By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com Even though the Guy Harvey Outpost Blazing Mako Festival and Fishing Tournament is still four months away, it’s not …
Bisbee’s Black & Blue Starts Today!
19 Oct 20106:06 PM
Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Tournament kicks off today in Cabo San Lucas. Now in it’s 30th year, the event is one of big game fishing’s grandest – and richest – tournaments.
It is also one of the most recent to convert to a “circle hooks only” policy when fishing with natural baits. This is a signifcant move in that several studies have shown survival rates after release are much higher for billfish caught on circle hooks as opposed to standard J hooks.
The fishing runs from Wed, Oct 20th – Friday, the 22nd. You can follow live scoring here and check in on the action with live video here.
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![](mailto:?subject=Taking the Back Country in the Blazing Mako&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3389 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/black.jpg?w=300" alt="Black" width="300" height="222" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Even though the Guy Harvey Outpost <a href="http://www.blazingmako.com" target="_blank">Blazing Mako Festival and Fishing Tournament</a> is still four months away, it's not too early to sign up your team or start plotting a strategy for claiming $10,000 in prize money-- particularly if you enter the inshore division.
The tournament date of June 18 falls squarely during the peak of the inshore fishing season in and around the Florida Keys and two days before the full moon. Catching, measuring, photographing and releasing the eligible back country species of permit, bonefish, tarpon, snook, redfish and the funfish category of shark, ladyfish, jack and trout for points, cash, and bragging rights won't be as challenging as during other seasons of the year.
Anglers will be allowed to enter a maximum of five fish in each category using live bait, artificial lures, or fly tackle. More points will be awarded for lures and fly rod.
"This is a great time of year to catch all these species," said seven-year veteran Keys light-tackle guide captain Richard Black, who fishes from a 17-foot, 8-inch Hells Bay Professional skiff.
Black said his strategy would be to locate small tarpon first thing in the morning in Florida Bay-- likely near Snake Bight-- and fish with fly rod (if the angler were capable), or with small Mir-O-Lure plugs or light jigs. Snook and redfish tend to inhabit the same territory at that time of year and likely would bite the same offerings.
Once you've racked up enough points for those three species, Black says step two would be to blind-cast a jig or plug for ladyfish. You could enter the larger ones in the funfish category and keep a few to hang off the skiff while anchored to attract lemon sharks to within fly-casting range.
"In a good spot with good current, you could catch five sharks on fly pretty quick," Black said.
Then if you are lucky enough to have sufficient sunlight in mid- to late afternoon, the guide said, you could look for bonefish in Florida Bay or on the ocean side of the Upper Keys. Bonefish almost never turn down fresh shrimp, and they also are likely to bite small jigs and shrimp-patterned flies.
"I know some anglers I'd lead off with fly and switch to bait," Black added. "You have to fish the conditions. If conditions are crappy and you have to cover more water, you would use a spinning rod."
Black believes it will take 1,500 to 2,000 points to score a top-three finish.
Even if you don't accumulate nearly that score, it will be more than fun to try and then you get to celebrate at the awards party at the Islander-- a Guy Harvey Outpost Resort in Islamorada.
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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/taking-the-back-country-in-the-blazing-mako-2/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts Teams with Green Turtle Club&body=THE ABACOS, THE BAHAMAS— MAY 23, 2012— Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts and the famed <a title="Green Turtle Club web site" href="http://www.greenturtleclub.com/" target="_blank">Green Turtle Club</a> in the Bahamas announced today a new alliance between the two, naming the Club the inaugural member of the new Expedition Properties Portfolio by Guy Harvey Outpost. The alliance becomes effective immediately.
Making the announcement was Outpost President Mark Ellert and Club owners, Adam Showell and Ann Showell Mariner of Ocean City Maryland. Guy Harvey Outpost was founded by Ellert along with Dr. <a title="Guy Harvey Inc. web site" href="http://www.guyharvey.com" target="_blank">Guy Harvey</a> and his long time associates Charles Forman and Bill Shedd to promote adventure travel, watersport recreation and sustainable tourism in unique destinations.
“We are extremely excited to launch the Expedition Properties Portfolio with the famed Green Turtle Club as our inaugural member hotel,” said Ellert. “Our intent with Expedition Properties is to showcase small independently owned properties in unique destinations that are focused on watersport recreation and whose owners are committed to customer service, sustainability and conservation. Given the Club’s legacy, the professionalism of its staff and dedication of its owners, I’m hard pressed to think of a better opportunity in the Bahamas than this,” he adds.
