrimp on popping corks.

Our ten thousand islands trek had been memorable. The most amazing part was that during the entire several-hour period, we encountered fewer than a handful of other anglers.

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