Live tarpon stolen from Bass Pro Shop indoor pond in Fort Myers, Florida
A man used a fishing net to catch a live tarpon from the Bass Pro Shop’s indoor fishing pond in Fort Myers, Florida.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office
The fish are bound to bite in and around Fort Myer and Cape Coral, as these two cities are considered two of the best fishing spots in Florida.
This is the result of a new study by FishingBooker, the leading website for booking fishing trips in the USA.
The study evaluated the best fishing spots in every U.S. state based on six criteria derived from FishingBooker’s internal data collected from over one hundred thousand fishing trips last year.
In Florida, 202 cities were ranked in six different categories based on their score from 1 to 10.
Destin took first place with 59 out of 60 points, followed by Panama City Beach (53 points), St. Petersburg and Islamorada (51 points each).
More: 15 fishing captains in Lee County are among the best in the world
Cape Coral received 42 points (ninth place) with full marks in average reviews and average recommendation score, and Fort Myers (13th place) received 41 points, also with the highest marks in average reviews and average recommendation score.
A little further south in Collier County, Naples received 43 out of a possible 60 points and came in 8th place.
The 15 best fishing spots in Florida are:
- destination
- Panama City Beach
- Saint Petersburg
- The hotel is located in Islamorada. It is only 1 km from Islamorada city center.
- Key West
- St. Augustine
- Marathon
- Naples
- Cape Coral
- Crystal flow
- Pensacola
- Key Largo
- Fort Myers
- Sarasota
- Fort Lauderdale
Best Fishing Villages in Florida: Methodology
FishingBooker’s extensive research into fishing opportunities in the USA resulted in 6 different evaluation criteria based on FishingBooker’s internal data from over a hundred thousand fishing trips and the associated reviews and reports. The criteria are:
- Number of fishing trips available
- Average rating
- Average recommended score
- Number of guides with the Angler’s Choice Award
- Number of bookings
- Minimum price for a fishing trip
The prerequisite was that at least one booking was made at the location in the previous year and that all of the above criteria were taken exclusively from the previous year’s data.
Once the criteria were established, the scores were calculated and added together and we got the final list of the best locations in each US state, with their fishing potential ranked from best to worst.
For more background information on the methodology, exact criteria, and the full list of the best fishing spots in each state, see this article.
To assist with your reporting, this Dropbox folder contains photos of fishing trips in Florida’s top 12 cities, as well as a breakdown of the scores each of Florida’s 202 cities rated received.
FishingBooker: What you should know
FishingBooker is the world’s largest platform for connecting anglers and fishing guides with over 47,000 fishing trips available in more than 2,200 destinations worldwide. FishingBooker has been making fishing trips easy since 2013.