In commenting on their decision to team with Guy Harvey Outpost, Adam Showell and his sister Ann explained, “Guy Harvey embodies the personality of the Club, and its’ guests. His authenticity, commitment to excellence and passionate outreach to those of all ages and accomplishment are hallmarks of the Green Turtle Club.”
As an Expedition Property, Guy Harvey Outpost will market the Club and offer travel and booking services to its customers though it’s Outpost Travel Desk and central reservation office. “With this new alliance, we look forward to welcoming the world of Guy Harvey fans to their new Out-Island home, and know they’ll enjoy their stay with us,” added the Club’s General Manager Lynn Johnson.
<a href="http://www.greenturtleclub.com/home"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1280" title="Green Turtle Club" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/green-turtle-club1.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="337" /></a>
Noting his enthusiasm for the new Outpost offering, Ellert said “Thirty degrees north and south of the equator, there are a lot of great properties with committed owners like Adam and Ann who share our vision of sustainability and hospitality. In growing the Expedition Properties Portfolio, our intent will be to spotlight these properties and encourage our customers to support them.” The firm recently announced its newest signature property, the <a title="Guy Harvey Outpost to Open St. Pete Beach Resort" href="http://guyharveyoutpostnews.com/2012/02/17/guy-harvey-outpost-to-open-st-pete-beach-resort/" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost Resort on St. Pete Beach, Florida</a>. “We expect the Expedition Properties Portfolio to become a significant footprint for our Guy Harvey Outpost brand. Ellert likens having the two resort branding products to fishing, “It’s the same water, we’ve just added a different rod for catching a different fish, and we’ll end up bringing more fish to the boat”.
“We’ll continue to emphasize the Club’s legacy of gracious hospitality and fine dining but now as an Expedition Property we’ll be better positioned to showcase its appeal to watersport enthusiasts, their friends and families all of whom are looking for those memorable top-of-class experiences that define the Outpost brand,” Showell explains. “By October 1st we intend to have completed some exciting new enhancements to the Club, and with our affiliation to Guy and his Outpost brand, it will be an exciting new chapter in the Club’s history.”
Green Turtle Cay enjoys a long and colorful history, with a reputation extending far beyond its three miles of shoreline. Settled in the 1770’s by American colonial Loyalists, the main settlement of New Plymouth offers a distinct 18th -Century New England feel with pastel-painted, clapboard gingerbread homes. With a shared heritage of treasure salvage, turtle farming and boat building, in the late 1800’s many of its early settlers relocated to Key West, which today is the sister city of New Plymouth. Adds Ellert, “there are many family trees in Key West that have roots in Green Turtle and we’re intending to promote that common ancestry to our customer base.”
“Green Turtle Cay is our new island-in the-stream,” said Outpost partner Bill Shedd, owner of <a title="AFTCO web site" href="http://www.aftco.com" target="_blank">AFTCO</a>, one of the world’s premier fishing tackle companies and prominent marine conservationist. “In travelling last year to Green Turtle from my home in Southern California, I’m reminded that the Abaco Islands and Florida have a common history and bond defined by a life on and from these mesmerizing waters that are vibrant with marine life. I’m delighted Guy Harvey Outpost can be a part in protecting this important marine resource while sustaining the cultural history of the Abacos in years to come.”
The Green Turtle Club has been a fixture on Green Turtle Cay since 1964 when British naval architect Allan Charlesworth built a boathouse on the Club grounds, and visiting yachtsmen started a tradition of hanging a signed dollar bill on the wall to treat followers to a drink.
The Club sits on a picturesque harbor surrounded by some of the most spectacular beaches in the world. The hotel offers 31 guestrooms, a 40-slip marina and fuel dock, restaurant, bar/lounge and poolside bar. The Club hosts the annual Green Turtle Club Billfish Tournament, having just concluded its 25th Silver Anniversary last week.
The Abacos’ Green Turtle Cay is just 70 minutes by air from South Florida into Treasure Cay International Airport, then a short 15-minute ferryboat ride to the Green Turtle Club. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/guy-harvey-outpost-resorts-teams-with-green-turtle-club/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts Launches Expedition Outfitters&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/expoutfitters.png"><img id="i-1677" class="size-full wp-image" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/expoutfitters.png?w=491" alt="Image" /></a>
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL— OCTOBER 31, 2013—<a title="GHO on Facebook" href="http://www.facebook.com/guyharveyoutpost" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts</a>, with properties in Florida and the Caribbean, has announced the launch of Expedition Outfitters as part of its growing adventure travel lodging business. The announcement was made today by Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts President Mark Ellert and company co-founder Bill Shedd.
