The Conservancy of Southwest Florida's RedSnook Catch & Release Charity Fishing Tournament runs October 23 through 25 this year. The weekend opens on Broad Avenue South in Old Naples, at the Olde Naples Hotel, 200 Broad Avenue South. The fishing starts somewhere else. On Saturday morning, every Naples team has to push off from Bayview Boat Ramp on Danford Street. A boat lift behind a Gordon Drive home can hold a perfectly rigged flats skiff, and the tournament still won't count it as a start line.
That one rule decides how the weekend plays out for this neighborhood. Most of RedSnook happens on land here, and the on-the-water part follows a clock and a map set by the tournament, not by anyone's own dock.
The Rule That Moves the Start Line
Rule 7 in the Conservancy's 2026 tournament rules says boats must leave from and return to official launch sites by water. Teams may sign in by 6:45 a.m. and must leave the dock by 7:15 a.m. A team that doesn't check in before 8:00 a.m. is disqualified. They have to be back at their launch site by 3:00 p.m. or lose that day's points, and trailering is banned during tournament hours. There are three launch sites in all: Bayview Boat Ramp in Naples, Safe Harbor Calusa Island in Goodland, and Outdoor Resorts of Chokoloskee. Teams had to lock in their launch site and division by October 2.
Collier County lists Bayview Park at 1500 Danford Street as a four-acre park on Naples Bay. Its page tells boaters to arrive early on weekends because the ramp gets busy. On the last full weekend of October, that early start comes with a tournament attached. A resident heading to Bayview for a normal Saturday on the water will be sharing the ramp with RedSnook teams signing out before 7:15.
The Weekend, Hour by Hour
The schedule puts the social events in town and the fishing in the backcountry:
| Date | Time | What happens | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 16 – Sun., Oct. 25 | Online | Public auction: vacation stays, private charters, fishing gear | conservancy.org/redsnook |
| Fri., Oct. 23 | 5:30 p.m. | Registration opens | Olde Naples Hotel, 200 Broad Ave. S. |
| Fri., Oct. 23 | 6:00 p.m. | Captains' meeting | Olde Naples Hotel |
| Fri., Oct. 23 | 6:30–8:00 p.m. | Kickoff party | Olde Naples Hotel |
| Sat.–Sun., Oct. 24–25 | 7:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. | Fishing | Launches from Naples, Goodland, Chokoloskee |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | 6:30 p.m. | The Chris Campbell Awards Reception, hosted by Northern Trust | Northern Trust, 4001 Tamiami Trail N. |
The auction opens this Friday, a full week before anyone casts a line. It runs until the awards on October 25. It's also the easiest way to take part without a boat, a guide, or a teammate.
Where the Lines Can't Go
The rules also set limits on where teams can fish, and several of them touch water that Aqualane Shores residents know well.
- Inshore only, no deeper than a push pole. The rules say fishing is meant to stay inshore, in water no deeper than a push pole can reach. This is a flats and backcountry contest, not a run offshore through Gordon Pass.
- Nothing within 200 yards of a bait or fuel seller. Teams can't fish within 200 yards of any facility that sells bait or fuel. The City of Naples lists the Naples City Dock at Crayton Cove as selling gasoline, diesel, ice, and bait. That puts the water around the City Dock off-limits for scoring during the tournament.
- Slow zones still apply. The rules require teams to follow slow zones and all other boating regulations. Under Florida's Collier County manatee protection rule, Naples Bay, Gordon Pass, and the connected waters are slow-speed zones. The exceptions are the marked 30-mph channels, and in Naples Bay that channel runs from marker 33 to marker 52. The 3:00 p.m. deadline doesn't change any of that.
- Gear limits. Anglers must use circle hooks with live bait. No line heavier than 20-pound test is allowed, each angler gets one rod in the water at a time, and chumming is banned in every division.
Each team has two anglers. Professional guides may not register as anglers, and a guide may not cast for an angler. Teams pick one of six divisions: guided bait, unguided bait, guided artificial, unguided artificial, fly, and youth.
