Welcome to the Outpost Travel Journal where the members of the Guy Harvey Resorts Pro Team provide you their notes, tips and images from the field. Read their entries to inspire you for your next travel adventure! # TravelInspired
Reel Time Florida Sportsman – Largemouth Bass A to Z
Captain George Gozdz provides you lessons and tips on Largemouth Bass A to Z on Reel Time Florida Sportsman featuring Camp Mack, a Guy Harvey Lodge, Marina & RV Resort and Lake Kissimmee!
Reel Time Florida Sportsman TV brings the most up to date fishing reports on the web, the fishing reports from the Florida Sportsman Forums, to the Big Screen.
Captain George Gozdz, host of Reel Time, reviews the hottest action in the state, based on the most current fishing reports on the Region Forums, then packs up his boat and gear to fish with the Florida Sportsman member who posted the best and most action-packed report. For more information visit www.FloridaSportsman.com
Not every creature is scary. Not every creature has hair either. Every Friday & Sunday morning at 8:30, Capt. Slate goes diving with his friends. Some want to cuddle; some just like a scratch behind …
Bimini continues to live up to it’s reputation a the “Sport Fishing Capital of the World”. The IGFA recently announced FOUR new world records were landed in Bimini waters – all …
Despite the searing August heat, the largemouth bass fishing in Lake Okeechobee hasn’t slowed down a bit. At a recent one-day local club tournament, it took a five-bass limit of 31 pounds to win. …
The following editorial about Everglades activist Wayne Nelson was posted to the blog “Eye on Miami” after Nelson’s death last week. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial …
Divers: start rehearsing your cough-and-call routine. You will need to execute a flawless performance to avoid getting fired for skipping work July 26 and 27– Florida’s largest undeclared …
Here are some of the locals you will meet during Guy Harvey Outpost’s guided people-to-people expedition to Cuba December 13-18: –The son of Fidel Castro’s official photographer; –the …
Fellow anglers, divers and boaters, It has come to my attention that that there is some concern, particularly among anglers in the northeast US, about my allegiance to the sport fishing community. Please …
The History of Diving Museum 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 …
26 Feb 2018
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![](mailto:?subject=Capt. Slate’s Creature Feature at the Islander Guy Harvey Outpost Islamorada&body=Not every creature is scary. Not every creature has hair either.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/capt-slates-dive-center.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2149" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/capt-slates-dive-center.jpg?w=660" alt="Capt Slate's Dive Center" width="660" height="255" /></a>
Every Friday & Sunday morning at 8:30, <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/adventures/diving.html">Capt. Slate</a> goes diving with his friends. Some want to cuddle; some just like a scratch behind the fin. Please do not try this at home, Capt. Slate is a trained professional and has been a practicing creature for 36 years!
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/slate-moray.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-2150" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/slate-moray.jpg" alt="Slate moray" width="350" height="224" /></a>
When diving be careful of the "S" word... No not Sharks... SLATE!!!
Capt. Slate is one of Guy Harvey Outpost's "Go to guys." He relocated his shop just a short drive from the <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/florida/islamorada-fl/islamorada-fl-overview.html">Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost</a> in Islamorada. The drive from Miami International Airport it is less than two hour to the Islander. So no matter where you are coming from we can get you in the water in no time. And we promise, Slate is not as scary as he looks.
To get up close to Capt. Slate or one of his friends give our Reservation Wranglers a call at 800-513-5257 or drop them a line reservations@guyharveyoutpost.com https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/capt-slates-creature-feature-at-the-islander-guy-harvey-outpost-islamorada/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Four New IGFA Records Set in Bimini&body=<a href="http://www.captbouncer.com/"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-287" title="Capt. Bouncer Smith on a recent charter to Bimini" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/bouncers_dusky_evinrude.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="158" /></a>
<a title="Bimini web site" href="http://www.bahamas.com/out-islands/bimini" target="_blank">Bimini</a> continues to live up to it's reputation a the "Sport Fishing Capital of the World". The <a title="IGFA web site" href="http://www.igfa.org/" target="_blank">IGFA</a> recently announced FOUR new <a title="IGFA World Records Database" href="http://www.igfa.org/Records/Default.aspx" target="_blank">world records</a> were landed in Bimini waters - all caught by the same husband/wife team during a 2-day fishing trip with <a title="Web site for Capt. Bouncer Smith " href="http://www.captbouncer.com/" target="_blank">Capt. Bouncer Smith</a>! Angler Roberta Arostegui set three new women's records - a 3 lb., 8 oz Black Grouper on 20#, a 2 lb., 12 oz Lane Snapper and a 3 lb., 8 oz Lane Snapper - and husband Martin Arostegui set a new 8# Tippet World Record for Amaco Jack! These are not the first records the Arosteguis have caught. In fact, they have caught a number of other records in Bimini. Just goes to show - good thing happen when you go where the fish are! https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/four-new-igfa-records-set-in-bimini/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Pro Anglers Expecting a Bounty of Big Fish for FLW Event at Lake O!&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/steve-daniel-bass-fish.jpeg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2867 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/steve-daniel-bass-fish.jpeg?w=225" alt="Steve Daniel - Bass Fish" width="225" height="300" /></a>Despite the searing August heat, the largemouth bass fishing in Lake Okeechobee hasn't slowed down a bit. At a recent one-day local club tournament, it took a five-bass limit of 31 pounds to win.