“Expedition Outfitters is being created to complement our collection of Outpost properties and serve our expanding adventure travel customer base,” explained Ellert. “The Guy Harvey Outpost brand is defined by great watersport experiences and service, and our Expedition Outfitters are the dive operators and fishing captains that make this possible.”
Expedition Outfitters will feature two membership categories: dive shops and guided or charter boat fishing. “It’s a logical brand extension for Guy Harvey Outpost” commented Shedd, owner of the big game fishing tackle company, AFTCO, and manufacturer of Guy Harvey sportswear and tee-shirts. “Our fishing and diving customers want the same level of quality service and ‘top of class’ experience they get at our resorts and lodges. At Guy Harvey Outpost, we’ve done the homework to make sure our Expedition Outfitters meet those expectations.”
Captain Ned Stone, a sportfishing veteran of the offshore fishing circuit, will oversee the new effort as the company’s Director of Program Development.
Shedd announced the inaugural members of Expedition Fishing Outfitters include acclaimed Florida captains Ray Rosher of Miami , <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/adventures/fishing/offshore/captain-billy-black.html">Billy Black</a> of Stuart and Randy Towe of Islamorada and. For legendary offshore action in Mexico, Anthony Mendillo and his Keen M Sportfishing team will be the company’s fishing outfitter in Isla Mujeres. Capt. Black will be based out of <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/west-end-grand-bahama-island/overview.html">Old Bahama Bay Resort & Yacht Harbour,</a> a Guy Harvey Outpost Expedition Lodge.
Earlier this summer, while fishing with Guy Harvey, Mendillo led Guy’s 22 yr old daughter, Jessica, to catch a 600 plus pound swordfish, the largest swordfish landed on a conventional rod and reel by a female angler in the last 30 years and a new record in Isla Mujeres. “We can guarantee our Expedition Fishing Outfitters know how to put you on the fish, but like Jessica, you’ll have to do the catching,” noted Stone in sharing the story of the Keen M catch. “
“These captains have the records and testimonials to truly be considered sportfishing ‘legends,’ notes Captain Stone. “We’re honored to have them join the Guy Harvey Outpost system. And if we don’t have an Outpost resort or lodge nearby, you have a pretty good idea where we’re looking.” The company’s two newest hotel additions include the <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/florida/islamorada-fl/islamorada-fl-overview.html">Islander Resort </a>in Islamorada and the <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/beyond/isla-mujeres-mexico/overview.html">Hotel Playa Media Luna</a> in Isla Mujeres, just off the Cancun coast.
Tipping his hat to the obvious, Ellert describes the benefit he sees in having a carefully selected system of top-of-class outfitters. “Expedition Outfitters is going to save our customers time planning their next adventure, wherever it may be. After all, when you want to know who to fish or dive with, ‘we know the Guy who knows the guy’, guaranteed.”
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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https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/guy-harvey-outpost-resorts-launches-expedition-outfitters/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Prime Time for an Inshore Super Grand Slam in Islamorada&body=From late summer into early autumn, the flats of the Florida Keys are prime territory for scoring an inshore super grand slam of bonefish, tarpon, permit and snook-- all caught in one day. And as if that's not enough, anglers and guides routinely pile on with sea trout, redfish, tripletail, and others.
"Everything is available fish species-wise," said noted South Florida light-tackle guide captain Andy Thompson. "The options are pretty endless. You can sight-fish on the flats. You can fish the island moats, the channels, spin fishing or fly rod."
Thompson, who runs a 17-foot Hells Bay Biscayne skiff, fishes the entire region from Biscayne Bay south to the Lower Keys, including Flamingo and Chokoloskee in Everglades National Park. He's especially fond of September-October because water and air temperatures grow cooler, tides are higher and the flats are not crowded with other guides and anglers.
"The permit fishing in September/October is really good," Thompson said. "With bigger tides, the back country banks behind Islamorada get a lot more water in the fall and that allows those fish to feed."
