[Dunnellon, FL.–] Mac Stone is kicking across the Rainbow River against the strong current as fast as he can, and even though he is carrying a bulky underwater camera with two protruding …
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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 Swamps and Springs){kind=link}
 Swamps and Springs&body=[Dunnellon, FL.--] Mac Stone is kicking across the Rainbow River against the strong current as fast as he can, and even though he is carrying a bulky underwater camera with two protruding strobes, it is very difficult to keep up.
Panting through my snorkel, I finally catch up -- just in time to see him dart away again in hot pursuit of a cormorant which itself is in hot pursuit of a sunfish darting through the eelgrass at the bottom of the river. From a distance, I can see the strobe firing over and over and I really hope he's getting the shots he wants.
Later, Stone said he kind of did.
"Today I got a lot of cormorants fishing, but I didn't get the apex moment-- the 1/100th of a second when the fish is in front of its beak and the beak is open," he said. "You try to put yourself in as many situations as possible. Even if you get skunked, you're okay because you're getting closer to your goal."
That attitude is typical of the "high hopes but low expectations" that Stone, 33, brings to his craft as one of the most sought-after professional wildlife photographers in the southeastern U.S. For this Gainesville-raised, former Florida Audubon biologist, shooting fish, birds, landscapes and other natural subjects is NOT about producing pretty pictures. Through his images, he aims to stir the emotions of regular people enough to make them care about the ecosystems where they live and want to conserve them-- especially in Florida.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-0811.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4708" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-0811.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933" /></a> <a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1134.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4709" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1134.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933" /></a>
"There are things in Florida that don't exist anywhere else in abundance," he said. "Every state has things to marvel at, but Florida just seems Old World....places you can go to and feel like you are the first person who has seen it."
Stone first became interested in photography in high school, but got away from it for several years while studying international politics, environmental science, Spanish and biology as a student at Virginia Tech. Following graduation, he took a job teaching photography to youngsters in Honduras. Later, as a biologist conducting research on fish and birds in the Everglades, Stone began to realize "the power of photography to compel people to see their natural habitat in a different way. After a year working there, I started making all these photos. No one, in a compelling way, had told the story of the wildlife and the way it relates to the flow of water," he said.
The Everglades was and is in peril because of the lack of freshwater creeping south across the Florida peninsula to replenish it-- the result of manmade re-plumbing over the past century for development and farming. In 2014, Stone published "Everglades: America's Wetland" to convey to readers through breathtaking images the absolute dependence that species like the roseate spoonbill, Everglades snail kite, alligators and others have on the correct amount, timing and quality of water delivered. The book is now in its second printing and Stone has made wildlife photography a full-time career.
Lately, his attentions have turned to Florida's imperiled springs and that's why he was chasing cormorants fishing in the Rainbow River. The Rainbow, located in west-central Florida, is fed by a second-magnitude spring that pumps more than 450 million gallons per day of fresh, 71-degree water. While strikingly clear compared to Florida's mostly tannin-stained water courses, the Rainbow still suffers from degradation from manmade sources.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1500.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4711" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1500.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933" /></a> <a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1176.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4710" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1176.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933" /></a>
Stone's photos undoubtedly will drive home the importance of saving this and other springs.
"Springs are so unique," he said. "They're accessible, but not celebrated like other habitats are. We don't realize that when we fertilize our lawns and run our sprinklers year round, that could have a negative impact on the aquifer."
So he and I spent nearly four hours snorkeling and drifting in the Rainbow, with me carrying the dive flag and he wielding his camera to capture the images that would seize potential conservationists by the heart. He didn't feel like he got them that morning.
"I just keep coming back and chasing the shiny red ball like a Labrador retriever," he said, and headed back to the Rainbow that afternoon.
To learn more about Mac and his book, "Everglades: America's Wetland", please visit <a href="http://www.macstonephoto.com/">http://www.macstonephoto.com</a>. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/shooting-and-saving-swamps-and-springs/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Somewhere Under the Rainbow&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3433 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/rainbow.jpg?w=300" alt="rainbow" width="300" height="202" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
[Dunnellon, FL--] Drifting at a speed of 1 1/2 knots downstream in west-central Florida's Rainbow River, I am blown away by the clarity of the water, the shimmering kelly-green eelgrass dotting the bottom and, most of all, by the antics of a cormorant.
Through my dive mask, I watch raptly as the black water bird with the curved yellow beak plunges ten feet deep, churning up the sand and parting the thick grass blades in a hunt for food. To my left, a terrified sunfish darts away unharmed, and a few seconds later, the cormorant returns to the surface empty-beaked.
Two feet apart, we look at each other and the unperturbed hunter makes another dive, still unsuccessful. I drift with him for a good eighth of a mile, but he never spears a fish. Maybe the black shadow of my thick wetsuit is scaring away his prey, and he leaves me behind. But watching him was fun while it lasted.
A cornucopia of wonders awaits just about anyone who snorkels or dives this scenic watercourse. The Rainbow emanates from a second-magnitude spring in the state park that bears its name that, together with numerous smaller springs, generates more than 450 million gallons per day of nearly invisible, 72-degree water. With a maximum depth of 25 feet, it flows for about 5 1/2 miles before joining the larger, tannic-brown Withlacoochee River.
My friend Kyle Stewart and I began our snorkel float about a half-mile downstream from the park-- (boats are not permitted in the headspring)-- guided by captain Ross Files on a pontoon boat from the dive shop at Plantation on Crystal River. Files kept the boat ahead of us as we drifted, flying a dive flag to warn approaching boaters-- of which there were very few.
