An Open Letter To All Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Guides & Anglers
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
- Found In: Fishing Tips
Dear Mosquito Lagoon fishing guides & local anglers,
I would like to personally apologize for the ill-timed Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Spots online course.
Like you, we personally love and fish the Lagoon. So it pains me to see the destruction and death of seagrass over the years. The amount of pollution, brown water, and fish kills over the years sickens me. So I completely understand how you can get fired up when some online fishing club starts promoting fishing spots in your backyard.
And even though helping anglers find fish aligns with our mission as a company, the timing and verbiage of the ad/offer were not appropriate.
In fact, it wasn’t congruent with who we are as anglers, as a company, or as a brand.
It was quickly removed from Facebook but that doesn’t make it right.
It was a mistake and I wanted to personally tell you that I am sorry. We here at Salt Strong are better than that as leaders, anglers, and conservationists.
On the flip side, there were some hurtful (and even slanderous) things said by some guides and local anglers directed at Salt Strong. You guys are better than that also.
We already have enough things going against us as fishermen, and the last thing we need to do is fight among ourselves – especially when you consider just how similar our goals align.
Think about it – both Salt Strong and fishing guides want nothing more than to see people catching fish, we love seeing anglers creating memories out on the water, and we desire to see our waterways and estuaries thrive for years to come.
We want to make sure our kids, grandkids, and great-grandchildren all have the same opportunities to fish as we did, right?
So why aren’t we working together to support each other and to get more people out fishing? We all win when more people are catching fish and creating memories on the water. It keeps fishing alive, brings new anglers to the sport, and lifts up the entire fishing industry just like a rising tide.
If you’re still reading, you might be wondering where we go from here?
In a sentence, we want to help you AND we want to help the Lagoon.
How?
For one, we’re going to be building a Guide Partnership Program. It’s something we’ve been discussing internally for a while and this Mosquito Lagoon issue moved it up to a priority.
The Salt Strong Guide Partnership Program will be a way for us to team up with fishing guides, to help promote you to our audience for bookings, to help all of our communities, and to help raise awareness and money for your fisheries. It will be a huge win-win for everyone involved.
I am 100% confident that we are STRONGER together and we’ll put our money where our mouth is to prove it.
And just so you know, there won’t be any charge to the guides or anyone else for the Guide Partnership Program. We simply want to help you and our communities, for free.
Two, I’m wide open to hearing other ideas on how we can help work together with you.
As I told a couple of guides this past week, we have an open-door policy here at Salt Strong and I’d personally love to hear from you with any ideas on how we can improve as a club, how we can team up, how we can help our fisheries, how we can help with our ongoing water issues, or how we can help the fishing industry as a whole.
Here’s my private email address. You have my word that anything you send me will remain confidential.
Also, if you’d like more information about the Guide Partnership Program, let me know and I’ll add you to the list for more details.
joe@saltstrong.com
Tight lines and thank you for taking the time to read this.
I appreciate you big time and thank you for calling us out when we needed it.
Joe
P.S. – Please revert from leaving any negative comments. They aren’t helpful and they will be deleted. None of us should allow negativity in our lives. Thank you all.
Related categories:
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Where is this course?
Well said Joe, we are stronger together thank you salt strong for helping us do what we love to do!!!!!
Thanks Team Salt Strong! I think most of us would sell our rods and reels if it wasn’t for the creation of this community. The reason I am paying money for a membership is because fishing pressure and the lack of respect the State has given to our waterways has made our Hobby harder to enjoy. There have been a lot of attempts to save the IRL but it’s hard to wrap my head around the so called progress when you see millions of gallons of fresh water dumped into it daily by the control structures every Spring and Summer. Google Taylor Creek in Ft.Pierce, St.Lucie River into Stuart, and Sebastian, the images will make you sick. Joe and Luke, this site will be needed unless quick changes are made. Thanks.
Nice letter Joe, but keep doing what you do. I fish out of Marco Island and I’ve taken no less than 20 guided trips out of here, most of the time producing great fish and almost always a great time. I take my boat to the same spots and have but a fraction of the success. Fish move around, guides do a better job of getting bait, they are networked and know where the fish are biting. I’m a great example of a pretty experienced fisherman that knows where the guides fish and still don’t catch near the fish, LOL. Unless you count Crevalles and Ladyfish…in which case I am apparently an expert. I soak up your training like a sponge and try to incorporate it in my plans every week. I really appreciate it and think every dollar is money well spent and does help.
Haters gonna hate. Keep up the good work.
More anglers means more education is needed. All on the water behaviors need to revolve around environmental stewardship. We all bear some responsibility and we all are the solution.
CCW is somewhat of a smoke screen promoted in part by local guides, Wanting help in restoring fish habitat and promoting good stuartship of the waters. What I’m sayng here is clear in the FACT that a majority of the degradation of the grass and oyster beds in the best 90/10 fishing zones were caused by the local Captains who’s props are cutting through these areas on a DAILY basis chewing up the bottoms etc. For the MONEY!!