The best bait is a live crab (or a crab imitation if you insist on fly fishing) cast to fish feeding on the edges of channels and along narrow, rocky strip banks on the ocean side and bayside of the Keys where currents are strong. Permit also can be found around shallow wrecks and the U.S. 1 bridges.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Andytarpon.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-4218" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Andytarpon-1024x768.jpg" alt="Andytarpon" width="1024" height="768" /></a>
Continuing the inshore superfecta with tarpon may also be easier in fall than during the peak of the summer spawn. Thompson says plenty of juvenile tarpon can be found along the ocean side islands of the Upper Keys and in Florida Bay near Flamingo. In October, he often finds a resident population of 100-pounders that are "laid up" and easy to cast to with a live mullet or Deceiver-pattern fly. But some of the easiest fish to target are the ones following the fall mullet run all along the southwest Florida coast.
The seasonal bait frenzy also occurs on the ocean side of the Keys where huge schools of pilchards can be seen swirling and flashing. Just about anything can be found harassing these forage fish -- tarpon, sharks, snook, and jacks, among others. Snook are also plentiful on the crowns of the Florida Bay flats on an incoming tide, and often accompanied by redfish. Thompson goes after them using primarily pearl-colored soft plastic jerkbaits such as the D.O.A. C.A.L., but topwater plugs also can be effective if there's not too much floating grass.
Catching and releasing a bonefish is not as tough in Florida Bay as in recent years, according to Thompson. While their numbers are down considerably from the 1980s, Thompson says the torpedo-shaped silver speedsters are starting to recover.
"There's a lot of little fish in Florida Bay," he said. "The 2010 freeze put a hurtin' on them. But just this year, I started to see good numbers of them again around Rabbit Key and the Arsenicker Keys. There's a whole new class of fish showing up. It's encouraging."
The guide and his customers target them with live shrimp, small crabs, small skimmer jigs or shrimp-patterned flies.
To book a fishing trip with Thompson, go <a href="http://www.saltairoutfitters.com" target="_blank">HERE</a>. To book your stay at the Islander, a Guy Harvey Outpost in Islamorada, visit the <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost web site</a>.
<a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/dive-packages/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-4200 size-full" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ad.jpg" alt="ad" width="737" height="301" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/prime-time-for-an-inshore-super-grand-slam-in-islamorada/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Wayne Nelson: An Everglades Warrior Lays Down His Shield&body=The following editorial about <a title="Everglades National Park web site" href="http://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm" target="_blank">Everglades</a> activist Wayne Nelson was posted to the blog "<a title="Eye on Miami blog" href="http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Eye on Miami</a>" after Nelson's <a title="Wayne Nelson's Obituary" href="http://www.tributes.com/show/Wayne-L.-Nelson-93742562" target="_blank">death</a> last week. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions may be made to the <a title="GHOF web site" href="http://www.guyharveyoceanfoundation.org" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation</a>, 10408 West SR 84, Suite 104, Davie, FL 33324.
<a href="http://guyharvey.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/wayne.jpg"><img title="Wayne Nelson Photo courtesy of the Sun-Sentinel)" src="http://guyharvey.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/wayne.jpg" alt="" width="428" height="286" /></a>
By gimleteye:
When Wayne Nelson, 88, died this week, the liquid heart of Florida - <a title="About Lake Okeechobee" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Okeechobee" target="_blank">Lake Okeechobeee</a> - lost a fierce and knowledgeable advocate. Wayne was of a generation of modern-day Everglades activists; including, recently, the late Johnie Jones and his wife, Mariana, who were young in the 1940's and 1950's and experienced the Everglades firing on all cylinders.
Wayne was Korea War veteran and a retired air conditioning contractor whose advocacy for Lake Okeechobee led <a title="Nelson's Supreme Court Case" href="http://www.eswr.com/docs/courts/ussc/01-196/FOEpetition.pdf" target="_blank">all the way to the US Supreme Court</a>. He began fishing in West Palm Beach and Lake Okeechobee in the 1960's. He organized one of the first bass fishing clubs in Florida and was the organizer of the small group, Fishermen Against the Destruction of the Environment (FADE) that was a co-plaintiff in federal Clean Water Act litigation challenging the South Florida Water Management District and Big Sugar. Wayne was at the first meeting of the Everglades Coalition at Port of the Islands in 1984 and was once a member of the board of <a title="Friends of the Everglades web site" href="http://everglades.org" target="_blank">Friends of the Everglades</a> <> (of which I am now president).
