A Key to Paradise
By
Jan Maizler
As Jim Kanzler snaked his shallow water skiff through the mangroves to the Isles of Capri where my car waited, the images of the action, the Estate, and the surroundings stayed strong and colorful in my mind. That was a good sign, because it signaled that my experience would become a cherished memory.
Although I caught countless numbers of ladyfish, jack crevalles, and jumbo mangrove snappers, it was the snook that finned out in the front stages of my mind. I couldn’t possibly remember each and every one of the countless strikes and pulled hooks I had with the line-sided bad boys. However, I did succeed in keeping a catch and release tally, which numbered thirty-six fish to twenty pounds! As I said, an incredible two days of snook fishing.Key Island Estate is the brilliant idea of owners Stacey and Jim Kanzler. They have opened up their beautiful yet secluded Key Island home to groups yearning for an eco-island experience. This fortunately includes groups of anglers, as well as their non-angling friends and family.
The fishery at Key Island Estate is absolutely a round-the-clock opportunity, and consists of three types of habitats and techniques. Because Key Island Estate lies on basically uninhabited Key Island, you have about eight miles of pristine Gulf of Mexico surf all to yourself. In the calm summer weather, you’ll find countless numbers of snook swimming parallel to the beach only a few feet from the water’s edge. You will be most effective if you pretend that you are casting to spooky bonefish, because that’s exactly how these snook behave.
In early morning’s sunrise, and in full daylight, casting to these snook is a total sight-fishing experience. It’s best if you stay low and well back on the beach, so these keen eyed fish do not see your silhouette or movement. Cast your small bucktail or fly well in front of the cruising snook: when the fish is about a yard away, retrieve it in the darting motions of the ever-present minnow schools.
The low light times of early dawn and late dusk present different conditions and opportunities for casting the Gulf beaches. It will be harder for you to see the fish, and conversely, for them to see you. You’ll be casting to the boiling strikes in the minnow schools or just plain blind casting. Either way, in the muted light you’ll find that the snook strike more aggressively. Another bonus of fishing at these times is that large schools of jack crevalles invade the surf’s edge to feed on the same vast minnow schools. These predators create large areas of frothy action as they feed almost right onto the beach: you certainly won’t miss them! Try slowing down your retrieve through the melee, and you may even hook up with one of the fat mangrove snapper that lie in wait on the beach bottom for the silvery falling food.
The beaches of Key Island Estate can therefore offer you — as it did for me — opportunities where you can cast to individual cruising fish or car-sized patches of crashing jacks, ladyfish, snapper and mackerel. Tough work, but I guess someone’s got to do it!The beauty of this destination is that while it is in close proximity to the beautiful cities of Marco Island (to the south) and Naples (to the north), it lies in the heart of Rookery Bay Sanctuary. As a visiting angler to Key Island Estate, to you this means mangroves and lots of them and of course along with the mangroves come the big three that live there: snook, redfish, and tarpon. Guided skiffs do the mangrove fishery at this destination. The habitat that will be covered is huge: anywhere from Rookery Bay all the way down to the Ten Thousand Islands.
Light tackle fishing in mangrove country is largely a daytime proposition. It is also more of a year-round enterprise because of the shelter from harsh weather that the mangroves provide. Mangrove fishing is a target-casting undertaking, and the targets generally involve key points of structure and dark pockets right hidden under the mangrove shadows. This is a fishery where flies and artificial lures are a true delight, as an accurate cast to any likely looking spot could mean a hookup with any of the aforementioned species. On occasion, guides will net a live-well full of pilchards to utilize as hors d’ oeuvres. They do this by tossing a handful of stunned “livies” into the mangrove roots. The resulting pops will be a pretty sure sign that your future snook or redfish is turning on, and has a date with destiny on the end of your line. When the lure fishing slows down a bit, sometimes the guide will bait up a spinner with one of the live baits for you. Despite the tackle I might be using, I always graciously accept this offer since I know a strike is pretty much on its way.
In making arrangements to visit this destination, owners Jim and Stacey Kanzler were eager to point out, “there are a lot of snook around the docks at night”, but I was no where near prepared for what lay in store for me.The idea of snook aplenty haunted me on my drive from Miami to the Isles of Capri, which is just north of Marco Island. Upon my arrival, a huge thunderstorm was moving westward over the area. It glared down hard in its grayish black rolling fullness. Occasionally, it would throw down a startling lightning bolt right into the bay just a few miles upwind of me.
As I finally approached the parking area, a figure suddenly appeared at my side. It was Randy, one of the crewmembers from Key Island Estate. He graciously greeted me, looked upward with a big smile and said, “we can probably make it if we quickly transfer your things.” We quickly made a rapid transfer of rods and baggage into the skiff and he fired up the engine. He looked at the sky again, and asked me which way I’d prefer the ride to the Island: the fastest or the more scenic, where we might get in a cast or two. I could swear I heard the tip of my graphite plug rod humming, so I quickly chose the former.
