One of the world’s oldest non-profit wildlife conservation organizations, Audubon has been protecting Lake Okeechobee and tens of thousands of acres of adjacent wetlands, prairies and hammocks since …
A Call to Artists: the Bimini Bonefish Challenge Art Contest
18 Jan 20113:56 PM
A message from Vaughn Cochran, renowned artist, fly fishermen and conservationist:
We’re having a parade on February 25th to celebrate the inaugural Bimini Bonefish Challenge tournament. And what’s a parade without parade floats? We need some, and we need your help!
Design a float for Bimini Bonefish Parade that celebrates the 40th anniversary of the catching of the 16lb, 3oz world record monster bonefish in Bimini. For those of you who can’t join us in the actual parade in Bimini, we’re going to host a virtual parade on the Club’s website. The floats in our virtual parade will be judged by writers and editors from the fishing industry and the winner will receive a complimentary two night stay at the Club, and a full day of backcountry fishing.
You can use any media to create your float. Now you realize, we’re looking only for a photo of your float design because its only going to exist on our website! So dream big…dream in color….get fancy, or keep it simple. It doesn’t matter – except to the judges! Submit your entry on the Club’s website. As entries are received they will be displayed in an updated loop. Please submit your entry with a white background. The winner will be announced in Bimini at the conclusion of the parade and the award ceremony for the Bimini Bonefish Challenge. The deadline for entries is February 23rd. Now, go to your studio and unleash that artist in you….and remember, Vaughn and Guy are looking over your shoulder!
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![](mailto:?subject=Audubon and Lake O: More than Birds&body=One of the world's oldest non-profit wildlife conservation organizations, Audubon has been protecting Lake Okeechobee and tens of thousands of acres of adjacent wetlands, prairies and hammocks since 1936.
The Big O itself is the liquid heart of south-central Florida-- providing drinking water for millions of humans; irrigation for crops; and homes for numerous species of sport and food fish and wading and migratory birds. But the "dry" prairie that surrounds the lake is just as important, and Audubon has been a key player in establishing sanctuaries protecting it from being drained and over-farmed for most of the past century.
The vast grasslands that extend south from the Kissimmee River to the lake--quick to catch fire in the dry season and to flood in wet periods-- are biologically rich and make prime habitat for some unique birds -- the crested Caracara; sandhill crane; burrowing owl; white-tailed kite; and the endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow. Otters and alligators dwell in nearby marshes, along with wading birds such as herons, ibises and spoonbills.
One of the best places to experience this unique ecosystem of dry and wet prairie; marshes; and palm and oak hammock is Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park -- a 54,000-acre gem located about 25 miles northwest of Lake Okeechobee that Audubon was instrumental in establishing.
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Managed by the Florida Park Service, it's one of the state's largest preserves and you could spend weeks exploring it. About 100 miles of dirt roads for hiking, biking and horseback riding allow extraordinary opportunities to view wild animals without disturbing them.
On a brief hike through a hardwood hammock adjacent to the park office, I spied a flock of wild turkey and a half-dozen deer. On the open prairie, I didn't observe any Caracaras-- sort of a cross between a raptor and a vulture-- but I saw fly-bys of numerous kestrels and hawks. Colorful wildflowers dotted the landscape and subtly-hued sedges rushed along in the brisk wind. I don't know my butterflies, but several different varieties flitted all around. I found a five-foot gator lurking next to some culvert pipes in a slough, and a great egret squawked at me as I passed.
Visitors can camp here year-round and spend hours stargazing far from the light pollution of big cities. From now through March, the rangers lead swamp buggy tours into some of the park's remotest reaches. Reservations are required; call 863-462-5360.
