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Boca
Grande - An Island Paradise
Just by chance, if you haven’t
been sold on Boca
Grande Florida as the perfect
destination for your vacation, perhaps
the thrill of plentiful year-round
fishing
will. Known as the "Tarpon Capital
of the World", sports fishermen
travel each spring to Boca’s
rich waters to participate in tournaments
with grand prizes up to $100,000.
If you’re looking for spectacular
sunsets, natural beauty and somewhere
to fall in love with, then you have
found the perfect place, Boca Grande.
Boca Grande
- Tarpon capital of the world
Expert Fishing guides may be found
through the Boca
Grande Fishing Guide Association
web site. Following is an article
from that Association. The Boca Grande
Fishing Guides Association, Inc. was
founded in 1988. The original charter
and continuous members total 19 and
are noted by the designation "CC"
on the posted membership lists.
Today, they have 56 voting members
who are professional guides specializing
in various types of fishing, with
tarpon being the common bond for almost
every member during the world famous
Boca Grande tarpon season that exists
from late April through July and sometimes
into early August.
As most know, Boca Grande is
known internationally for being the
tarpon capital of the world. Visitors
come from all walks of life and many
places, both in the United States
and from foreign countries. Also,
our area has some of the finest shallow
water inshore fishing and deep-sea
offshore fishing to be found.
Boca Grande is proud of our great
natural resource. One of the foremost
goals of the People of Boca Grande
is to preserve this fishery and see
that it is protected and productive
for future generations… future
generations of guides, clients and
enthusiasts.
The association is very vocal pertaining
to the issues regarding our industry
and its protection. Not only do our
individual members take the time to
participate in programs such as the
Marine Fisheries Commission Advisory
Board, the Florida Marine Research
Institute, several tagging programs
and various other endeavors, We are
also actively involved in supporting
such activities. We respond to state
and federal governmental agencies
as necessary to effectively voice
our opinion.
The Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association,
Inc. welcomes enthusiasts to our area.
They wish you a great time filled
with fond memories. They ask that
you leave our paradise as you found
it. A strict attention to following
marine protection regulations and
bag limits is expected. In addition,
They ask that common sense conduct
be the rule regarding boat operation,
proper disposal of your trash, local
ordinances, etc.
For your enjoyment, Boca Grande has
expert professional guides that can
add great fishing memories to your
Boca Grande visit. The guides are
experts in their field and hold all
necessary regulatory licenses. They
are proud of Their ability to give
you and your family the best in fishing.
Take the time to call one of Their
knowledgeable members and make the
most of your Boca Grande vacation.
Boca Grande - Florida's Best
Kept Secret
The History of Boca Grande Florida,
provided by the Boca
Grande Chamber of Commerce, is
as unique as the island it's self.
Gasparilla Island's first inhabitants
were the Calusa Indians. They were
living on nearby Useppa Island by
5,000 B.C. and on Gasparilla Island
by 800 or 900 A.D. Charlotte Harbor
was the center of the Calusa Empire,
which numbered thousands of people
and hundreds of fishing villages.
The Calusa were a hunting and fishing
people who perfected the art of maritime
living in harmony with the environment.
They were a politically powerful people,
dominating Southwest Florida during
their "golden age." Since
the Calusa had no written language,
the only record we have of their lifestyle
and ceremonies comes from the oral
history of the (much later) Seminoles,
from written accounts of Spanish explorers,
and from the archaeological record.
The first contact the Calusas had
with the white man came during Spanish
explorations at the beginning of the
16th century. By the mid 1700s the
Calusas had all but disappeared, the
victims of European diseases, slavery
and warfare.
Early
Settlers Were Fishermen Just like
the Indians, the earliest settlers
came to Gasparilla Island to fish.
By the late 1870s several fish ranches
were operating in the Charlotte Harbor
area. One of them would later be at
the north end of Gasparilla Island
in the small village called Gasparilla.
The fishermen, many of them Spanish
or Cuban, caught huge catches of mullet
and other fish and salted them down
for shipment to Havana and other markets.
In the 1940s the Gasparilla
Fishery was moved to Placida across
the bay, where it still stands today,
and the fishing village died out.
Today, many of Boca Grande's early
fishing families are still represented
in third, fourth and even fifth generation
descendants who pursue many different
vocations, including fishing.
