Letter of congratulations to Karen Bond, winner of the Dive Bimini “Name That Boat” contest, from Guy Harvey and Neal Watson: Karen’s submission, Bimini Blue, won out over several hundred …
Happy 4th of July!
4 Jul 20128:45 PM
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![](mailto:?subject=Happy 4th of July!&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/709.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1369" title=""Sail America" - Guy Harvey" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/709.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="676" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/happy-4th-of-july/){kind=link}
![](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/official-letter-of-congratulations-to-dive-biminis-name-that-boat-contest-winner/&media=https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/bond-letter11.jpg&description=Official Letter of Congratulations to Dive Bimini’s "Name That Boat" Contest Winner){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Rolling Snakeheads in Fort Lauderdale&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3216 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/p1010264.jpg?w=225" alt="P1010264" width="225" height="300" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
A beautiful fish with a very ugly face. Slippery and slimy but tasty to eat. A feisty sport fish but a nuisance exotic. This is the paradox of the snakehead-- an invader native to Asia introduced about 15 years ago and now firmly established in Fort Lauderdale-area canals.
"We sure wish they weren't here," says Kelly Gestring, a non-native fish and wildlife biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "We are definitely encouraging people to practice catch, keep and eat."
Like the 33 other non-native fish reproducing in South Florida waterways, the snakehead competes with the locals such as black bass and bream and the deliberately-stocked peacock bass for food and space. Generalist feeders, they will eat "anything that comes across their mouths", according to Gestring-- including a wide variety of fish; crayfish; bufo toads; Muscovy duck eggs, or whatever.
With "crazy Martian eyes"-- (as one angler put it) --and orange eye spots on a dark body, snakeheads are both beautiful and ugly. When hooked, they splash and jump better than a largemouth, inspiring a group of Broward County anglers to form a small tournament series targeting them. They make excellent butterflied baits for daytime swordfishing, and their flavor when cooked is mild and likened by many to tilapia-- a ubiquitous, farm-raised staple in grocery stores and restaurants. The largest one caught so far weighed 15 pounds-- taken by angler Corey Nowakowski last May in Deerfield Beach.
Fort Lauderdale five-star chef Anthony Hunt-- fresh from being "Chopped" on the Food Network--decided to whack a few snakeheads with his son Marlei, 9, earlier this month in the canals of North Broward. Hunt, 39, is embarking on a career as a professional bass tournament competitor; his son has won two local fishing contests. Armed with their favorite Live Target hollow-bodied frog lures, father and son aimed to catch enough for a meal before heading out on their weekend round of chores.
"People are very curious about them. Their popularity is increasing," Hunt said as he cast his frog into a shallow, grass-lined drainage canal. "I've never eaten one before, so it's the first time for me."
Hunt caught a small snakehead right away and lost three more--plus one of his Live Targets-- in the same canal before deciding to relocate to an apartment complex pond a few blocks to the north. Marlei got a few hits but didn't land any.
"It's fun. You never know what you're gonna catch," Marlei said, undeterred.
"Get it on that bank, okay? And bring it off," Hunt directed his son as the boy cast his frog.
In a shady, stagnant section of the pond, Hunt caught a second snakehead estimated at a couple of pounds. Not long afterward, he got a third one about five pounds. The haul would be enough for the chef to make fish tacos for his family (see recipe below). He also caught and released a two-pound bass in the same spot.
Gestring is very supportive of the snakehead angling efforts of Hunt, Marlei and others.
"The fishing part is a great way for the public to assist us in controlling their numbers," the biologist said. "We just can't get them all."
Snakehead Tacos
Ingredients: 2 lbs. snakehead fillets cut into 5" x 1" pieces; 1 cup buttermilk; 2 cups flour; 1 cup fine cornmeal; 6 flour tortillas (either homemade or top-shelf store-bought); salt and pepper to taste.
Salad slaw mixture:
1 red bell pepper thinly sliced; Napa cabbage thinly sliced; 2 oz. fresh corn; 2 oz. black beans; 1/2 oz. cilantro; 1/2 oz. parsley; 1/4 red pickled onion; 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper; 3 tbsp. olive oil; sriracha sauce as garnish to top tacos.
Directions: Preheat 16 oz. vegetable oil in small sauce pot on medium heat. Toss the salad ingredients together in a mixing bowl and set aside. Pour buttermilk on top of fish fillets and mix well. Remove fish and add to a bowl containing flour, corn meal and salt/pepper. Toss thoroughly; shake off excess flour and set aside. Make sure not to stack the fish fillets on top of each other.
Deep-fry fillets in oil until golden-brown, then place on sheets of paper towels to drain off excess oil.
Place tortillas in a skillet on medium heat and sear lightly for 30 seconds on each side. Remove from heat. Assemble tacos and EAT!
