Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish Caught and Released Off North Bonita Beach

A Southwest Florida fisherman made a rare catch this week while beach fishing along the shoreline in North Bonita, part of Bonita Springs. According to reporting published September 5, 2026 by WINK News, Michael Mesagno and his father-in-law were casting lines from the beach when they hooked a federally endangered smalltooth sawfish. Mesagno initially mistook it for a sailfish before realizing what was actually on the line.

I am Kris Asquith, Broker Associate at Premiere Plus Realty, and I sell across nine Southwest Florida markets including Bonita Springs.

Once Mesagno realized what he had on the line, he and his father-in-law focused on getting the fish back into the water quickly and safely rather than trying to land it for a longer look. Mesagno told WINK News, "We have to make sure that you know it's a clean release and make sure that this fish gets away safely because they're so endangered and so rare." After releasing the sawfish, he called it in to report the encounter, saying wildlife officials "were glad to hear such a young, healthy fish was still in the water."

For Mesagno, the moment carried some personal weight too. His father-in-law, an experienced angler who taught him to fish, was the one holding the rod when the sawfish struck. Mesagno described it as "one of the coolest fish he's ever caught, like once in a lifetime experience for sure."

The smalltooth sawfish is federally endangered and has been fully protected from harvest in Florida for years, listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act as the first marine fish to receive that protection. It is a large ray, not a shark, identifiable by a long, flattened snout lined with 21 to 30 unpaired teeth on each side, and it can grow to a total length of up to 18 feet including that saw. The species was once found from the United States to Brazil. Today, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, it is regularly found only in south Florida and the western Bahamas, which makes an encounter like the one off North Bonita genuinely unusual rather than a routine catch.

Fishing gear entanglement is the primary modern threat to the species, which is exactly why FWC's guidance is to release a hooked sawfish as quickly and safely as possible rather than attempt to bring it in.

This stretch of coast is not an incidental part of the sawfish's range. The Peace River and the Caloosahatchee River, both emptying into the water off this coastline, hold some of the nation's most important nursery habitats for the species, according to FWC, with two designated Critical Habitat areas set aside specifically to protect juveniles. Females give birth in shallow, mangrove-lined estuarine nurseries, mainly in April and May, and because sawfish produce very few young in their lifetime, every individual that survives to adulthood matters more to the population's recovery than it would for a more prolific species.

FWC has separately asked the public for help tracking the species in these waters. In an appeal reported by WUSF on August 11, 2026, the agency asked anglers, boaters and beachgoers who encounter a sawfish to report it, in its own words: "If you catch a sawfish while fishing for other species or happen to see one while you are near the water, please contact us." A catch off North Bonita beach, reported the way Mesagno's was, is exactly the kind of data point that request is aimed at collecting.

FWC's guidance is straightforward: do not attempt to remove it from the water, keep it in the water as much as possible, cut the line close to the hook rather than trying to extract it, and avoid the toothed rostrum entirely, both for the fish's protection and your own. Report the encounter to FWC at Sawfish@MyFWC.com or by calling 800-4SAWFISH (800-472-9347), including the date, time, estimated length and water depth where the fish was seen. Anyone fishing, boating or wading in the bays, rivers and beaches across this stretch of Lee County is fishing in habitat this species still genuinely depends on.

Nobody can honestly say what a story like this does to nearby property values, and be skeptical of anyone who tells you otherwise. What it does confirm is something about the water itself rather than about any specific address: the beaches, bays and rivers around Bonita Springs remain functioning habitat for one of the rarest fish in North American waters, protected in part by nursery rivers nearby and in part by anglers like Mesagno who know to let a rare catch go.

Buyers looking at Bonita Springs waterfront homes or beachfront condos are buying into a coastline where encounters like this are still possible, which says something durable about the water quality and habitat here rather than about any single listing's price.

As one honest, interesting data point about the health of the water here, not as anything that moves a number on a specific property. What actually decides what a property near the water costs to buy and keep are the things a story like this never covers: elevation, the insurance that follows from it, what an association holds in reserves, and what an inspection turns up on that specific address. The home buying process walks through where each of those gets checked, in order, before you are under contract.

If you are weighing a property in Bonita Springs, or anywhere else across the nine markets I cover, get in touch or call (239) 300-1427 for a straight read on a specific address rather than the coastline in general.