The month of May in Florida produces spring flowers, increased showers, warmer waters—and the kick-off of lionfish derby season. From now through September, Floridians and visitors have more opportunities …
Seafood, Catch and Eat It at Guy Harvey Outpost St. Pete Beach
26 Jul 20163:27 PM
By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Journalist
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
[St. Petersburg Beach, FL.–] Few pastimes are more rewarding than eating fresh fish from the ocean that you have just caught yourself. And Guy Harvey Outpost, a TradeWinds Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach, makes it easier than just about anyone to achieve that supreme satisfaction.
Captain Tim Kehoe, Senior Outfitter at the Outpost, will tailor your stay to include your choice of fishing adventures among about 50 local charter skiffs, bay boats, sport fishing yachts, and party boats ranging from 22 feet to more than 50 feet long. Then you can have your catch of the day prepared however you like it at the Outpost’s RumFish Grill, or at one of several local restaurants on the beach. My vote goes to RumFish– more on that later.
Last week, I travelled to St. Pete Beach and fished on the 51-foot party boat Miss Pass-A-Grille with Kehoe and his dad Ted. Kehoe regularly sends Outpost guests to fish on the boat because of the skills of veteran captain Randy Coffman and his friendly and helpful crew members Hunter and Alex. The Miss Pass-A-Grille is popular with both tourists and locals because the crew treats everyone like an old friend and REALLY wants everyone to catch fish. Plus the boat’s mascot– Coffman’s chocolate Lab Diesel– is really cute. (I kept threatening to kidnap him.)
To keep the odds forever in our favor, Kehoe brought a couple aerated bait wells on board full of live scaled sardines (pilchards); Spanish sardines; pigfish; pinfish; and shrimp. The boat provided limitless buckets of cut sardines and squid.
When all 39 passengers had climbed aboard, Coffman issued a call to action: “Let’s go get bloody!” And we sure did.
It’s grouper season in the Gulf of Mexico through Dec. 31, and the Kehoes and I were determined to catch a couple gag and red grouper for dinner. Coffman pointed the boat about 12 miles offshore to some limestone ledges about 45 feet deep frequented by those and other tasty reef species.
Arriving at the first ledge, anglers caught a few grunts and porgies before the fishing slowed down. Coffman had just cranked the engines to leave when Tim Kehoe’s stout bottom rod bent double and his reel’s drag began to squeal against whatever was straining it.
“Fish ON!” everyone screamed, and Coffman quickly stopped the boat.
After a brief struggle, Tim began to gain on the fish and pumped and reeled it steadily toward the surface.
The crowd of anxious anglers shouted with delight (and probably a little envy) when it turned out to be a 25-inch gag grouper. Believe me, a television fishing show couldn’t have scripted it any better. And somewhat surprisingly, Tim had caught it, not on a live bait, but on a slab of grunt fillet! Talk about keeping hope alive.
You would think the fishing trip couldn’t get much better after that, but the entire group enjoyed bountiful bottom fishing the rest of the day: more grunts and porgies; some triggerfish; red and scamp grouper; a nice hogfish; a couple of Spanish mackerel; and a small yellowtail. Kehoe even added a 20-inch red grouper that he caught on one of his live pilchards.
The huge catch kept Hunter and Alex busy cleaning for several hours at the dock, but Tim delivered a portion of our filleted grouper and grunts to Chef Aaron Schweitzer at RumFish Grill to be prepared that evening.
Unfortunately, neither Tim nor his dad could make dinner, so I had all that fish to myself! I just left the preparation up to Schweitzer’s imagination, which turned out to be a very good decision indeed.
I started out with pan-fried grunt accompanied by fresh limes and remoulade sauce with a side of pickled vegetable relish. I haven’t eaten grunt in years, and never knew it could be so tender and tasty. The grunt was followed up by more grunt– this time cooked scampi-style with a tomato-lemon-caper sauce. Even better than the first course. And one of the most enjoyable aspects of eating at RumFish is the ambience between courses: watching snapper, jacks, drum, and many others swimming around in the huge aquarium that takes up the restaurant’s entire rear wall.
But Schweitzer saved the best for last– blackened gag grouper with an orange cream sauce and pineapple salsa over jasmine rice and spinach. As I was snapping photos of the presentation, I caught some envious looks from neighboring diners. Then I dug in. As appetizing as it looked, it tasted even better. I gobbled every last bite!
You too can enjoy this angling and culinary adventure. Or make up your own. To make a reservation, go to the 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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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts.
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![](mailto:?subject=Follow the Yellow Brick Road&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3226 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/p1010298.jpg?w=225" alt="P1010298" width="225" height="300" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
I can't think of too many outings more fun in winter than going patch fishing off Islamorada.
While you are almost certain to catch big numbers of yellowtail snapper, plenty of other species either hang out or pass through these miniature ecosystems at the same time.
On a late December outing with captain Greg Eklund and mate Cory Nelson on the charterboat Cloud Nine out of Bud n' Mary's Marina, our group of four anglers boated nearly 40 yellowtail and gray snapper, a handful of cero mackerel, and the broad head of a big red grouper that got cut in half by a suspected shark. We also released about dozen and half undersized mutton snapper. We couldn't lower our baits into the current without getting a hit.
