Event Combines Fishing, Conservation, Research & Marine Science Scholarships FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – What do you get when you combine world-class fishing, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) …
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Event Combines Fishing, Conservation, Research & Marine Science Scholarships
FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – What do you get when you combine world-class fishing, <a href="http://www.nova.edu">Nova Southeastern University</a> (NSU) and world-renowned conservationist and artist Guy Harvey? A one-of-a-kind marine conservation festival and tournament in the Florida Keys!
NSU is proud to be part of the Blazing Mako Tournament & Festival, to be held in the sportfishing capital of the world – Islamorada – in the Florida Keys. The three-day event is scheduled for June 16-19 2016, with management provided by <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com">Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts</a>. Formerly named the Fort Lauderdale Billfish Tournament, the event has been moved to the historic Islander Resort for 2016, a Guy Harvey Outpost destination in Islamorada.
The event will include a premier, not-for-profit fishing tournament; innovative art exhibits featuring recycled materials, conservation organization displays and local vendors, all showcased in a 100 tent “Conchservation Village; cyber on-the-water release documentation for research using the IGHOfish App; and watersport demonstrations and competitions.
While there will be a fishing tournament as part of the event, like other Guy Harvey Outpost Bonfire series events, there is much more to the Blazing Mako Tournament & Festival. Community engagement is at the heart of the weekend’s activities. The event will also aid in raising funds for marine sciences scholarships at the <a href="http://cnso.nova.edu/index.html">NSU’ Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography</a>, which is home to the <a href="http://www.nova.edu/ghoc/">Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center</a>.
“Once again NSU and Guy Harvey are teaming up to help today’s students become tomorrow’s marine researchers and scientists,” said Richard Dodge, Ph.D., Dean of NSU’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography. “We have a long-standing relationship with Dr. Harvey, and I am continually amazed at how much he wants to help students follow their dreams. This tournament promises to be fun, while at the same time continuing to add to Dr. Harvey’s legacy at NSU.”
The Blazing Mako Tournament & Festival, managed by Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts, has targeted a fundraising goal of $100,000. NSU's <a href="http://cnso.nova.edu/index.html">Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography</a>, home to the <a href="http://cnso.nova.edu/ghri/index.html">Guy Harvey Research Institute</a> (GHRI), the Center of Excellence in Coral Reef Ecosystem Research and the <a href="http://cnso.nova.edu/save-our-seas/index.html">Save Our Seas Shark Centre</a>, will administer scholarship funds donated through the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation (GHOF).
“This will be an event as much as a fishing tournament,” said Mark Ellert, president of Fort Lauderdale-based Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts. “Like our other Bonfire series tournaments in the Bahamas, community engagement is a key and we have planned quite a weekend of activities that will stage an innovative ‘Conchservation’ Village to highlight ‘trash-to-treasure’ art exhibits and conservation efforts in the Florida Keys, live music, a trivia event and beach and wastersport competitions, a Rum Village and Kids Pier Fishing Tournament, fishing seminars and our traditional burning sculpture bonfire—this time a 15’ mako shark design beachside at the Islander Resort.”
The bonfire sculptures themselves have a conservation theme given that they are created out of recycled metal by various local artists. Each sculpture is designed with a specific fish species unique to each destination. Well known Islamorada artist Pasta Pantaleo will design the Blazing Mako sculpture for the tournament and festival. Pantaleo, recognized around the world as a gamefish artist, operates a popular gallery, Pasta Pantaleo’s Signature Gallery, at mile marker 81.5.
The Blazing Mako tournament, named for NSU’s mascot — the mako shark — will encompass an inshore and offshore division. Corporate team registration (offshore) for the non-profit tournament is $5,000 per team (six anglers). Inshore registration is also available for $2,500 (three anglers). Larger boats (26’ and up) will be accommodated by the Post Card Inn Marina and smaller (25’ or less) by the Islander Bayside Townhomes. Internationally renowned sculptor Kent Ullberg, who designed the mako sculpture at the NSU main campus, has been commissioned to create a similarly designed perpetual trophy for the tournament.
