Several people have commented to me about my love of Shell Island and the amount of space I have spent writing about it. Well, to be honest, it has the following very important characteristics:

• I’ve been going there for 40 years. I know how to fish there and how to find my way around.
• It’s a quaint and quiet little place. Honestly, there’s no loud parties, no drunks raising cain at midnight, and no cruising spots! There’s also no beach… So good luck getting your wives there fellows.
• It’s old Florida. There’s no mouse, no rides, no lines except to get shrimp at the bait house in the morning and there’s no chain restaurants cluttering up every corner of civilization. In fact, there’s barely civilization!
• Showers are hot, beds are adequate, and the TV barely works. 
• Memories — from my first trip to fish the saltwater at around 5 or 6 years old to sitting on the dock down there and telling my father I was getting married, to memories of my dad and his brother drinking a beer and smoking cigars together on the dock… And waiting for people to get off the payphone at the store so I could call my wife to say good night. There’s no place around Shell Island that doesn’t hold special meanings for me. 
• Fishing — you might have thought this would be higher on the list… However, the fishing is outstanding! Trout, reds, sheepshead, black drum, Spanish mackerel, tarpon, grouper, you name it and it’s around there! From creeks to miles of shallow grass flats. Oyster bars to mud flats. Truly, every type of fishing in the upper gulf is available right there. 
• It’s affordable. Mr. Jeff, the owner, is committed to making sure that the next chapter of Shell Island includes the same working-class fishermen that have always come there. No there isn’t a Ritz and there are no Hells Bay skiffs sitting at the dock, but there are everyday fisherman, families, and generations of people who love this place and come back year after year.
• It’s accessible. You bass fisherman out there: Yes, even you can go down there towing your skeeter and catch fish. You can catch Suwanee bass, largemouth, bream, crappie, trout, and reds. My dad and I used to do that with several bass boats we had in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It’s not perfect, but it is doable, and it’s fun to carry your own gear and own boat there! If you see me there you will without doubt, see me in my Pathfinder because this is what I love. I dream it all the time. 

If this reads like an advertisement it isn’t. It is, however, my sincere thoughts and reasons behind why I spend so much of my free time there. In my mind it’s just peaceful and relaxing. Nothing feels better to me than when I cross Highway 98 and see the signs. Keep a look out and this spring you just might have the opportunity to join me down there and see for yourself!

—Outdoors columnist James Pressley can be reached at pressleyoutdoors@gmail.com .