"Yellowtail is one of the most important species we have," said Eklund, a 21-year veteran captain. "They're delicious. abundant, and fun to catch."
Check, check and check.
The fishing grounds Eklund chose was a sandy plain in the ocean off Islamorada about 20 feet deep with scattered patches of coral reefs to the north and south. He dropped the Cloud Nine's anchor in the sand up-current of the live bottom.
"You don't want to damage the reef by anchoring on it," Eklund explained. "You don't want to damage your tackle on the bottom and lose fish on the reef. You bring the fish to you."
Nelson deployed a chum bag on the transom and prepared a bucket full of raw oats mixed with the oily fish parts. For bait, Cloud Nine had brought live shrimp threaded on 1/4-ounce knock-off Hook Up jigs.
"Live shrimp is a very effective bait in wintertime because a lot of shrimp are going under the bridges," Eklund said, referring to the spans dotting U.S. 1 that separate the ocean from shallow Florida Bay waters.
The captain said fishing for yellowtail with live shrimp on the main reef tract further offshore doesn't work as well as it does on the patches because the fish aren't used to seeing them in wintertime. Most of those migrating crustaceans get picked off by predators long before they make it to the open ocean. Live pilchards, he said, are the preferred bait in deeper waters.
The captain tossed out a cloud of oats and chum from the stern of the boat, waited a few beats, then sent out another one. Within a few minutes, he pronounced, " I can see them; they're swarming."
Flashes of dingy yellow appeared in the green chum slick as Eklund baited my jig with a live shrimp. I lowered it into the water, watching for the line to start zipping through the rod guides. It didn't take long.
"You're on," Eklund said.
I slammed the bail of the reel closed, and came up tight on a feisty fish. It even made the drag sing a little. Within a minute or two, I swung a 14-inch yellowtail over the transom.
My fishing companions--Bud n' Mary's owner captain Richard Stanczyk, tackle shop manager Stephen Byrd, and North Carolina charterboat captain Dave Peck--all joined the action, which was constant and frenzied for several hours. Mixed in with the tails was a handful of mangrove snapper; quite a few muttons too small to keep; and several ceros. A heavy bottom outfit yielded the partial grouper.
The weather was bumpy the day we fished, so we pretty much had the area to ourselves. No commercial boats plied the area for yellowtail because NOAA Fisheries had closed that fishery Oct. 31, projecting that the total annual catch limit of about 1.6 million pounds would be reached. Commercial fishing re-opened on Jan. 1.
Yellowtail is considered a success story by both fishers and fisheries managers. Unlike some grouper/snapper species, the stock is not in trouble from overfishing.
Eklund said part of the reason is all the chumming that goes on in the area.
"It's like a small farm," he said. "[Yellowtail] will gorge themselves on chum, then go to the rocks and regurgitate and it feeds other fish."
We scored a cooler full before noon, and I went home with plenty of five-star entree fare to serve at holiday feasts.
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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/follow-the-yellow-brick-road/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Save A Reef– Eat Delicious Seared Lionfish at Old Bahama Bay, a Guy Harvey Outpost&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/lionfish.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2953 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/lionfish.jpg?w=249" alt="lionfish" width="249" height="300" /></a>
By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Growing up between the settlements of Bimini and West End in the Bahamas, Patrick Pierre really thought he wanted to become a pilot. But after graduating from high school, he decided to join some friends who were attending the Bahamas Hotel Training College in Nassau.
"I wanted to be close to my friends and I just went in and I loved it and it just took off from there," Pierre said.
He found work in restaurants in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island before joining Old Bahama Bay Resort & Yacht Harbour on West End in 2006 where he is executive chef. His seared lionfish (see recipe below) became a big hit with guests-- after he gave them a little education.
Lionfish -- an exotic species from the Indo-Pacific-- have invaded the Caribbean, South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico over the past decade or so. The candy-striped predators decimate local fish populations and can reproduce successfully in wide ranges of salinity, temperature and depth. They feed by sucking in their prey and defend themselves with venom-tipped spines on their bodies. However, lionfish meat contains no toxins and has a mild flavor.
"Most people thought lionfish was poisonous, but we explained it's just the prongs," the chef said.
He soaks the prongs in ice water for 24 hours to remove the venom, then re-purposes them as toothpicks for spearing conch fritters.
When Pierre isn't creating recipes and supervising the restaurant staff, he studies languages in his spare time. Right now, he's learning Hebrew and he already speaks Creole, French and a little Spanish --in addition to English.
Here's Chef Patrick's favorite recipe for Seared Lionfish, served on a bed of sweet potato puree and topped with roasted corn and cilantro salsa and sitting in a bowl of bouillabaisse.
Preparing the fish
Scale and fillet lionfish, leaving on one side of the skin. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the fillet and dust it with fresh-ground salt and pepper. Place the fillet skin side down in a pan of hot olive oil and cook until the skin side is crisp (about 2-3 minutes). Finish in the oven at 350-375 degrees for 3 to 4 minutes.