Meanwhile, Audubon continues its long-standing work protecting wildlife and wild places here and throughout Florida-- entering a partnership with the state to establish "critical wildlife areas" and meeting with federal and state agencies, local governments and conservation groups to ensure clean water flowing into and out of Lake Okeechobee at the right times and right amounts. It's not just for the birds. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/audubon-and-lake-o-more-than-birds/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Sponging Up History in Tarpon Springs&body=Doug Ward donned a canvas-and-rubber suit, wood-and-leather boots, and a copper-and-brass dive helmet with a hose attached to an air compressor and plunged into the Anclote River in Tarpon Springs, FL. We could see his bubbles from the St. Nicholas tour boat, and after a few minutes he bobbed to the surface holding a small, unsightly brownish object.
A crewman carefully helped Ward, wearing nearly 175 pounds of dive gear, back onto the boat where he passed the squishy find among the passengers.
"Bleah," I thought as I examined it.
It was a small wool sponge-- considered the most commercially desirable among the more than 1,500 species of the invertebrates that grow on hard-bottom areas in the Gulf of Mexico. But this one was just for demo purposes, not for sale. And anyway, it would have taken about 2 1/2 days to wash away the guts and stink and render it into a pristine bath or decorative accessory like the ones that fill the shops along Tarpon Springs' main drag, Dodecanese Blvd.
We passengers on the tour boat had just witnessed an historical reenactment of the early 20th-century Greek art of sponge diving with which the St. Nicholas crew has been entertaining visitors since 1924.
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Beginning around 1902, thousands of Greek sponge divers poured into this quiet Gulf coast town, bringing with them the equipment they had been using in their native waters since the 1860s. Besides harvesting, processing and shipping the skeletons of the animals, they built boats and homes and prepared their signature dishes like spanakopita and baklava in waterfront restaurants. For decades, Tarpon Springs reigned as the sponge capital of the world.
But in the late 1930s through mid-40s, a bacterial blight killed the industry, and it didn't really recover until new sponge beds were discovered well offshore during the 1980s. Today, Tarpon Springs has regained its top spot, supplying some 70 percent of worldwide demand for natural sponges.
Of course today's sponge divers don't need to use the cumbersome gear of yesteryear. Ward, a transplant from Wyoming who volunteers with St. Nicholas, dives commercially for sponges from his own boat using modern scuba gear such as a hookah rig to deliver air and a neoprene wetsuit. He said he usually harvests between 150 and 200 sponges per day.
The one thing that hasn't changed in over a century is the processing; it still takes about 2 1/2 days of labor-intensive fussing to render a soft, odorless, germ- and mold-resistant sponge.
The first thing I did when I got off the boat was to go buy one.
The St. Nicholas Boat Line runs daily tours from its dock on Dodecanese Blvd. in Tarpon Springs. Call 727-942-6425 or email stnicholas@live.com. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/sponging-up-history-in-tarpon-springs/){kind=link}
 – Old Bahama Bay Resort & Yacht Harbour, a Guy Harvey Outpost Expedition Lodge has been nominated in The Bahamas's Leading Resort category in the 2015 World Travel Awards. The resort is one of only two resorts on Grand Bahama Island nominated for this award and one of nine resorts nationwide. The Wall Street Journal is among the many media that have heralded WTA as “the Oscar’s of the travel industry”.
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Old Bahama Bay has been nominated for the World Travel Awards every year from 2007-2015. For more details: <a href="http://www.worldtravelawards.com/profile-3577-old-bahama-bay-resort-yacht-harbour">http://www.worldtravelawards.com/profile-3577-old-bahama-bay-resort-yacht-harbor</a>
Old Bahama Bay is home to Guy Harvey Outpost's up coming <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/ghofish/">Bonfire Beach Bash and Tournament</a> this June 25-29th. To make your reservations now call: 800-513-5257
PLEASE VOTE for <a href="http://www.worldtravelawards.com/vote">Old Bahama Bay on-line</a> until August 23, 2015.
The country awards reflect the range of products and service offerings of an individual country’s travel and tourism industry. The annual final shortlist of nominees for each country award is reached via the following criteria:
The previous year's country award winner and two runners-up
Vetted and approved self-nominations
Vetted and approved WTA commendations
The winner’s will be named at the World Travel Award’s Caribbean & North America Gala Ceremony held on October 17, 2015 in Turks & Caicos.
