By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Journalist scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com Custom-made offshore trolling lures; jewelry, sculptures and paintings; Guy Harvey swag; marine electronics. These are …
Jessica Harvey Catches Mammoth 600-Plus Pound Swordfish Off Isla Mujeres, Mexico
23 Jul 20125:28 PM
ISLA MUJERES, MEXICO—July 22, 2012—Jessica Harvey, the 22-year-old daughter of marine icon Guy Harvey, showed that saltwater fishing skills is a family trait when she fought and landed a massive 600-plus pound swordfish—the largest caught on rod & reel by a female angler in the last 30 years and one of the largest ever on record.
The Guy Harvey Expeditions team was in Isla Mujeres to film the renowned whale shark aggregations as part of a new documentary.
Ms. Harvey, an IGFA Jr. World Record holder, took a break from filming to do a little fishing, according to her father.
Under the guidance of Capt. Anthony Mendillo and the crew of Keen M Sportfishing, Ms. Harvey using a conventional rod and reel hooked into the swordfish in 1,550 feet of water some 15 miles offshore. She battled the fish for nearly three hours.
The entire adventure was captured on film by award-winning filmmaker George Schellenger and Greg Jacoski of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation.
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 in Islamorada){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Bow to the Silver King!&body=Any day now, long lines of large silver gamefish with glittering scales can be seen making their way along Miami Beach from Haulover Inlet to Government Cut, and throughout Florida Bay and the Atlantic side of the Florida Keys. It's Tarpon Time--that bewitching season when local anglers and those from all over flock to South Florida in hopes of engaging in glorious battle with one of the hardest-fighting and most enigmatic fish in the world.
From now through about the end of June, wherever coastal water temperatures hit that magical 75-degree mark, schools of tarpon will aggregate in the annual marine version of the singles bar, looking to hook up, and then later head off to deeper water to spawn. If tide and weather conditions are favorable, they might just hook up with you too-- tempted by your offerings of live shrimp, crabs or mullet, or maybe a realistic fly pattern or swimming plug. But catching and releasing a tarpon is NEVER a given.
"Remember-- tarpon are a mystery," said veteran light-tackle guide Captain Joe Gonzalez of Miami, who fishes customers in his 18-foot Hells Bay skiff, "Funny Bone".
According to Gonzalez, March through May is prime time for pursuing tarpon in Biscayne Bay. In early winter, he said, the fish key on shrimp migrating through passes and channels on the outgoing tide at night.
In March, he said, "they're already moving inside the bay-- in the inlets, basins, channels, and around the bridges. If the weather gets nasty, they move offshore and go south, then you get another push of fish."
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/tarpon1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4598" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/tarpon1.jpg" alt="tarpon1" width="2100" height="1358" /></a>
Daytime fishing gets better, and as the waters warm and flush swarms of swimming crabs, it's time to use those silver-dollar-sized crustaceans for bait.
Gonzalez likes to fly fish for tarpon on the ocean side of the Biscayne Bay barrier islands all the way south to Key Largo.
"They're rolling and you can sight-fish for them in the basins and areas where they stage," he said.
There is nothing quite like sight-fishing for tarpon-- especially with a fly rod, since it's always a challenge to entice a wild animal to eat a man-made creation of fur and feathers.
You have to cast your bait very near the tarpon's mouth because it doesn't want to work very hard to catch a meal. Once the fish engulfs the offering, you must set the hook before it can spit it out-- a tricky business that goes wrong more than it goes right. When the tarpon realizes it has a hook in its jaw, it almost always jumps out of the water, and you have to see it coming and perform the maneuver of 'bowing to the silver king'-- pointing the rod down and toward the fish. If all goes well and you are still connected, you'll probably be engaged in battle for quite some time--either until you bring the fish up to the gunwales to be released or it breaks your line. Good luck.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Tarpon1-1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4599" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Tarpon1-1.jpg" alt="Tarpon1 (1)" width="4320" height="3240" /></a>
Biscayne Bay doesn't harbor as many tarpon during the spring as the Keys, Gonzalez says, because the waters of the island chain are a convergence zone for tarpon migrating from both the Gulf and Atlantic. But you might find Biscayne Bay to be less crowded with anglers than the busy flats of the Keys, and the fish tend to hang out in the bay into July-- after they've gone AWOL in the Keys.
In the Keys, you'll find tarpon in the channels beneath the U.S. 1 bridges; on the flats and channels in the vast back country; along the edges of ocean side flats; and there's usually big school right in busy Key West Harbor. Baits include pilchards, mullet, crabs, and pinfish.
One phenomenon peculiar to the Keys is the palolo worm hatch which usually occurs on the full and new moons of May and June during a falling tide in late afternoon.
When these magenta-colored marine worms start popping to the surface, tarpon gobble them to the exclusion of everything else. One Key West guide describes the fish as acting like they're on LSD. Double-digit releases on fly patterns that imitate the worms are common. Even if you miss all your strikes, it's a marvel to observe.
Tarpon charter openings are filling up fast. To book a trip with any Outfitter <a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.com/expeditions/expedition-adventures/tarpon-tango/">Click Here</a> or call the Travel Desk at 800-513-5257. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/bow-to-the-silver-king/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Bonefish & Tarpon Trust Symposium Set for Nov. 11th & 12th&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/vaughfred-bonefish.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-830 " title="Bimini Bonefish" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/vaughfred-bonefish.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="329" /></a>Fly fishing guru Vaughn Cochran and Bimini Big Game Club guide "Eagle Eyes" Fred enjoy a bountiful day bonefishing on the Bimini flats.
