The Western Hunter, BK, and the Silver King

The Western Hunter was the name of one of the giant dredges that excavated the hundred miles of waterways and home front canals that encompass Marco Island. During a major decade of dredging, the goal for the Mackle brothers’ engineering crew was simple: dredge until the surrounding land that was once sea-level mangroves became high enough to build waterfront homes and infrastructure. Most of the time, the plan was straightforward. Dig a canal that was 100 feet wide and pile everything that was once underwater - or at root-level with the mangroves - into the new reclaimed land that would soon have seawalls, roads, cul-de-sacs, and houses.

The plan worked perfectly well most of the time, but on occasion, when the engineers and the parents of modern Marco needed more landfill than waterways, the dredges dug deeper and deeper over larger areas to produce enough reclaimed land to satisfy the building height requirements that made Marco what it is today.

The large areas where the dredging engineers worked for weeks - and operated the dredges that were as big as ships - are now some of the big water island bays and basins. Because of the overwhelming demand for the fill needed to build a tropical island out of sea-level mangroves, The Western Hunter and other powerful dredges dug deep.

A few of the inland, big water views that are as large as lakes are over thirty feet deep. To many islanders, snowbirds, tourists, and other humans, this would not sound like a great depth until considering the large and daunting sea creatures that thrive in water at only half of that depth.

April is the beginning of tarpon time in the Ten Thousand Islands. The big and very aggressive fish also fall under the name of the Silver Kings and begin to rule over the shallow water inlets and bays of Marco, Goodland, and the Isles of Capri in springtime. Anglers from around the world come to southwest Florida for the incredible sport of tarpon fishing, and many who make the move to Marco soon become captivated by a species of fish that lives to be fifty years old and truly are the Silver Kings of any waterway, man-made by The Western Hunter or otherwise.

Bill Keoting came to Marco Island from St Louis, and when he came to Marco, he brought his love of fishing, his guitar, and an outstanding talent as a musician. In time, Bill became “Just BK” to everyone who knew him and founded Lighthouse Audiovisual to provide a service for sound systems and lighting gear for convention and hotel productions. Lighthouse Audiovisual was an immediate success, and BK quickly assembled a team of new friends who soon became family. With the business well underway, BK had the means and time to buy a boat and explore the islands and the fishing opportunities that were waiting behind his new house with the deep-water basin.

For BK, Lake of the Ozarks was the big water before Marco, and with the open expanse of the Gulf waiting, and more islands than anyone could explore also on the bucket list, BK set out to catch every kind of fish he could bring aboard his new 30-footer.

Behind his Marco house with the big water view, BK caught snook, redfish, and enough tripletail to feed a navy, but after several years of living on the inland bay, BK had not caught the angler’s dream of a trophy tarpon. Most everyone he knew had a tarpon trophy on the wall, but for BK, there was no Silver King on display in the Florida room of his house.

One day with spring in full swing on the islands and tarpon fisher-folk hooking onto Silver King monsters in the Marco River - and making enough of a leaping and jumping show that the hooked fish could be on an adventure film - BK decided he would cast off from his dock and not come home without a trophy tarpon.

With an orange crest of sunrise defeating the early morning stars over the Marco River, BK tried his luck in the fast-moving current near the docks of the old Marco Village and then over on the Capri side, where the current was even stronger. 

When it soon became apparent that the tarpon were evasive, BK pulled the anchor and headed out under the bridge to Goodland and Coon Key. With the results disappointing in the southern islands, and the sun a superheated force on the water that was like a mirror, the dripping anchor came out again, and the fast-moving boat became the only sign of life on the vast expanse of Gullivan Bay.

Keewaydin was next, but when a strong sea breeze began driving and whipping whitecaps into waves that were determined to defeat any angler, BK turned his back on the Gulf and headed home through the seawall channels made by The Western Hunter.

With the disappointment weighing heavily and hope for a big Silver King disappearing with the sun behind high rises on the beach, BK tied up the boat but decided to try one final cast out into the deep water beside the dock.

When the line and the same bait from Keewaydin hit the water, the huge tarpon struck, the fishing pole bent almost to the decking, and BK was almost as surprised as the big Silver King that he fought on his dock for almost an hour.

A fiberglass taxidermy version of BK’s, Silver King tarpon was soon mounted in the Florida room of the guitar man from St Louis, as another unexpected success came into fruition for another Marco Islander who came after the inspired Mackle brothers' vision and the deep water exploits of The Western Hunter.