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April 4th, 2011 12:28 PM

Just got a call from Ed in Cleveland who wanted to know how he can buy a piece of our beautiful island..The article below was featured in the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper this past Sunday...

On unflashy Anna Maria Island in Florida, we let go of winter and reel in a fish story

Published: Saturday, April 02, 2011, 1:30 PM

By Amanda Garrett, The Plain Dealer The Plain Dealer
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View full sizeChris Stephens l The Plain DealerThe Rod and Reel, a small stucco inn on the northern tip of Anna Maria Island, is a throwback to old Florida.

ANNA MARIA, Fla. — Shark.

Big shark, like the 1,200-pound, imaginary predator that chases me through my snorkeling dreams and almost always swims through the back of my mind when I step into the aqua-blue ocean waters I so crave during Ohio winters.

Shark.

That's all I could think when I saw the tip of my husband's fishing rod plunge toward the water off the Rod and Reel Pier.

We are not fishermen, my husband and I. Not by many fishermen's standards, anyway.

I grew up in rural Ohio long before Google connected cornfields to the larger world. To pass summer afternoons, I'd dig up a handful of night crawlers and head to a neighbor's tiny pond where I'd pull up -- and throw back -- a couple dozen bluegills, half-convinced the fish only bit my hook because they were as bored and lonely as I was.

My husband, William, had more experience. When he was a boy, his father, grandfather and he spent summer weeks at Lakeside hauling in enough perch from Lake Erie daily to feed the family. But that was 25 years ago and 1,200 miles away.

Now we stood where Tampa Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico, using fish the size of bluegills and perch as bait.

View full sizeKen Marshall, The Plain Dealer

Whatever William had on his hook screamed away from the pier, unfurling his fishing line much faster than he could reel it in.

Before William and I married, I told my husband-to-be not to worry about buying me a big diamond ring. What would make me a happy wife and what would almost certainly help keep our marriage strong was a solemn pledge to fly us away from interminably gray, snow-covered Cleveland every winter.

For a decade, he kept that pledge. Aruba; Tortola in the British Virgin Islands; Cozumel, Mexico; St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands; Jamaica. Then the economy collapsed. We fared better than many, holding on to our jobs in 2008 by taking a 13 percent pay cut. But we both knew luxuries like our winter trips were gone.

We grumbled through a bitter-cold January 2009. February's gloom left us each short-tempered. By St. Patrick's Day, we had enough and began looking for a cheaper tropical escape and some moonlighting work to pay for it.

Like so many Ohioans, we quickly zeroed in on Florida, a fairly straight shot south on interstates. After some research, we settled on Anna Maria Island in particular, one of several keys that run between Sarasota and Tampa. White-sand beaches. Gentle Gulf surf. And, unlike so much of Florida's coasts, no high-rises.

Sunup to sundown at the Rod and Reel

A crowd, apparently sensing excitement on the pier, quickly began gathering around William.

View full sizeChris Stephens l The Plain DealerA lone angler casts a line shortly after sunset on the Rod & Reel Pier. The rickety wooden pier is a haven for those who enjoy catching - and eating - seafood.

"Rod tip up, rod tip up," a more experienced angler chided, moving others out of the way so William could walk along the back edge of the pier to wrangle the sea monster at the end of his line.

There is nothing like Rod and Reel in Northeast Ohio, but there should be. Bare wood planks jut out about 350 feet into Tampa Bay, where a two-story building about the size of a four-car garage sits surrounded by backless benches for people to fish or appreciate the view.

A tiny beer- and wine-only bar with separate, utilitarian bathrooms for men and women (marked "Inboard" and "Outboard") make up the first floor. And a simple restaurant featuring the day's catch -- often grouper or amberjack -- fills the second with indoor and outdoor dining.

Nothing flashy. Nothing trendy. Nothing expensive. Just a salty, authentic oasis from an increasingly bland, saccharine world.