The <a title="2011 BTT Symposium" href="http://www.tarbone.org/component/content/article/318.html" target="_blank">Fourth International Bonefish and Tarpon Trust Symposium</a> will take place on November 11th and 12th, 2011 at the <a title="IGFA web site" href="http://www.igfa.org" target="_blank">International Game Fishing Association Hall of Fame</a> in Dania Beach, FL. Representatives from <a title="About GHO" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/aboutus.htm" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost</a> will be in attendance.
Held every third year, this Symposium promises to be the largest and most informative to date. Two full days of presentations on cutting edge scientific research of bonefish, tarpon and permit from fisheries scientists around the world is scheduled, as well as panel discussions, fly casting seminars and tying clinics by some of the world’s noted flats anglers. On the final night an “Evening with the Legends” banquet will be emceed by author and angler Andy Mill, participants include; Joan Wulff, Bob Popovics, Lefty Kreh, Flip Pallot, Chico Fernandez, Sandy Moret, Rick Ruoff, Mark Sosin, Ralph Delph, Steve Huff, Bill Curtis, Stu Apte and George Hommell.
Leading up to and as part of the Symposium, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust will be auctioning multiple guided days of fishing and special one of a kind fishing adventures with expert guides who have donated their time to benefit BTT. For more information on these auctions and to submit your bids please go to the <a title="BTT Symposium Auctions" href="http://www.tarbone.org/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=26&zenid=b7til449h12ti6cs07e6lv3gb5" target="_blank">“Symposium Auctions”</a> button on the BTT web site.
Space is limited, so be sure to register early. All interested anglers are welcome. For more information and a complete schedule of events, please visit the <a title="BTT web site" href="http://www.tarbone.com" target="_blank">BTT web site</a>, or call 239-283-4733. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/bonefish-tarpon-trust-symposium-set-for-nov-11th-12th/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=A Paddle Trip Even Lewis & Clark Would Have Skipped&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3016 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/paddle.jpg?w=300" alt="paddle" width="300" height="267" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
Paddling the marshy interior of Everglades National Park makes you feel like you are the first one ever to explore the region. You won't see any humans other than your companions. You won't encounter much trash, save for a stray deflated Mylar balloon here and there. The only mechanical sounds you'll hear come from the occasional small airplane overhead. You come to truly appreciate the exquisite natural beauty of this vast 1.5-million-acre wilderness known as the "River of Grass". And you will really, really wish that it was more river and less grass--especially after 22 miles of slogging in a single day.
A group of about 20 men and women whose names will be withheld to protect the uncertain status of their mental health embarked on Halloween on what was supposed to be a day-long exploration of Taylor Slough extending from the park's Homestead entrance southwest to Nine Mile Pond near Flamingo. The trip was the brainchild of a veteran local Everglades explorer we'll call "Tom" who leads these out-of-the-way paddling adventures annually, dubbed "Invitationals". "Tom" never follows the trails on park brochures, instead mapping out his routes using Google Maps and GPS.
Setting out before dawn in canoes and kayaks from an airboat trail that used to be the Ingraham Highway pre-dating the park's 1947 establishment, the group pushed, pulled, poled and paddled for hours through thickets of spikerush, sawgrass and periphyton -- a spongy algae variously described as elephant snot or monkey puke. It actually smells pretty good, kind of like PineSol. But it is no fun to navigate, especially when your paddle blades catapult thick wads of it onto you and your boat. Unseasonably warm temperatures and very little breeze added to the discomfort.
The going was so slow through the shallow water and dense grass that the group hadn't covered even half the distance by the time we stopped for lunch in a small patch of shade beside a tree island.
While everyone was breaking out their water bottles and lunchboxes, one paddler suddenly flipped upside down in his kayak. At first, I thought he'd been startled by a snake or something. But when he didn't crawl out from under the kayak right away, several people nearby leapt from their boats, pulled him out of the water and righted his boat. He was conscious, but pale and dazed.
One of his rescuers, fortunately, was a physician who checked him out, pronounced a touch of heat exhaustion, and said he would be fine after taking in electrolyte fluids. But he was too run down to paddle much, so he took my spot in the bow of Tom's canoe and I took over the kayak.
I would like to say the trip became easier, but only in small increments. Water levels rose a bit higher as we neared Craighead's Pond-- site of a raised platform and defunct science experiment. But after a couple more miles, I was growing tired from the drag of the grass and the constant shipping of slimy algae into the kayak.
To no one's surprise, the sun set and the sky grew dark well before we entered the mangrove labyrinth of Nine Mile Pond. Nearly everyone had headlamps or flashlights and GPS units that tracked true, so there was little chance of getting lost. But of course, hordes of mosquitoes and gnats appeared as soon as the light faded, making an uncomfortable journey even worse. At least the air cooled off.
But with about five miles yet to go, I was pretty exhausted. At our next rest stop in the dark, I traded the kayak to a young woman triathlete in exchange for her seat in her uncle's canoe. Paddling in the bow with him in the stern felt like a spa day compared to mushing in the kayak.
With no further misadventures, the entire group somehow arrived safely at the Nine Mile Pond parking lot about 8:45 p.m.-- a distance of 22 miles in 13 1/2 hours.
As we made landfall, my canoe partner began whistling the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah"-- wrong holiday, but an entirely appropriate anthem under the circumstances.
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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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