Friends of the Everglades, Nelson's FADE, and other conservation groups brought citizen suits under the Clean Water Act against the US Environmental Protection Agency to require the South Florida Water Management District to obtain permits in order to discharge polluted canal water into Lake Okeechobee. (FADE and Friends of the Everglades have been involved in several federal CWA lawsuits, with important implications for the nation's water policies, not just the Everglades.)
This practice is known as "back-pumping" and its purpose is to make sure that the 700,000 acres of the Everglades Agricultural Area -- dominated by Big Sugar-- are never too wet in rainy season. Back-pumping controls water levels on sugar land and through the extensive canal system, forcing water uphill as it were, against gravity, into Lake Okeechobee.
At the same time, the water management practices that deliver immense benefits and profits to sugar barons like the billionaire Fanjuls also deprive the natural system of the rainfall cycle that nourished the Everglades and Florida Bay with clean, fresh water at the right time of year.
He launched his boat in Belle Glade and would fish through the weekend. "To get to the Lake," Nelson testified in a Friends' affidavit filed with federal court in 2011, "you have to cross the rim canal and enter the Lake through one of the cuts. I would typically see the pumping while I was going out to fish or coming back in from fishing and was traveling in the rim canal to the boat ramp. You can see the turbulence and tinged color of pumped water all the way across the rim canal and into the Lake."
Wayne Nelson was a fierce supporter of grass roots environmentalism. His friend, Jim Harvey, says, "If people were classified like naval ships, Wayne Nelson would be the Warrior Class. He never faltered to say it like he saw it. He believed in watching the ass not the lips to ascertain where things were going. You didn't go fishing with Wayne. He went, listening to him. He loved Lake Okeechobee and held no quarter or gave no quarter when it came to saving the Lake."
Wayne didn't seek out the spotlight. He could be cantankerous and prickly. But anyone who loved the Everglades, fought battles against industry pressure, endured endless delays by government, obfuscation, and false declarations of progress while the liquid heart of Florida turned into a sewer would be spewing comets and fury at the misdirection.
"Water transfers of polluted, nutrient-rich water to Lake Okeechobee results in increased nutrient pollution in the Everglades system,"
Nelson said in his affidavit. "Nutrient pollution is one of the biggest threats to the Everglades today. Nitrogen and phosphorous from the canal waters feeds algae growth that chokes out sea grasses and other native plants. Algae also depletes oxygen, resulting in "dead zones" below the the surface where few native Everglades species survive. Invasive flora and fauna are increasingly taking over the niches created by the degredation of the water quality in the Everglades."
It has been nearly forty years since the historic agreement between the federal government and state of Florida to end the pollution of the Everglades, and its results keep a permanent incumbency in place; from local county commissions, to the state legislature -- that still refuses to hold Big Sugar accountable for the costs of its pollution and won't even impose the most rudimentary system to honestly account for polluting farming practices -- to Congress and the White House.
"We don`t need any more studies of Lake Okeechobee or the Everglades,"
Nelson told the Sun Sentinel in 1988. "We know what the problems are and we know what the solutions are. We need action. The farmers are hiding behind (government agencies they control)." ("Lake Okeechobee Scientific Group Back In Business", Orlando Sentinel, July 14, 1988)
Wayne knew that the environmental warriors were badly outmatched by the Great Destroyers, and he understood the clock was ticking. He didn't stand for niceties; he wanted environmentalists to do more and he had no tolerance for waving banners. He strongly believed that grass roots organizations were the key. Jim Harvey says, "He was pure passion and "old school" on freedom of speech. He hated equivocation and figured political correctness was being accurate. Period. He was in the truest sense, an egalitarian warrior with little regard for large national environmental groups that danced around to keep the Everglades ball in play."
Wayne Nelson just wanted to go fishing, and it made him angry that pollution deprived him, Florida and the nation of that opportunity.
Nelson told the Sun Sentinel in 1990: "Reagan missed the boat when he called Russia the Evil Empire". Thrusting a finger toward the sugar cane farms ringing Lake Okeechobee, he said, "I'll tell you where the goddamn Evil Empire is... it's out there!" (A Sweet Deal Has Become The Source Of A Bitter Poison, The Sugar Dynasty, Sept. 16, 1990) And it still is. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wayne-nelson-an-everglades-warrior-lays-down-his-shield/){kind=link}
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