Fishermen show up for the first pot of coffee before sunup and locals linger over beers long after sundown, often recounting the whopper stories of grouper, tarpon and shark that lie in yellowed newspaper clippings under a thick layer of polyurethane covering the bar. The tallest tales always involve Frank Cavendish, a natural showman who owned Rod and Reel for a 20-year stretch over the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Cavendish, as locals tell it, entertained people for years by plunging into the ocean from the second story of the pier every day about 3 p.m. and swimming to shore.

View full sizeChris Stephens l The Plain DealerBirds of prey are ready to swoop in for a meal anytime.

One day, however, his swim was cut short by a shark. According to a newspaper report, Cavendish recounted the incident this way: "All of a sudden, I saw this old boy heading for me . . . And I curled up in a little ball so he couldn't bite my legs," Cavendish said. The shark then turned and swatted Cavendish with his sandpaper-like tale. "That tail peeled me like an orange. It took four Manhattans and a box of Band-Aids to get over that."

The incident abruptly ended Cavendish's daily dives, but he ultimately had the last laugh.

Cavendish kept a log of all the sharks fishermen caught off Rod and Reel -- 770. That included Cavendish's own record-shattering catch in 1973: a 17-foot, 1,386-pound hammerhead.

Now I knew William wasn't fighting anything that big. His line couldn't hold it (Cavendish brought up his huge hammerhead with a rope and chain). But William's catch had to be something extraordinary because people eating dinner upstairs had taken notice and started heckling from above.

"It's a giant grouper."

"I've never seen a 20-foot flounder before."

"You've got a snag."

A first impression is a mistake

We rolled onto Anna Maria Island in May just before sunup. Through the passenger's side window, I saw a cacophony of mom-and-pop motels and restaurants that made me flash back to road trips with my parents in the '70s. Oh, boy, I worried, had we made a mistake? Cool kitsch or dilapidated disappointment?

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Getting there: If you drive to Anna Maria, you have two choices from Greater Cleveland, and each takes about 20 hours. If you follow I-77 south to I-95, Savannah, Ga., makes an ideal stopping point to spend a night. It's about midway through the Drive, and strolling Savannah's historic district is a welcome stretch after a long car ride. If you follow I-71 south to I-75, aim for Chattanooga, Tenn. Its riverfront also offers a nice walk. We usually drive one route south and the other route north to stem boredom.

If you would rather fly, Tampa International Airport, about 60 miles north, has nonstop flights from Cleveland. Sarasota Bradenton International Airport is closer, but is generally more expensive and requires a connection from Northeast Ohio.

Where to stay: Most places in Anna Maria are weekly vacation rentals, from cozy one-bedroom cottages to luxury beach homes with more than five bedrooms. Before you book, make sure you double-check where your rental is on Anna Maria Island. Holmes Beach is the busier, commercial end of the island with great public beaches (with restrooms and nearby restaurants) and lots for children to do. Anna Maria village is on the northern tip of the island, where you'll find both Rod and Reel Pier and Bean Point, a spectacular but smaller public beach without any amenities.

Sato Real Estate (satorealestate.com) and Anna Maria Island Accommodations (annamariaparadise.com) have lots of options, many including wireless Internet and private pools. For shorter stays, there's the Rod and Reel Motel (rodandreelmotel.com), with its own tiny beach next to the pier. Tip: If you can make it through winter to the shoulder season -- May -- you'll save about 20 percent off accommodations and avoid crowds that sometimes cause traffic backups onto the island.

Where to eat: No need to change out of your flip-flops for lots of excellent choices nearby, but bring cash -- many local places don't accept credit cards.

Rod and Reel Pier, 875 North Shore Drive, has its own restaurant, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, with the best view on the island. You can't go wrong with the fresh catch of the day, perfectly grilled. Order the sandwich without the bun -- it's a full meal at half the price of a dinner.

Duffy's Tavern (duffystavernami.com) on Holmes Beach reminds you why hamburgers achieved icon status in the United States, even if you don't think you're a burger person. $1 mugs/$5 pitchers of beer.

Star Fish Co. (starfishcompany.com) on nearby Cortez is a combination dock/restaurant/fish market. Features include mullet, grouper, pompano, stone crab and other local specialties, served on the waterfront in cardboard boxes on picnic benches.