How a Fish Becomes Points
Every fish goes back in the water. A catch counts once the fish is measured on the tournament board, facing left, photographed, and released alive. Every photo has to show that day's poker chip, and teams upload them through the iAngler app by 5:00 p.m. Each team can enter its three biggest redfish and three biggest snook per day, and no single angler can enter more than two of either.
The scoring rewards Sunday. A fish earns 10 points per inch on day one and 15 points per inch on day two, with every length rounded up to the next inch. The rulebook's own example of a 24 3/8-inch fish, counted as 25 inches, is worth 250 points on Saturday and 375 on Sunday. Neither species has a minimum size.
For a sense of a winning total, look at last October. Cape Coral Breeze reported that Pat Butler won the 2025 Chris Campbell Champion Angler award with 2,240 points. He and Kyle Coar also won the unguided artificial division. According to the same article, Brian Carlos caught the largest snook at 35 inches and Clint Sherwood the largest redfish at 31 inches. At 15 points per inch, that snook would have scored 525 points on a Sunday by itself.
There's also the Grand Slam. To win it, a team needs a tarpon of at least 30 inches, a snook of at least 28 inches, and a redfish of at least 18 inches, all on the same day, with each angler catching at least one of the three. Tarpon are measured beside the boat and never brought aboard. The Trash Can Slam goes to the angler with the longest combined catfish, ladyfish, and jack in one day.
What October Water Is Doing
The tournament falls in the right season for it. In his September 23, 2026 Naples and Marco Island fishing report, Capt. Mark Ward called September and October "two of the best months for redfish." He wrote that redfish were turning up in the passes, bays, cuts, and shallows, and that "snook are still prowling many of the same areas." In the same report, he described baitfish "lining the beaches, filling the adjacent bays."
Outside the tournament, the state's harvest rules apply, and they shift during the fall. The FWC's Southwest snook region has its northern boundary near Vanderbilt Beach Road in Collier County and runs south through the Florida Keys. That region is closed to snook harvest from May 1 through September 30 and again from December 1 through the end of February. That leaves October and November open, with a 28-to-33-inch slot and one fish per person per day, according to the FWC snook page. The FWC red drum page lists Southwest-region redfish harvest as open year-round, with an 18-to-27-inch slot, one fish per person, and two per vessel. RedSnook skips all of that and releases every fish, even though the season is open.
Thirty-Three Years on the Same Two Fish
According to the Conservancy's own history, RedSnook started in 1993. Founders Dick Botthof and Tim Parry built it as a fundraiser for the YMCA of Collier County, and the first event drew 40 anglers. In 2007 it began benefiting the Conservancy, and unguided divisions were added. Today the Conservancy calls it the region's largest charity fishing tournament. In 2025, it drew 59 teams and 118 anglers and raised nearly $186,000 for clean-water work. Jon Kukk and Keith Embree chair the 2026 event.
The Conservancy's 2026 announcement says the money supports monitoring of local waterways and juvenile gamefish habitat. It also funds the restoration and monitoring of nearly 8,000 mangroves a year and clean-water education for more than 35,000 people annually. Conservancy President and CEO Rob Moher put it this way in the same release:
"RedSnook gives anglers, sponsors and supporters an opportunity to help protect the very waters they enjoy, which make this region such an extraordinary place to live and fish."
Weather can still change the schedule. If the National Hurricane Center issues a Tropical Storm Warning for any launch area within 48 hours of the start, the tournament will be postponed. A new date would then be announced within 96 hours. If the forecast holds, the boats will leave Bayview by 7:15 a.m. on October 24 and return by 3:00 p.m. both days. Winners will be named on October 25 at the Northern Trust office at 4001 Tamiami Trail North.
A good tournament weekend runs on timing, a short list of rules, and a few hours of fishing that everyone wants to talk about at dinner, and a well-run home sale works much the same way. If you're thinking about what your own dock, lift, and canal frontage say to the next owner, Chef David Sells Naples is happy to talk it over after the boats come in. Schedule a private consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