So the CCW was started with good intensions to help provide GUIDEance in proper care of the sanctuaries they helped destroy by over fishing the 90/10 areas with poor judgement on their part. Quick in and out twice a day with cliants(money). There are Good Guides and very BAD guides out their. Hopefully more education to help the bad guides get better understanding on their part to be good stuarts of the fishery. I as well as a lot of local fisherman that own our own boats, from time to time, use these guide services to help show us where the 90/10 areas are, and what the best baits to use are. Guides are fisherman too and their love for fishing and being good at it is why they started guiding, Just like Salt Strong in helping fisherman catch more fish. It is most helpfull in our quest to become better at the sport. Local fisherman pay taxs and support local economies that provide services to the fisherman. Local fisherman through poor judgement and experiance are a cause for destruction of the areas as well as the guides. We all need to learn from our mistakes.
When we are on the water for a day of fun and fishing we need to be cognizant of what we’re doing and speak out to educated other fisherman and guides when we see them misbehaving and destroying the habitat. So it’s a double edge sword that cuts both ways. Salt Strong keep up the good work in helping all fisherman and guides, be better fisherman. Peace on.
Joe, living here in Edgewater it is so frustrating to see what was once a crystal clear estuary become a sess pool. Like Captains for Clean Water, I think that the Salt Strong voice is strong enough to bring attention to the Indian River Lagoon’s, which includes the Mosquito Lagoon, issues. CCW is primarily focused on the Everglades restoration project, even though it does include all of Florida. We in this area often discuss needing a CCW approach to the Lagoon. We could really use your help!
Good stuff, Brett. But the real problem isn’t attention or awareness. The entire state knows how bad the Lagoon is. What we really need is science-based studies to find out what is killing the grass. It’s not just the old grass that is dying, even the brand new grass that is being planted is dying a quick death. So we’re definitely interested in supporting a group that gets their hands dirty and figures out what is actually killing the grass. Awareness is always good, but nothing beats solutions. We’ll keep you posted as we find out more.
Build A lock to the ocean & slowly flush it ?
Need more than an ‘easy button’ solution although it may be part of a more responsible solution. Cleaning up pollution at the source, or mitigating it before it spreads far and wide, is what needs to be done. In the evolution of South Florida, sewage waste was dumped in inshore waterways, and as that practice became intolerable, sewer pipes were extended into the ocean dumping the polluted water into it. The Federal govt. regulated away that pollution practice. The same mentality exists to stop waste landfills from filling up so fast, and large amounts of waste, including plastics, was then exported to other developing countries to manage, Many simply dumped it into the ocean, and now it’s damaging world oceans and fisheries, including in our own back yard. The same mentality was applied decades ago to get rid of ‘rust belt’ industries by imposing costly regulations. Those industries moved offshore since we still wanted what they produced. Bring it forward, some now conclude global warming has no man-made boundaries. By moving it offshore to developing countries, they’re less financially able and have different values concerning pollution. Basically, this a NIMBY philosophy of so long as it solves my problem, I don’t really care about the consequences to others.
I never posted the original comment. Sorry Stephen Owen
This is not my post. Stephen Owen
As an out of state angler who only gets to fish in mecca of Florida occasionally, I think the Guide Partnership program is a great idea. Not all websites that promote local guides are accurate or trustworthy. Using Salt Strong as a resource to make that decision will be very helpful. I spend a great deal of time planning these vacations and I want to get the best experience for my money. A guide with a bad attitude or who is only in it for the money can definitely put a damper on the trip. ( Wilmington NC a few years ago) Yes we caught a few fish but his attitude and rudeness made my wife think she wasted her money.
Wow! I’m not sure who got a treble hook caught in their mouth on a bad back cast? While I have no clue what this is all about, I know that in my nearly 5 years of membership, I’ve seen nothing but honesty and integrity out of Joe, Luke and the Salt Strong staff. I’ve watched them make a few mistakes here and there and I’ve watched as they quickly apologized, accepted their mistake and moved to correct it. As someone else said in this string, if you aren’t making some mistakes here and there, you aren’t working hard enough! Watching them over the years and having the privilege to talk with them in person and evaluating how these guys lead their lives and this business is why I recently upgraded to a Life member. This team works HARD in promoting the sport of fishing and it’s life enhancing benefit to friends and families alike. They are conservationists and have always promoted leaving our waterways better than we found them. Recently they have been supporting the great work that Captains for Clean Water has been doing in its fight to stop Senate Bill 2508 (which would absolutely have a continued negative effect on the IR/ML waterways as well as the east and west coast and south through the Everglades into Florida Bay. I fish IR/ML in the Titusville and Merritt Island areas consistently. I’m appalled at the decline of sea grass and oysters in that region (just about all gone!!!). The entire fishing family should be reaching out to their State Senators and demanding the death of SB 2508! And if you aren’t doing that, then you’re just part of the problem. Tough to hear? Then if the shoe fits….. Get off your butt and make a 2 minute phone call to your state senator and representative and let them know they need to kill that bill, you’ll be watching and you’ll definitely be remembering come election time! Wanna feel “empowered”? Try making that call! You’ll be glad you did!
Joe’s call for all of us to work together is right on target. United we stand, divided we fall. It’s that simple. If you are one of the guides who got offended, you got your apology. Now, let’s all put our big boy pants on and get to the real work of defending our waterways from the REAL threat. The crooks in Tallahassee and D.C. or you’re gonna have a lot more grave concerns than someone sharing your honey hole. Let’s get our waterways healthy again so there are more honey holes than any of us could ever imagine. 😉
Amen brother Guy! Appreciate you