World Travel Awards (WTA) was established in 1993 by Graham E. Cooke to seek out and reward the very best travel organizations in the world – those brands pushing the boundaries of excellence and implementing ground-breaking ideas.
WTA has developed into the most prestigious and comprehensive awards program in travel and tourism, and is recognized worldwide as the hallmark of industry excellence.
Old Bahama Bay is located in West End Village, approximately 25 miles west of the city of Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. With its 73 rooms, 2 restaurants and 72 marina slips, Old Bahama Bay has a barefoot elegance ambiance with an out-island remote feel, but with the convenience of an international airport and major destination amenities.
For more information on <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/west-end-grand-bahama-island/overview.html">Old Bahama Bay, a Guy Harvey Outpost Expedition Lodge</a>
For Fishing with Guy Harvey Outpost: <a href="http://www.ghofish.com/">www.ghofish.com</a>
For Guy Harvey Outpost & their great resorts: <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/" target="_parent">http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/</a>
For the Guy Harvey Outpost Blog <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpostnews.com/" target="_parent">www.guyharveyoutpostnews.com</a>
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![](mailto:?subject=Follow Guy Harvey Outpost on Instagram!&body=Join GH Outpost on Instagram by following @GuyHarveyOutpost!
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/photo-11.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1348" title="Guy Harvey Outpost on Instagram" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/photo-11.png" alt="" width="426" height="640" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/follow-guy-harvey-outpost-on-instagram/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Regular Lobster Season: It’s Not Just for Bugs Anymore&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ACE0110-e1502201546903.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4855" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ACE0110-e1502201546903.jpg" alt="" width="599" height="400" /></a>Scuba diving about 45 feet deep on a coral-dotted ledge off Pompano Beach, FL., my dive buddy and I were startled by a spreading cloud of sand in the near-distance. We kicked over to the source of the plume and were amazed and delighted to see a huge loggerhead sea turtle with its head stuck deep in the ledge. As we paused to watch, it fanned the water column frantically with its flippers, widening the cloud of sediment around it.
It was very obvious to us that the turtle was not trapped in the ledge; instead, it was bent on the same mission as we were that day: trying to pry stubborn spiny lobsters from their caves to eat for dinner.
The turtle thrashed around for another minute or so then withdrew its head from the ledge. Not at all happy to see us, it scowled. I gave it a little wave farewell and it swam off. No point in checking out the ledge any further. Either our reluctant new buddy had gulped whatever lay in there, or so terrified the inhabitants that they would never be pried out.
Now that Florida's regular lobster season is open through March 31, bug hunters can relax, take deep breaths, get over the manic surface warfare known as mini-season, and enjoy the full harvest experience-- such as encounters with other sea life.
The lengthy season allows for a slow, calm exploration of the reefs, solution holes, channels and grass flats where you may find the sought-after crustaceans-- or not. The recreational bag limit is six per person per day statewide, so there's no more frenzied two-day push to cram live wells and coolers full of more entrees than you'll probably eat in a month.
Instead, you can achieve a fuller appreciation of the many exhilarating sights and sounds (and other ancillary benefits) that will accompany your hunt.
Besides an excellent chance of encountering sea turtles, you are almost guaranteed to come upon lionfish-- those feisty, peppermint-striped exotics with the flaring mane from the Indo-Pacific. Lionfish love to lurk in coral caverns and beneath ledges-- the same habitat as lobsters. Unlike the bugs, lionfish are legal to spear and there are no bag or size limits. Be wary of their venomous spines; you can't carry them around in a standard mesh catch bag with your bugs. Your best bet is a container made of sturdy PVC such as the Zookeeper. And they are an excellent accompaniment to lobster on the grill or sauté pan.
Hogfish also are likely to be found milling around out in the open around the lobster grounds, and they can be fairly easy to nail with a pole spear or spear gun. But on Aug. 24, new regulations will take effect lowering the bag limit, increasing the size limit and shortening the harvest season. Know before you go by visiting <a href="http://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/hogfish/">myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/hogfish/</a>.
