Day 3 Collier County Fishing Camp

Today I took my fishing class to Barefoot Beach Preserve for a little shoreline fishing. Despite the threat of rain all morning, we didn't get a drop on us! Granted the fishing today wasn't great, but several of the students did land fish. Ladyfish was the main species caught, but we also had a few whitings landed as well. The story of the day, though, was the two 14 inch pompanos one of the students caught. It was the first fish he caught during the camp. Despite the pleas from the other kids to give it to one of them, he decided to release the first one he caught. He was kind enough to give his second fish to one of the students to take home and eat. Ranger Barry showed the group how to fillet the fish, and the students got an impromptu lesson on internal fish anatomy!  Besides fishing, the students also pulled a seine net for a chance to catch some bait. We mainly caught scaled sardines and threadfin herring, but also pulled in whiting and juvenile pompano and permit. Enjoy the pictures!

That's a nice pompano!!

Ranger Barry shows some students how to fillet a fish.