Even with empty boat, Naples angler Robert Collins captures title at Inshore World Championships

Photo by Contributed

Guide John Donnell, left, tournament director Sandy Moret, and Naples' Robert Collins pose with the trophy after Collins won the fly division of the Florida Keys Outfitters/IGFA Inshore Championship in Islamorada on July 15. It was Collins' fourth IGFA title.

Robert Collins headed back toward the dock Thursday thinking the worst.

On Thursday, Collins, of Naples, and guide John Donnell motored to the event’s headquarters in Islamorada from Biscayne Bay on the third and final day of the Florida Key Outfitters/IGFA Inshore World Championships with an empty boat.

The leader after two days, Collins had fished Biscayne under favorable conditions hoping to land tarpon, one of the tournament’s five target fish. But he got skunked.

“There were fish,” Collins said. “We had a shot at a number of tarpon but we could not get them to bite. I thought my chances of winning were extremely low.”

As luck would have it for Collins, the nine other anglers in the fly division couldn’t get fish to bite either, as no fish were caught on the final day.

Shortly after arriving back at dock, Collins was awarded the event’s grand championship in the fly division, marking the fourth straight year a Naples angler has earned a title at the tournament.

In 2009, the tournament split into two divisions, light tackle and fly. Before this year, Collins had won the event in 2005, 2007 and 2008. Last year, Naples physician Dr. Mike Gallops won the spin grand championship.

Collins said before the tournament that he was using a fly rod for the second straight year because he was seeking new challenges. He had “messed” around with a fly rod growing up in Naples and had won a few local tournaments with it, but generally competed with a spin reel.

“I thought it would take longer,” Collins said of winning the IGFA’s fly division. “There were a lot of great anglers entered. I thought I got a little lucky, but I feel good about it.

“My guide (Donnell) was super. He had the fish lined up. Sometimes you don’t mesh with a guide, but we were in sync.”

Cloudy conditions over the tournament’s three days made the sight-fishing necessary to succeed in the IGFA difficult.

Of the 10 fly anglers competing for the five target species — snook, redfish, tarpon, permit and bonefish — combined, they only caught 15 fish total. In fact, no snook were caught.

“The fishing was tough going into the tournament,” said Collins, who caught three redfish and one bonefish. “But I didn’t expect it to be that tough.”

Things started out promising enough for Collins, who boated his three redfish in Flamingo Bay just three hours into the first day.

Heading north to Biscayne Bay on the second day, Collins snagged a bonefish, putting him in the lead.

He went back to Biscayne on Thursday, while the rest of the field stayed south, under cloudy conditions.

“We forced people to have to catch fish on the third day and I thought they would,” Collins said. “I thought they had the same clear conditions I had in Biscayne, but they didn’t.

“That was bad luck for them. But it was good for us.”

In the light tackle division, Naples brothers Troy and Derek Pruitt finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Jake Turek of Islamorada took the spin title.

Troy Pruitt had finished second the last three years.