In less than fifteen minutes, we were docking at the front door of the estate, a magnificent three-story home finished in wood and majestic in scope. That was when the skies opened up. We’d arrived not a minute too soon. Despite the ensuing downpour, images of snook among the dock pilings swam circles in my mind.After introductions, a tour, and a marvelous meal cooked by the Kanzlers, I noticed it was quite dark outside: Fortunately not the bad, storm-darkness, but the sweet darkness of nightfall. Jim’s offer to grab some tackle and investigate their now well-lit dock was like the first kiss with a girl you had a crush on. As we walked down the outside stairs, the after-rain freshness of the vegetation enveloped us, accompanied by the music of a million crickets on this secluded Magic Island. Far off in the Gulf, a flash of lightning briefly lit our path to the docks.
It seemed far too long before our feet touched the dock’s first plank. Jim stopped our stride with an outstretched arm, and then pointed to an area under the dock lights. By the time he said, “look”, I’d already spotted one of the most magnificent sights I have ever seen. There were probably a hundred snook feeding into the current, hitting anything that vaguely resembled food. As I eased forward towards them, the aggressiveness of their popping strikes filled me with anticipation. It was a good thing I’d brought two fully rigged plug outfits, because my level of agitation precluded the fine finger movements of tackle rigging.
I trusted that my lures, a SPRO white bucktail and a D.O.A. small, silver-sided Terroreyz would do their job. At the most, all I could do was walk quickly to the up-tide side of the dock, and make a simple cast over the horde of fish. The strike was immediate, and a healthy snook of about ten pounds thrashed up out of the water. It tail walked over part of the school, temporarily scattering them. I used maximum pressure with my twelve-pound line, and had my first fish caught & released within 60 seconds.
I gave the school time to settle down and pull together. I picked up the other plug rod and cast a bit farther away on the outskirts of the light. Two slow pulls were quickly followed by a vicious strike. I struck back to get a good hook set, and an even larger snook of about fifteen pounds came thrashing to the surface. My tactic of maximum pressure and “quick-stroke” rod pumps bested the fish in about the same time. I also learned that if I “rested” the school for a half hour, almost every cast would get an instant strike.
Another nightly thrill you can almost count on when fishing the docks of the Estate are the large tarpon feeding in the middle of the channel. Any and every passing mullet school literally gets “crashed” by these silvery giants with huge explosions. It sounds like a compact car dropping from a high diving board into the inky waters of the night. As the sun came up the following morning and the “dock snook” dropped off into the center of the channel, all I could think of was running across the Estate to fish for the bonefish style snook in the surf.
And so, the fishing and the catching went on and on....Any discussion of Key Island Estate would be incomplete without mention of the facilities many features and amenities. The house itself is built with wood and glass and the interior is topped off with the finest Caribbean art. Two uniquely cozy air-conditioned “bed and bath” satellite buildings are attached by walkway spokes at opposite ends of the structure. Amenities inside include hammocks, viewing benches for sunsets, outside sun decks, a classic pool table, and a crisp ping-pong table. To top off your excellent meals, you’ll be eating either at the large tiled kitchen bar or at one of the spacious dining tables. Another corner of the central living space boasts an entertainment center with an oversized satellite television.
It is important to repeat that the Estate is on secluded acreage between two pristine bodies of water. Bird life abounds: gulls, gannets, ospreys, and pelicans are numerous visitors and residents at the Estate. Jim Kanzler has also seen wild boars, bobcats, lizards, deer and tortoises on the property. Of course, Key Island also features the unforgettable summer nights of watching turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.
The best way to understand the Key Island Estate experience is through its owners, Jimmy and Stacey Kanzler. As a couple and as parents of two children, they exude incredible friendliness, a sense of service, and generosity of spirit. During the span of a marriage that started in their teens, each partner has achieved considerable success. Jimmy got his first dump truck at the age of 15 and now runs a large construction and earth-moving company. Stacey is the inventor of a sandbagging machine that is used worldwide to save lives and property in the event of floods. Jimmy feels that owning Key Island Estate makes him “the luckiest man in the world”. He also feels that the Estate is a place to get away from his busy schedule. In contrast, Stacey sees the estate as a “connection to her soul”. Stacey is the heart of Key Island Estate, and is the steward of a home that is one of the most beautiful lodges around. She feels the lodge can handle up to 14 guests at a time quite nicely. She is also proud that the Estate is exquisitely sandwiched by the Gulf of Mexico on one side and lush mangrove backcountry channel on the other. To sum it all up, Key Island Estate is truly heaven on earth!von request. Some fishing equipment is available on site. Bait, lures and other supplies are available at Pelican Bend Marina or by advance arrangement.