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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/rolling-snakeheads-in-fort-lauderdale/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=BugFest Underway; Lionfish Also on the Menu!&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/image1.jpeg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2841 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/image1.jpeg?w=225" alt="image1" width="225" height="300" /></a>Post-dive lobster barbecues are going to be a lot more sumptuous than usual during this summer's two-day, Florida-wide lobster mini-season July 29-30. Extra lobsters will sizzle on the grill, accompanied by tasty fillets of exotic lionfish. That's because the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission is allowing divers to take an extra lobster over the bag limit each day for harvesting ten or more lionfish. It's a special incentive program to help control the burgeoning population of the exotic, peppermint-striped invaders from the Indo Pacific with venom-tipped fins.
Here are some tips to help you catch your limit of bugs while taking as many lionfish as you want:
-- In the Atlantic, lionfish and lobsters are often found together in dark caverns and beneath coral ledges in depths ranging from 15 feet to more than 100 feet. You'll find plenty of lobsters in shallow water, but more lionfish in 60 feet or deeper because of local culling efforts at heavily-visited inshore reefs. In the Gulf, artificial reefs hold lots of lionfish, but lobsters may be hit-or-miss. Best times to harvest both are dusk and dawn.
-- While spearing lionfish is legal, spearing lobster is not. Use your tickler stick, or a lasso-like 'bugger', net and catch bag to take lobster. The most efficient way to take lionfish is with a three-pronged pole spear. Nail the fish in the body, then pin it to the sand while you use kitchen shears or 'sea snips' to cut off the spines. Most, but not all, are venomous, so go ahead and cut them all off for good measure. Wear puncture-proof gloves.
--If you don't want to take the time to cut off lionfish spines underwater, then bring a ZooKeeper catch bag. Available at dive shops, it's made of durable PVC and has a one-way chute that allows you to insert the speared lionfish, then pull out the spear. Do not store an un-snipped lionfish in a mesh catch bag; even dead, the spines are venomous.
--If you do get stung, soak the affected area in hot but not scalding water for 30 to 90 minutes and seek medical attention. No one has died of a lionfish sting, but pain and swelling can be severe.
--Check regulations for the area where you will be diving. For example, some areas of the Keys prohibit spear fishing--even for lionfish unless you have a special permit. Mini-season lobster bag limits in the Keys and Biscayne National Park are six per person per day; the limit is 12 elsewhere. That means you can take seven or 13 if you produce proof you harvested ten or more lionfish.
--Looking for tasty lionfish recipes? Check out "The Lionfish Cookbook" available at dive shops and at reef.org. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/bugfest-underway-lionfish-also-on-the-menu/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=A Hemingway Returns to Bimini – Part II: Of Boats and Bonefish&body=John Hemingway, grandson of the legendary <a title="About Ernest Hemingway" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway" target="_blank">Ernest</a>, is in <a title="About Bimini" href="http://www.bahamas.com/out-islands/bimini" target="_blank">Bimini</a> this week while on assignment for Showboats International magazine. John, who is being hosted by the <a title="BBGC web site" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Club</a>, is sampling the best of Bimini - including many of the pursuits and places that were favorites of his grandfather during his years on the island (1935-1937). John filed the following dispatches after spending the day with Bimini's famed guide and boat builder, Ansil Saunders:
Mr. Saunders is a very interesting man. Apart from having bonefished for over fifty-five years, he was a good friend of <a title="About Dr. Martin Luther King" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_luther_king" target="_blank">Dr. Martin Luther King</a>. King visited Bimini several times in the 1960s and on one of his last visits in 1968, he told his friend Ansil, while the two of them were out fishing, that he knew that he was going to die soon, that his time had come, but also that God must exist, saying "look at the sheer abundance of life you have here, in the air and in the sea. This is proof, if ever proof was needed.
Here Mr. Saunders is seen holding a photograph of himself and the US ambassador to the Bahamas when she gave him a plaque commemorating his friendship with Dr. King.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ansil12.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1162" title="Bimini's legendary boat builder and fishing guide, Ansil Saunders" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ansil12.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="412" /></a>
Here I'm standing behind my fishing guide, Mr Ansel Saunders. He built the bonefishing boat we're standing next to, the cost about $30,000, incredible craftsmanship.
<a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/ansiljohnboat.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1163" title="John and Ansil pose next to one of Ansil's custom-built boats" src="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/ansiljohnboat.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="412" /></a>
This guy was heavy and towards the end I was bringing in one after the other, and god do they fight (all of them were released afterwards, you don't eat bonefish). What a morning!
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ansiljohnbonefish.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164" title="John and Ansil with one of the many bonefish caught in the Bimini flats" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ansiljohnbonefish.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="412" /></a>
The first bonefish I caught, out of about a dozen, incredible morning, about six pounds, of the eastern coast of South Bimini, Bahamas.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/johnbonefish.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1165" title="John and one of the many bonefish he caught with Ansil on the Bimini flats" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/johnbonefish.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="412" /></a>
Stay tuned for more updates from John's trip to Bimini! https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/a-hemingway-returns-to-bimini-2/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=GHOF and The Humane Society of the U.S. Team Up with Shark-Free Marina Initiative&body=I am pleased to announce that the <a title="GHOF web site" href="http://www.guyharveyoceanfoundation.org" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation</a> is participating in a new campaign with <a title="HSUS web site" href="http://www.humanesociety.org" target="_blank">The Humane Society of the United States</a> and the <a title="SFMI web site" href="http://www.sharkfreemarinas.com/" target="_blank">Shark-Free Marina Initiative</a> that will raise the bar in protecting shark populations in the U.S. and the Bahamas, while also generating awareness of shark conservation on a global scale.