What fun! We passed fat largemouth bass and colorful bream hovering around numerous tiny spring vents that look like miniature geysers erupting on the sandy bottom.
At the major spring heads, I could feel the warmth of their deep underground sources as I drifted overhead. At one spot, at least a dozen pointy-nosed alligator gar hovered. And we floated over a sunken palm tree that Files said was reputed to have been used by actor Johnny Weissmuller as a diving platform in the "Tarzan" movies of the 1940s.
Just before the take-out site at the K.P. Hole Park boat ramp, we spied a gigantic alligator snapping turtle sitting placidly in the eel grass.
Unlike many spring-fed rivers in this region, no manatees show up in the Rainbow seeking refuge from cold Gulf waters in the winter. That's because an old lock system in the waterway between the river and Gulf block their access. In four trips here, I've seen exactly one alligator and it was very small and swam away in terror.
Winter is the best time to do a drift dive or snorkel because the wildly-popular practice of tubing is prohibited from October through March.
Befitting its jeweled status, the Rainbow is designated a national natural landmark, an aquatic preserve and an outstanding Florida waterway.
Plan to visit now before the springtime crowds arrive.
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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/somewhere-under-the-rainbow/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Speak Out for Your Florida Reefs&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3368 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/6178.jpg?w=300" alt="6178" width="300" height="225" />
By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Anglers, divers, or anyone who enjoys the ocean off Southeast Florida needs to pay close attention and get involved in a new initiative proposed by a community group called <a href="http://www.OurFloridaReefs.org" target="_blank">Our Florida Reefs</a>.
This group of anglers, divers, scientists, local government officials, business owners, conservationists and others has been working for two years on 68 wide-ranging recommendations aimed at protecting the 105-mile coral reef tract extending south from St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County to just north of Biscayne National Park in Miami-Dade County. This region of Southeast Florida was targeted because, unlike Biscayne National Park and the Keys, it has no management plan in place to balance use with protection of coral reefs.
Some of the community working group's recommendations for saving coral are non-controversial, such as installing mooring buoys and enhancing reef education in schools. But others have drawn considerable ire from user groups both online and at public meetings.
One of the proposals--N-59-- would ban spear fishing using scuba gear throughout the region --except for harvesting invasive lionfish--in order to eliminate the targeting of the largest and most fertile reef fish species. Another--S-97--would reduce the annual, two-day lobster mini-season bag limit statewide from 12 to six per day and would require lobster hunters to complete an educational program in order to receive a permit. Recommendation N-146 would establish a series of marine protected areas along the Southeast Florida coast that includes no-take zones; seasonal closures to protect spawning aggregations; no-anchoring areas; and coral restoration areas.
You-- the ocean user-- have until March 1 to review and comment on these proposals. Then they will be forwarded to local, state and federal agencies for action.
You can provide comments on the Our Florida Reefs website or at public meetings this month from noon to 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 16 at Holiday Park Social Center, 1150 G. Harold Martin Dr., Fort Lauderdale; Feb. 17 at Newman Alumni Center at University of Miami, 6200 San Amaro Dr., Coral Gables; and Feb.18 at Kovens Conference Center, FIU/Biscayne Bay Campus, 3000 NE 151 St., North Miami.
If this really is a community planning process and not being executed at the behest of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, then what you say counts. Speak up.
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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.
**********
Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/speak-out-for-your-florida-reefs-2/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Explore the HMS Winchester with Capt. Lars Vihlen, March 18th, Islamorada&body=The <a href="http://www.divingmuseum.org/">History of Diving Museum </a>in Islamorada hosts Capt. Lars Vihlen as part of the Museum's Immerse Yourself! seminar series.
In 1695 only two years after she was built, the crew of the HMS Winchester were struck by scurvy. With the death of many and her crew greatly weakend she wrecked on a reef just south of Carysfort Light. Her remains are visible in 28 feet of water inside Penekamp Park.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/hdm-flyer-03182015-winchester.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-2652" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/hdm-flyer-03182015-winchester.jpg" alt="HDM-flyer-03182015-Winchester" width="220" height="228" /></a>
The Winchester, a British man-of-war, was 121-feet in length. She had a beam of 38 feet and carried 60 guns. Almost all of her 400 crew were lost, mostly to disease.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/hdm-flyer-03182015-capt-vihlen.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2653" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/hdm-flyer-03182015-capt-vihlen.jpg" alt="HDM-flyer-03182015-Capt Vihlen" width="320" height="202" /></a>
The presentation is open to the general public. Admission is free to Monroe County residents and Museum members and $10 for visitors. Pre-seminar museum tours will be conducted at 5:15pm and 6pm. Museum tours are included with admission. Members may reserve their seats in advance.
The History of Diving Museum is located at: 82990 Overseas Hwy about one mile north of the <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/florida/islamorada-fl/islamorada-fl-overview.html">Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost</a>.
For more information on the <a href="http://www.divingmuseum.org/">History of Diving Museum</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>
For Guy Harvey Outpost on Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GuyHarveyOutpost" target="_parent">https://www.facebook.com/GuyHarveyOutpost</a>
For Guy Harvey Outpost on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/GHOutpost" target="_parent">https://twitter.com/GHOutpost</a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/explore-the-hms-winchester-with-capt-lars-vihlen-march-18th-islamorada/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=The Family Easter Weekend is on at the Big Game Club&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/eco-easter12.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-549" title="Easter at the Bimini Big Game Club" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/eco-easter12.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="751" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/the-family-easter-weekend-is-on-at-the-big-game-club/){kind=link}
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