Other creatures you are sure to find on your bug hunts are nurse sharks and triggerfish. Both like to eat lobster so they're never too far away. On many dives, I've seen nurse sharks slumbering in caves in the daytime-- probably after enjoying a fresh lobster meal. But unless you molest the shark by grabbing or poking it, it generally will leave you alone.
Not so, the triggerfish. If these pesky reef-dwellers grew as big as sharks, no one would venture into the ocean. Aggressive and territorial, they will try to bite through your catch bag to steal your bugs and they will even bite you to get you to leave their area. I know several divers (myself included) who always wear a neoprene hood or beanie while lobster hunting because triggerfish are known to go for the earlobe. Even swordplay with your tickler stick often fails to ward them off. If you find yourself thrusting around like a knight in "Game of Thrones" to defend your ground, then it's time to leave.
If you really want to eat lobsters and don't want to a) get wet or b) go to Publix, then perhaps you should try bully netting. That's the practice of idling around the shallows at night in a small boat equipped with underwater lights and carrying a long-handled net. Lobsters are known to depart their coral caves after dark to feed on smaller prey on adjacent grass flats in Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay. They are very easy to spot in two to four feet of water with proper lighting and you can just plop the net over them. It's often quicker and easier than underwater hunting. In a bully netting trip a couple years ago, our party of three bagged a limit of 18 in just two hours.
Florida's lobster regulations during regular season differ from those of mini-season, so be sure you are up-to-date-- especially in the Keys. Go to <a href="http://www.myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/lobster/">www.myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/lobster/</a> for the full rundown.
Now let's go fetch some Lobster Thermidor. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/regular-lobster-season-its-not-just-for-bugs-anymore/){kind=link}
; 20 makos (yellow); seven oceanic whitetips (pink); and one dusky, four hammerheads and a sixgill (white and barely visible off Boca Grande, FL and Bermuda).
“Pretty impressive. A huge part of the ocean,” noted Wetherbee of the sharks’ movements.
Satellite tags, which cost upwards of $4,000 apiece, are technology’s most precise method of monitoring the animals’ movements minute to minute. Funded by the non-profit Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, the transmitters are affixed to the sharks’ dorsal fin, sending their locations to a satellite that beams the information to the researchers’ computers. Wetherbee then plots that information on Google Maps.
What this worldwide splash of color represents is a blueprint for protecting sharks from habitat loss and overfishing. And the tracking data has turned a few shark theories on their heads.
According to Wetherbee, tiger sharks– previously believed to be a coastal species– are nothing of the kind. The data shows they spend half their time in the open ocean thousands of miles from shore, but in winter show a snowbird-like affinity for coral reefs in the Caribbean and Bahamas. One tiger nicknamed Harry Lindo covered 27,000 miles– the longest distance ever tracked for the species.
Mako sharks seem to stick to the open ocean– cruising the edge of the Continental Shelf off the U.S. east coast then making long trips north to New England and Canada.
The oceanic whitetips tend to wander around aimlessly, though whatever they’re doing isn’t aimless to them– sort of like a bee flying over fields and alighting on several flowers in one field but totally ignoring those in another.
The makos and whitetips were named competitors in the Great Shark Race of 2015 created by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and Research Institute to encourage businesses and individuals to sponsor satellite tags. The shark covering the greatest distance in six months– a shortfin mako named Ebenezer that swam 7,387 miles–was declared the winner. Ebenezer– named by Ebenezer Thomas Primary School in Tortola, British Virgin Islands– was sponsored by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin United. It was tagged off Ocean City, Md. on May 27, made it to Newfoundland in the allotted time, and is still transmitting.
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Unlike those free-swimming makos and whitetips, Wetherbee noted that hammerheads tend to stick to coastlines in the U.S. and avoid long-distance travel. Sixgills, he said, stay in deep water and don’t go very far while duskys seem attached to certain sites, but still may travel a few hundred miles.
