Bass Pro Shops has agreed to acquire Cheeca Lodge & Spa, the historic oceanfront resort in Islamorada, Florida, the outdoor retailer announced June 23. The deal, struck through the company's nature-based resorts division, was made for an undisclosed price.
The acquisition unites Cheeca Lodge with the neighboring World Wide Sportsman Store & Marina, a Bass Pro-owned landmark that has anchored Islamorada's sportfishing scene for decades. Together, the properties give the company a substantial foothold in a destination long billed as "The Sportfishing Capital of the World."
For Bass Pro founder Johnny Morris, a noted conservationist and recipient of the 2019 Audubon Medal, the purchase carries personal weight.
"I have been very blessed to have spent my entire life around the great sport of fishing," Morris said. "Growing up as far from the ocean as you can get in the Missouri Ozark Mountains, fly-fishing beautiful streams for perch and smallmouth bass. I will never forget dreaming about and then getting to catch my first tarpon on a fly. I was 16 years old fishing with my best buddy, my Dad and Capt. Sonny Eslinger on Buchanan Bank out of Bud N' Mary's Marina."
"From that special day forward, like many others, I have come to have enormous respect for the history of Islamorada, and the generations of anglers and families who have made memories here or who are blessed to call the Keys home," he added. "We're humbled and honored to have the opportunity to help protect it and carry that story forward."
The company said it intends to enhance the resort while preserving its character, the same philosophy that guides its flagship Big Cedar Lodge in the Missouri Ozarks. That property, dubbed "America's Premier Wilderness Resort," draws 7.5 million guests a year, and more than half of its 24,000 acres have been donated and permanently preserved through the not-for-profit Johnny Morris Conservation Foundation.
Cheeca Lodge itself comes with deep amenities and deeper history. The resort offers lodges and cottages with oceanfront views, three tropical pools, a full-service spa, a 9-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed par-3 golf course, a 525-foot fishing pier, and waterfront dining popular for weddings and events. Its guest book reads like an American sporting hall of fame: Ernest Hemingway, Zane Grey, Ted Williams, and Jack Nicklaus all spent time there, and President Harry Truman is said to have been the very first guest to check into the Olney Inn, which later became Cheeca Lodge. President George H.W. Bush hosted his Presidential Bonefish Tournaments at the property.
The adjacent World Wide Sportsman, founded in 1967 by anglers George Hommell Jr. and Billy Pate, aligned with Morris and Bass Pro nearly 30 years ago. The store and marina sit alongside the Islamorada Fish Company, Morada Bay, and Pierre's restaurants, with direct access to the Everglades and the Gulf Stream.
Hospitality is increasingly central to the Bass Pro brand — a strategy travel advisors may recognize from the company's Memphis outpost, where the Pyramid superstore houses Big Cypress Lodge, a hotel that has become a destination in its own right. Cheeca extends that playbook to saltwater.
Bass Pro said it remains committed to promoting the region's captains, marinas, resorts, and restaurants through its national and international customer base, and noted that for more than a decade the company has given back over 10 percent of its earnings to support conservation in the Florida Keys and beyond.
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