<a href="http://www.sharkfreemarinas.com/"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-181" title="SFMI Logo" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sfmilogo.jpg?w=280" alt="" width="196" height="210" /></a>
The <a title="Mission of the SFMI " href="http://www.sharkfreemarinas.com/about/about-us" target="_blank">goal of this campaign</a> is to significantly increase the number of resorts and marinas that are designated "shark-free", which means they actively prohibit any sharks from being landed at their docks. In support of this program, the <a title="BBGC web site" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Club, a Guy Harvey Outpost Resort & Marina</a>, has been officially declared a "Shark-Free Marina".
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/biminibiggameclub"><img class="size-medium wp-image-183" title="The Cleaning Station at the Bimini Big Game Club's "Shark-Free Marina"" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/cleaning-station-shark-free.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>The Bimini Big Game Club's cleaning station proudly displays the "Shark-Free Marina" sign
To learn more about this program, read the <a title="SFMI press release" href="http://www.sharkfreemarinas.com/news/sfmi-news/602-october-campaign" target="_blank">SFMI press release</a> and then visit the <a title="SFMI web site" href="http://www.sharkfreemarinas.com/" target="_blank">SFMI web site</a> to learn how you can help sign up new "shark-free" resorts and marinas.
Cheers!
<a title="SFMI Press Release" href="http://www.sharkfreemarinas.com/news/sfmi-news/602-october-campaign" target="_blank">SFMI Press Release</a>
<a title="SFMI Advisors" href="http://www.sharkfreemarinas.com/about/board" target="_blank">List of SFMI Advisors</a>
<a title="Celebrity Endorsements" href="http://www.sharkfreemarinas.com/about/board/celebrity-endorsements" target="_blank">List of Celebrity Endorsements</a>
<a title="SFMI web site" href="http://www.sharkfreemarinas.com/" target="_blank">SFMI web site</a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/ghof-and-the-humane-society-of-the-u-s-team-up-with-shark-free-marina-initiative/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Smithsonian Comes to Lake Okeechobee&body=The city of Okeechobee will celebrate its centennial on Jan. 21 but it got things started early with the Dec. 17 opening of an exhibit driving home the vital importance of its namesake lake.
The Smithsonian Museum Waterways Exhibit --featuring poster panels, interactive touch screens, a freshwater aquarium, and artwork by Dr. Guy Harvey--explores the inseverable connection between humankind and access to clean, fresh water. And as the liquid heart of South Florida, there's no place better to explore that connection than Lake Okeechobee.
The Big O supplies water for millions of people and acres of agricultural lands, and provides habitat for many species of game and food fish and both resident and migratory birds. It connects the Kissimmee River ecosystem with the vast marshes and woodlands of Everglades National Park, including the estuary of Florida Bay. That's likely why the city named for the "Big Water" is one of only 36 communities throughout the U.S.--including six in Florida-- to be selected to host the Smithsonian exhibit.
Open daily to the public through Jan. 28 at the historic Okeechobee courthouse, it was coordinated through the Florida Humanities Council, Okeechobee Public Library, Okeechobee Main Street (a downtown booster group), and the Okeechobee Tourist Development Council. The Smithsonian designed and built the display, and Dr. Harvey's works--including paintings of blue marlin, snook, redfish, largemouth bass, manatees and other aquatic creatures--decorate the walls surrounding it.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_5737.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4495" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_5737.jpg" alt="img_5737" width="3264" height="2448" /></a>
One display panel reads: "No new water is being created--we have to protect the water we have. Use it wisely. While some water challenges are seemingly insurmountable, people are great problem solvers."
And problem solvers Floridians will have to be to ensure the right amount of fresh water flows into the Big O and out of it to the places where it's needed most at the right quality and the right times of year-- the essence of habitat restoration.
City Councilman Gary Ritter told the gathering at the exhibit's opening that access to clean drinking water is going to become more important in the decades ahead as Florida's resident and visiting population swells by millions.
"We're gonna have to be smarter in the way we use and manage the water," Ritter said. "We need to do our part to preserve what we have."
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A very special thank-you to Dr. Paul Gray of Florida Audubon for guiding GHO president Mark Ellert, GHO managing director-lodging operations Chris Pollock, City Councilman Gary Ritter and me on an exciting and informative airboat tour of the Big O just before the Smithsonian exhibit opening. It's the best way to explore and understand one of south-central Florida's greatest natural resources. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/smithsonian-comes-to-lake-okeechobee/){kind=link}
Is there any was I can get the fish above a shirt
Why don’t you make a shirt of the red white and blue marlin you would sell a lot of them
Why don’t you make a shirt of the red white and blue marlin you would sell a lot of them