“There are sharks without a country, moving through 10 to 15 different countries,” Wetherbee said. “They are all over the place.”
The research has important implications for shark management: knowing what countries’ waters the sharks use suggests who is responsible for managing that population and where the animals are most likely to be harvested by fishers.
“Shark populations have been overfished quite a bit. Managing these populations is going to take international cooperation,” Wetherbee said.
Mako sharks, while not classified as overfished, could still be in trouble as they are heavily targeted by commercial longliners and recreational anglers in the U.S. and elsewhere.
“Makos are in a lot of areas with tuna and swordfish,” Wetherbee said. “Everybody is after these makos because they are good to eat.”
Indeed, 13 of the 49 makos tagged by the GHRI scientists over the past four years have been caught and killed by commercial fishers. The tiger sharks, fortunately, escaped those gauntlets.
Wetherbee, Harvey and Shivji plan more shark-tagging expeditions in 2016, hoping to fit another 40 to 50 animals with satellite transmitters.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women’s world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/big-tracks-surprising-findings-from-2015-shark-tracking-project/){kind=link}
 Bait Box for Sailfish&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3352 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/1916104_202726822733_7371996_n.jpg?w=300" alt="1916104_202726822733_7371996_n" width="300" height="200" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Staff Writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Miami-based charter fishing captain extraordinaire Ray Rosher -- a Guy Harvey Outpost Outfitter--didn't reach the top of the industry by following the leads of others. Rosher-- whose teams have won top honors in just about every billfish tournament circuit from South Florida to the Bahamas, to the Caribbean and beyond--is an innovator who's not afraid to try something unorthodox to reign atop the fleet.
"Don't be afraid to try new techniques," he advised. "I've had more success doing things a little unconventional."
With sailfish season hitting its stride along the Florida east coast and Keys, captains and anglers might want to consider changing things up from their usual practices.
For example, Rosher says, many fishermen believe that the only consistent method of catching and releasing sailfish between Miami and Jupiter is to drift waters with a drastic color change-- usually 80 to 200 feet deep-- using live bait on kites-- typically goggle eyes (big-eye scad); threadfin herring; or sardines.
But Rosher said winning tournaments in the Pacific waters of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico taught him a thing or two about the effectiveness of dead-baiting.
Trolling a dead bally hoo on a spinning outfit behind a Mylar dredge, Rosher has enjoyed days of multiple hook-ups amid a fleet of live-baiters off Miami.
"That stuff about 'they won't eat dead bait when there's live bait around' is baloney," he said. "Don't get pigeonholed thinking you have to catch sailfish in Miami on a live bait."
Referring to his dredge/dead bait set-up, Rosher said, "I don't care what [sailfish] think it is when they're five feet away. It's too late; he's got a bait swimming by him and he eats it."
The captain points out that live baiting for sailfish generally works well between Jupiter and Miami because of steeper, narrower bottom contours that funnel the fish through predictable corridors as they feed into the northbound Gulf Stream current. In the Stuart-Fort Pierce area, he said, trolling dead baits is preferable because the gradually-sloping bottom necessitates covering lots of ground to locate fish.
In the Keys where waters tend to be clearer and calmer and currents less consistent, fishermen look for showers of bally hoo being harassed by sailfish near shallow reefs such as Conch Reef and American Shoal.
"Fish that might be out in 100 feet of water come into the reef to feed," Rosher said.
The 2015-16 sailfish season has been a roller coaster ride so far, ranging from days where it's difficult to get a bite to double-digit releases. The onset of cold fronts to the north usually propels pods of sailfish south.
And if this year is anything like past sailfish seasons, Rosher predicts a consistent push of fish into South Florida and the Keys well into May.
BOOK YOUR OWN SAILFISH CHARTERS with Guy Harvey Outpost Outfitter Capt. Ray Rosher by calling GHO Reservations at 800.513.5257, or email sales@guyharveyoutpost.com.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling, camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/thinking-outside-the-live-bait-box-for-sailfish-2/){kind=link}
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