Also, stock your kitchen from Publix grocery and the Fish Market on Anna Maria Island (thefishmarketami.com), both in Holmes Beach. A Whole Foods Market is in nearby Sarasota, a worthwhile 30-minute drive across other islands, along beaches and water.

-- Amanda Garrett

I didn't say anything. We had worked too hard to get here and I wasn't about to ruin something before it began. As we headed north, crossing out of Holmes Beach and into Anna Maria village at the tip of the island, the clutter gave way to tidy residential streets of cottages and stilted houses with garages underneath.

When William opened the door of our two-bedroom rental -- owned by the same family for 50 years -- trepidation faded. Inside, French Country melded with modern, airy beach house. And outside, a small, in-ground pool was ringed by blooming bougainvillea and all sorts of palms.

Shaking off road fatigue, we walked a couple of blocks to the beach, past a park and then followed lights to a nearby pier where several fishermen already had lines in the water. A weathered wooden sign, its white letters hand-painted without the help of a stencil, greeted us to the Rod and Reel Pier.

We walked out across the water and sat on a bench that overlooks Tampa's Skyway Bridge in the distance, waiting to watch the sun rise.

Three locals in kayaks soon paddled by. Six or so dolphins passed, heading in the opposite direction.

And then, about an hour later, a waitress upstairs called out and pointed. Two manatees glided underneath the pier, emerging on the other side with a brief snort of water.

Fishermen, meanwhile, were hauling in all kinds of fish we had never seen before: ladyfish, blue runners and an 18-inch green-and-silver fish called Spanish mackerel that locals said was perfect for ceviche made with Florida grapefruit.

We met Australians and Jamaicans and a Russian wearing a Brazil soccer jersey. Our morning coffee soon gave way to midday beer and an easy decision -- we needed fishing gear.

We weren't fishermen, but Rod and Reel, to our great surprise, was where we wanted to be.

Reeling in a big catch

William's face was red, and he was starting to sweat. Cameras were flashing and several strangers were videotaping him, narrating his epic fishing battle on their vacation film.

View full sizeChris Stephens l The Plain DealerA pier on Anna Maria Island, Fla., offers fishing or just a chance to enjoy the water and the sunshine.

He had been reeling in this catch for more than 10 minutes, and whatever it was had been fighting him the whole time. We had already caught a few small sharks off Rod and Reel, mostly 2- and 3-foot blacktips and lemons, along with more than a dozen kinds of fish, including a few lookdowns -- nearly flat tropical fish that can fetch $200 at aquarium stores.

But none of them bucked like this.

If it was a big shark, I knew we didn't know how to handle it. Some fishermen have been seriously injured by sharks they caught.

I walked around the corner looking for help. Malcolm, a long-hair dachshund that greets people evenings on Rod and Reel, was tied outside the bar. The dog's owner, Jimmy, is one of three bait men and fishing advisers who work the pier, and he had been teaching us how to fish in the ocean (and take hooks out of pesky pelicans who dive and swallow bait).

Jimmy knew right away that William wasn't at war with a shark. But before he could say anything, a flat, round creature -- more than 3 feet in diameter -- broke the surface of the water. It was a huge stingray.

There was a collective groan of disappointment from the hecklers upstairs hoping for a shark, but those capturing the moment on film seemed as delighted as we were to see a ray that large.

Jimmy, however, was now concerned. Maneuvering a ray that size onto the pier wasn't easy. And the ray's barb -- the sharp spine a ray instinctively shoots from its tail when it's frightened -- can be dangerous. In 2006, television's "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was killed when a ray fired a barb into his chest.

But then William's line snapped: Crack!

The stingray disappeared under the water, presumably swimming away to find a long and peaceful life.

We were left empty-handed, but forever had a fish story of our own to share with visitors to Rod and Reel Pier.

And we found an affordable escape, a warm-weather destination we visit when Ohio's long winters are too much to bear.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: agarrett@plaind.com, 216-999-4814

Related topics: anna maria island, florida, travel

My New Blog

On unflashy Anna Maria Island in Florida, we let go of winter and reel in a fish story

Published: Saturday, April 02, 2011, 1:30 PM

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