Preparing the salsa
Roast fresh corn for 10-12 minutes on the grill, then cool and shave.
Combine fresh squeezed lime juice, garlic, cilantro and local hot peppers and toss with the corn.
Preparing the bouillabaisse
Make a broth by adding fish and lobster heads, conch and shrimp parts to boiling water. Strain through a cheesecloth. Add saffron and sea salt and pour into bowl about 1/4 inch deep.
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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. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/save-a-reef-eat-delicious-seared-lionfish-at-old-bahama-bay-a-guy-harvey-outpost/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Seafood at Southern Cross on Little Cayman: Local and Fresh&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/quinoa-crusted-silk-snapper.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2967 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/quinoa-crusted-silk-snapper.jpg?w=265" alt="Quinoa crusted Silk Snapper" width="265" height="300" /></a>By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
Guests at the Southern Cross Club-- a Guy Harvey Outpost Expedition Lodge located on the smallest of the three Cayman Islands-- need never be concerned about the freshness nor sustainability of the seafood served to them.
That's because the staff and some of the guests catch a lot of the meals themselves, which is then prepared under the exacting and creative direction of executive chef Anu Christopher.
"We have a fishing guide who takes our guests," Christopher said. "Most of the time, they come back with fresh tuna, wahoo, mahi and snapper. We try to build a menu based on what is coming in locally. Fresh fish is a priority."
Like other Guy Harvey Outpost eateries, the restaurant at the Southern Cross Club adheres strictly to sustainable seafood guidelines. Species that are red-listed are no-no's-- including shark, sea bass, and grouper. The government of the Cayman Islands-- spurred by research conducted by Dr. Guy Harvey himself--prohibits the harvest of grouper from spawning aggregation sites during the winter months.
But snapper such as yellowtail and silk -- a deepwater species-- are plentiful around Little Cayman, and one of Christopher's signature entrees is quinoa-encrusted silk snapper with a root vegetable mosaic and red hibiscus beurre blanc (see recipe below).
"We infuse international influence with Caribbean influence," the chef said.
Christopher, married with two sons, came to Southern Cross in 2011 from Grand Cayman where he ran a popular hotel kitchen for 11 years. But he didn't always yearn to be a chef.
After graduating from college in his native India with a bachelor's degree in zoology, he decided on a whim to take the entrance exam for a culinary school and passed it.
"Why not give it a try?" he said. "I thought it was interesting. After the first year, I knew I had an inclination."
He undertook two years of kitchen management training and was posted to one of the Oberoi Group of hotels in Mumbai. After several years, Christopher decided to gain some international experience and went to work for Miami-based Celebrity Cruises, overseeing breakfast, lunch and dinner for thousands of passengers en route to Alaska, Bermuda and the Caribbean. After five years, he moved to the Cayman Islands.
"A very unique place," he said.
The chef and his family live on nearby Cayman Brac and he commutes by small plane to his job weekly. For fun, he reads memoirs and travels to India and abroad.
Chef Anu's receipe - Quinoa crusted Silk Snapper Fillet with Root Vegetable Mosaic and
Red Hibiscus Beurre Blanc (Yields 4 Servings)
Ingredients:
Snapper
Snapper Fillets 8oz – 4 each
Quinoa – 1 Cup
Lime Juice -1 Tbl Spoon
Salt – to taste
Cr. Black Pepper – 1 Teaspoon
Root Vegetable Mosaic
Peruvian Potato – 1 lb
Sweet Potato – 1 lb
Parsnips – 1 lb
Heavy Cream – 1 cup
Parmesan Cheese- ½ cup
Salt – to taste
Ground Black Pepper – 1 tea
Red Hibiscus Beurre Blanc
Red Hibiscus Flower Petals – 20 each
Shallots – 1 Tbl spoon
White wine – 1 Cup
Heavy Cream- 2 tbl spoon
Soft Butter – ½ cup
Salt – to taste
1. Marinate the Snapper fillets with lime juice, salt and pepper. Roast the Quinoa seeds in a frying pan until light brown in color. Crust the Sanpper fillets with the roasted quinoa seeds. Pan fry the fish in medium heat until cooked and set aside.
2. Slice all the Root Vegetables to 2 mm slices using a Mandolin grater. Layer alternately in a baking tray sprinkling the Parmesan cheese in between. Top it with the heavy cream. Cover using an aluminium foil. Bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
3. Heat a sauce pan. Sweat the chopped shallots until translucent. Deglaze using the white wine. Add the heavy cream and Red Hibiscus petals and bring it a boil. Put off the fire and puree the mixture in a blender. Fold in the soft butter.
4. Serve garnished with a Fried root vegetable nest.
Garnish
Make spirals of all the root vegetables using a Japanese mandolin grater. Dredge in seasoned all purpose flour. Deep fry until crispy in the shape of a nest. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/seafood-at-southern-cross-on-little-cayman-local-and-fresh/){kind=link}
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