Ellert said more than 100 vendor tents will be onsite along with fishing seminars provided by professional and local guides, and free downloads of the iGHOFish app powered by iAngler that will allow anglers to log their catches, which can be used a valuable information for fisheries management. In the case of the Blazing Mako tournament, the IGHOFish app will be used in documenting inshore and billfish catches along with photos and measurement before releasing the catches.
For more information on the Blazing Mako Tournament & Festival please visit <a href="http://www.blazingmako.com">www.blazingmako.com</a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/nova-southeastern-university-guy-harvey-outpost-resorts-present-blazing-mako-tournament-festival/){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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![](mailto:?subject=St. Pete Beach and Key Largo Hosting September Lionfish Derbies&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/11894565_10153016510035966_3704420398588416464_o.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2879 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/11894565_10153016510035966_3704420398588416464_o.jpg?w=300" alt="11894565_10153016510035966_3704420398588416464_o" width="300" height="201" /></a>Opportunities to curb Florida's burgeoning populations of invasive lionfish (and learn more about our coral reef ecosystem) will be available in St. Pete Beach and Key Largo in September. And all ocean enthusiasts-- divers or not-- are invited to both events.
Guy Harvey Outpost, a TradeWinds Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach, will co-host a Lionfish Safari Sept. 12-13, along with Reef Monitoring, Inc. and the Fishing Rights Alliance. Then from Sept. 24-27, the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) will conduct REEF Fest 2015 in Key Largo-- a lionfish and ocean education event.
At the Lionfish Safari, both divers and anglers will set out to capture as many of the exotic predators from the Indo-Pacific as possible on Sept. 12. Contestants will keep their catch on ice overnight, then present it at weigh-in ceremonies Sept. 13 at the Outpost for chances of winning cash prizes and the certainty of knowing they did something to benefit the Gulf coast marine environment. Everyone will get to eat some of the bounty, and there will be a photo contest, raffle, and prize give-aways. Tournament entry fee is $35 per person.
It's just as (or more) important for anglers to participate in the Safari as for scuba divers and snorkelers. A recent study by scientists at Nova Southeastern University suggests that local, intermittent diving derbies barely make a dent in reducing overall lionfish numbers and containing their spread. That's because participants tend to zero in on the largest lionfish while smaller fish escape and spread their larvae to far-away downstream locations. Nova's Dr. Matthew Johnston says what's needed is consistent removal of all sizes of the exotics wherever they live, deep or shallow. Anglers are urged to fish for them with hook-and-line, especially in waters too deep for divers to safely explore.
Captain Tim Kehoe, Senior Outfitter at TradeWinds, recently harvested what might have been a world-record lionfish while surf-fishing near the resort. Casting a live scaled sardine (pilchard) in knee-deep water, Kehoe landed a fat 20-inch specimen, but didn't weigh it or turn it over to the International Game Fish Association for certification. Still, that's one less voracious predator plundering Southwest Florida's native fish populations. If you would like to get involved, go to <a href="http://www.GuysLionfishSafari.com" target="_blank">www.GuysLionfishSafari.com</a> or call 727-259-7404.
Now, if you are not an experienced lionfish hunter and would like to learn more, REEF Fest in Key Largo is the place for you. REEF staff members will instruct you on locating them and safely avoiding their venomous spines, and will escort you on a lionfish hunt. This is no derby; it's for instructional purposes only. But REEF Fest is much more than a lionfish expo. The event features seminars on fish identification and behavior; coral restoration; reef ecology and many other topics. Scuba celebrities such as Neal Watson, Spencer Slate, and Marty Snyderman will conduct guided dives to local reefs and wrecks. Evening social events with food and music will cap each day. Many events are free, but pre-registration is required. Visit <a href="http://www.reef.org/REEFFest2015" target="_blank">www.reef.org/REEFFest2015</a>. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/st-pete-beach-and-key-largo-hosting-september-lionfish-derbies/){kind=link}
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