"This is August. They can't do this anywhere else in the country," declared veteran Lake O guide and former pro tour champion Steve Daniel. "The lake has been awesome all summer long."
Some 300 anglers in the pro- and co-angler categories of the FLW Wal-Mart BFL Gator Division will be able see for themselves in the Aug. 29-30 'super tournament' at Okeechobee's Scott Driver Park. It's the fifth and final event of the 2015 Gator Division--the largest of the BFL's 24 divisions--where the top pro will take home $9,000 and $4,500 will go to the top co-angler.
Daniel predicts the winning two-day weight could be 45 pounds.
With water levels in the Big O hovering around 12 feet and a full moon on Aug. 29, Daniel believes the big fish will go for the spawning bluegill and shellcracker bedding on the edges of grass lines first thing in the morning. Anglers using large Senkos and swim baits in bluegill hues of green and orange will be successful, he says. As the sun rises, bass are likely to head for deeper water, such as the hydrilla beds of Harney Pond where slow-moving chatterbaits and spinnerbaits should do the trick.
FLW Tour pro Mike Surman says it's key to knock out a couple big fish of six pounds or larger right out of the gate.
"If you find the right place early in the morning, you can catch 20 fish in the first half-hour," Surman said. "If you catch two good ones early and one more later in the day, you've got a good chance to win."
Surman, who has won major tournaments on Lake Okeechobee in the past, said he plans to start the day with a YoZuri Nor-Z-- a large, jointed minnow-shaped bait with a propeller in the back-- then switch to a Gambler Big EZ minnow imitation or Gambler jig with a MegaDaddy trailer later in the day. He believes the tournament could be won anywhere on the lake --even ten minutes' ride from the boat ramp. Daniel believes anglers can also catch big fish in the Kissimmee River and adjacent canals.
At the last Gator Division tournament held on the Big O in April, Joshua Morfis weighed a limit of 34 pounds, 14 ounces in a single day to earn more than $6,300. Co-angler Hunter Abowd had the largest fish -- an 11-pound, 10-ounce monster. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/pro-anglers-expecting-a-bounty-of-big-fish-for-flw-event-at-lake-o/){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}
![](mailto:?subject=Cuba Un-canned: See It With the Locals&body=Here are some of the locals you will meet during <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/">Guy Harvey Outpost's</a> guided people-to-people expedition to Cuba December 13-18:
--The son of Fidel Castro's official photographer;
--the director of the Cuba's Masonic museum;
--a rural tobacco farmer;
--a mixologist who will teach you how to make the perfect Mojito.
And the locales you will visit will combine mainstream stops (Floridita --creator of the daiquiri-- and Museo de la Revolucion, stone walls with 1950s bullet holes) with way un-trodden destinations (Cueva El Palmarito --the largest cave system in Latin America, and a fishing cooperative in Cojimar, where Ernest Hemingway's captain spent most of his life).
Your hosts will be Justin White-- operator of <a href="https://www.docfordscubaexpeditions.com/">Doc Ford's Cuba Expeditions</a> and nephew of best-selling novelist Randy Wayne White--and Sports Illustrated photographer Ron Modra.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MG_1480.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4874" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MG_1480.jpg" alt="" width="2100" height="1400" /></a>
"The people we are going to meet are incredible-- interesting, intelligent, diverse age groups," White said. "You'll see the monumental places but the targeted people and events introduce you to real people living their daily lives. The most valuable experience you can have is to be with the people and ask them questions. There are no airs put on."
With new U.S.-to-Cuba travel restrictions set to take effect in mid-September, White is taking special care to stay on the right side of the law: staying only in private lodgings, taking meals in private restaurants; interacting one-on-one with Cuban people; and travelling in a 12-member group.
"We will abide by all the policies and restrictions put in place," White said. "We focus on people-to-people exchanges."
The six-day, five-night itinerary is packed with authentic experiences: poring over photo albums with Raul Corrales, whose father shot reams of images of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his friend author Ernest Hemingway; walking the docks at Cojimar, the small fishing village where Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" was set and where the author's captain Gregorio Fuentes lived to be 104; visiting Finca Vijia where Hemingway's boat, Pilar, still sits; touring a tobacco farm and coffee plantation; and hiking to a huge cave in the countryside. It also hits some of the typical tourist spots such as the Tropicana nightclub and Old Havana. And there will be multiple opportunities to ogle (and photograph) all the old cars, with Modra coaching on the finer points of capturing images.
If you <a href="https://guyharveyoutpost.com/expeditions/cuba/">book your expedition</a> by Aug. 31, you'll receive free airfare from Fort Lauderdale to Havana. For more information, visit <a href="https://www.guyharveyoutpost.com">www.guyharveyoutpost.com</a> or call the Outpost Travel Desk at 800-513-5257. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/cuba-un-canned-see-it-with-the-locals/){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>
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