The best ways to help fishing communities recover after a hurricane are to book a guide and visit the area, donate to a vetted relief fund, and plan a future trip so money flows back into the local economy. In this How 2 Tuesday I step away from knots and rigging to talk about helping the area devastated by Hurricane Ian, after visiting the Captains for Clean Water summit and seeing Fort Myers Beach firsthand.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
The best single thing is to go to the area and book a fishing guide. I stayed in downtown Fort Myers, which is fully functioning, then drove to meet my guide, and the fishing five weeks after the storm was fantastic. These guides are proud people who would rather work than take a handout, so booking a trip puts money directly in their pockets and keeps them doing what they love. If you cannot travel, donating and planning a future trip are the next best options.
Around Fort Myers Beach it was about as bad as it gets, rivaling what I saw after Hurricane Katrina in Venice, Louisiana. Most places near the beach were a total loss, with houses and buildings simply gone and boats sitting on top of cars. At the same time, downtown Fort Myers was cleaned up fast and looked normal, with hotels and restaurants open. The devastation got worse the closer you drove to the beach.
Captains for Clean Water set up an emergency disaster relief fund, and you can find it right on the front page of captainsforcleanwater.org under the Hurricane Ian relief section. There is a donation button and a secure form. Captains is a reputable organization I know personally, and they report that one hundred percent of the money goes directly to supplies and operational support for the ongoing relief and recovery efforts.
Because they were hit incredibly hard and they are the backbone of these communities. A Hurricane Ian damage assessment of licensed guides and charter captains found an average loss of about $44,071, with some losing everything. Captains for Clean Water leans on its community of captains for everything from cleanup to advocacy, so helping these individuals become whole again strengthens the whole effort to protect and restore the water.
It puts them back to work instead of handing out charity. With money in the fund, Captains can book guides for full days of cleanup, picking up trash, clearing mangroves, and taking water samples alongside scientists. Guides are proud and would rather work, and the work happens to be on the very waters they fish, so the fund repairs both the captains' livelihoods and the ecosystem at the same time. That solution-focused approach is what I respect most about the organization.
Yes. Five weeks after Ian I fished with Justin Napier and we had amazing fishing for little tarpon, with big tarpon and snook around too. Hurricanes are very damaging to man-made things, but they can be great for the fishing, and the action in that area was really good. You may need to stay in a slightly different spot, like downtown Fort Myers, but you can absolutely have a great trip while helping the local economy recover.
I am taking a break from knots and rigging this week for a more important How 2 Tuesday: how you can help the area devastated by Hurricane Ian. I had just been to the Captains for Clean Water industry summit and Restore Gala, which normally raises money for clean water, but this year carried a different weight because the region was hit so hard. Honestly, I was not sure we would even have the event. These are resilient people.
I drove Fort Myers Beach, and it was bad, about as bad as it gets, on the level of what I saw after Katrina. Most places near the beach were a total loss, with boats on top of cars. Yet downtown Fort Myers was cleaned up fast and fully functioning. The hardest-hit group was the fishing guides, whose average loss in the damage survey came to about $44,071, with some losing everything they had.
What I love about Captains for Clean Water is that they are always solution-based. Their emergency disaster relief fund can put guides back to work cleaning up waterways, picking up trash, clearing mangroves, and taking water samples with scientists, so these proud captains earn a paycheck instead of taking a handout. So here are the three ways to help: go fish with a guide, donate to the fund at captainsforcleanwater.org, or plan a future trip and do not write this area off. Hear the full story in the episode above.
Watch or listen above to get the full breakdown in my own words.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a lifelong fishing guide, tournament angler, and the host of the Tom Rowland Podcast. I spent decades guiding in the Florida Keys and competing at the highest levels of saltwater fishing, and I've fished everywhere from the Seychelles to Louisiana. How 2 Tuesday is my weekly tutorial series where I pass along the skills, gear choices, and small refinements that have made the biggest difference in my own fishing.
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