Phosphate
and Tarpon put Boca Grande on the
Map In 1885 phosphate rock was discovered
on the banks of the Peace River just
above Punta Gorda Florida, east of
Gasparilla Island across Charlotte
Harbor. It was this discovery that
would turn the south end of Gasparilla
Island into a major deep water port
(Boca Grande Pass is one of the deepest
natural inlets in Florida) and become
responsible for the development of
the town of Boca Grande. Wealthy American
and British sportsmen began discovering
the Charlotte Harbor area for its
fantastic fishing (notably for the
world class game fish tarpon) and
hunting. It was these two discoveries
- phosphate rock and fishing - that
would put Boca Grande "on the
map."
Phosphate was a valuable mineral for
fertilizers and many other products,
and was in great demand worldwide.
At first the phosphate was barged
down the Peace River to Port Boca
Grande, where it was loaded onto schooners
for worldwide shipment. But by 1905
it was felt that building a railroad
to Port Boca Grande and carrying the
phosphate to it by rail should improve
the method of shipment.
1905
officials of the Agrico subsidiary
Peace River Mining Company, along
with engineers from the U.S. Engineering
Corps and 60 laborers, landed on Gasparilla
Island and surveying and construction
of the railroad began. Probably the
only buildings on the island at this
time were the lighthouse and the assistant
keeper's house at the extreme southern
tip of the island. The railroad terminus
with its 1,000-foot long pier would
be built nearby. The Charlotte Harbor
and Northern Railroad was completed
in 1907. For the next 50 years phosphate
would be shipped out of the state-of-the-art
port virtually without disruption.
Phosphate laden trains were off loaded
directly onto ocean going freighters,
and the ships took the valuable commodity
to ports all over the world. In 1969
Port Boca Grande ranked as the fourth
busiest port in Florida.
In the 1970s phosphate companies increasingly
switched their interest to ports in
Tampa and Manatee County. As more
money was put into developing these
ports, traffic into Port Boca Grande
began to dwindle, and in 1979 the
line was abandoned and the phosphate
industry in Boca Grande came to an
end. Today the port is used as an
oil terminal of the Florida Power
and Light Company. Soon this too will
end, and the southern tip of the island
will be restored to its natural state.
The
Railroad was Boca Grande's Link to
the World
The Charlotte Harbor and Northern
Railroad not only brought phosphate
and supplies to Gasparilla Island;
it also brought wealthy people from
the north. By 1910 Boca Grande Pass
was already famous for its unequaled
tarpon fishing among fishermen, who
stayed on nearby Useppa
Island. The Agrico Company, having
begun to see the potential of the
idea of developing Gasparilla Island
beyond the port, began to develop
the village of Boca Grande.
The railroad station in what would
become downtown was built; roads,
sidewalks, streetlights, shops, a
post office, and water and telephone
service were not far behind. The town
was landscaped, including the now
famous section of Second Street called
Banyan Street. The railroad company
built several cottages downtown and
a few wealthy families from "up
north" purchased land and built
winter residences. The train stopped
at Gasparilla, the fishing village
at the north end of the island, at
the railroad depot in downtown Boca
Grande, and at the south end phosphate
terminal.
In
1929 the Boca Grande Hotel was built
just south of downtown Boca Grande.
It was a three-story, brick resort
hotel where most of the island weathered
the hurricane of 1944. The Boca Grande
Hotel changed hands and was demolished
in 1975. It took six months to raze
the building by means of fire and
the wrecking ball, as it had been
built to withstand fire and great
storms.
The
railroad continued to bring the grande
visitors from all along the eastern
seaboard until the Boca
Grande Causeway opened in 1958.
The depot was restored in the 1970s
and a number of shops, offices and
a restaurant now occupy the old building.
The railroad continued to run work
trains to the south end until the
phosphate port closed in 1979. The
Gasparilla Island Conservation and
Improvement Association transformed
the old bed of the railroad into a
new use, Boca Grande's popular Bike
Path. Boca Grande has become a
unique community, with a large number
of wealthy winter residents rubbing
elbows with the fishermen and railroad
and port workers who formed the permanent,
year-round working class of the island.
Visit Boca Grande and stay in one
of Grande Island Vacations many vacation
rental condos or homes and escape
to an oasis of tranquility, serene
natural surroundings, wide, uncrowded
beaches, magnificent sunsets!
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