FLORIDA BAY FOREVER SAVE OUR WATERS PRESENTS THE VOI CES OF THE FLORI DA BAY PROJ ECT THE INTERVIEWS WWW.FLORIDABAYFOREVER.ORG T H E V O I C E S O F T H E F L O R I D A B A Y P R O J E C T 1 INTRODUCTION 2 STU APTE 3 EDDIE WIGHTMAN 4 BILLY KNOWLES 5 STEVE HUFF T H E V O I C E S O F T H E F L O R I D A B A Y P R O J E C T 6 SANDY MORET 7 VIC GASPENY 8 TIM & ROBERT KLEIN 9 TIM CARLILE 10 RICK RUOFF T H E V O I C E S O F T H E F L O R I D A B A Y P R O J E C T 11 CRAIG BREWER 12 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS V O I C E S O F T H E F L O R I D A B A Y P R O J E C T CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 0 1 I N T R O D U C T I O N Florida Bay is an 1,100 square Over the course of 2020, mile estuary nestled between Florida Bay Forever Save the southern terminus of Our Waters conducted and Everglades National Park and collected oral history the Florida Keys. interviews with 11 Florida Keys fishing guides and It is also an ecosystem in anglers. peril. This book is a collection of Over the course of the last 50 the transcripts resulting from years, Florida Bay has seen those interviews. The stories tremendous changes. Where are of a Florida Bay that we lush seagrass meadows and will never see again. They are plentiful fish once covered also stories of camaraderie, the banks and basins of of epic fish, wicked storms, Florida Bay, there is now and the crown jewel of the nothing but a memory of Everglades: Florida Bay. what once was. Florida Keys fishing guides The Voices of the Florida hold the key to Florida Bay Bay Project aims to collect past, this collection is our those memories of Florida way of honoring tradition Bay past, present, and future and finding a path forward from the people who know it for our estuary home. best: Florida Keys fishing guides and anglers. -Emma Haydocy, Executive Director Florida Bay Forever F L O R I D A B A Y 0 2 F O R E V E R V O I C E S O F T H E F L O R I D A B A Y P R O J E C T CHAPTER TWO STU APTE 0 3 C H A P T E R T WO HAYDOCY: So Stu, what year were you born and where? APTE: Well, I am an old 90 year old dude born 1930 in the city of Miami, back then they called it Miami, I call it My-Amma. It’s actually my claim to fame was I was the first baby born in Jackson Memorial Hospital in 1930 on Mother’s Day. There were only two hospitals in the whole city of Miami back then. Miami was a really calm place to be in with my brother Marvin who was five years older. We were riding bikes and streetcars to explore the various waterways and canals in the area. HAYDOCY: Will you tell me what led you to become a fishing guide? F L O R I D A B A Y 0 4 F O R E V E R C H A P T E R T WO APTE: You know, being a fishing guide is something I always wanted to do but, before that time happened, in 1951 when Korea happened, I had graduated college. I joined the Navy as an aviation cadet and became a fighter pilot. 1955 I was back as a civilian and went to work for Pan-American World Airways. Then, I got laid off after being with them for two years. My dad said, “Stu, what are you going to do? Are you going to work for United Airlines? American Airlines?” They were all wooing you because of your credentials when you got off of active duty. I said, “No, Dad. I’m going to do something I always wanted to do. I’m going to study, take the Coast Guard test, and be a backcountry fishing guide.” And, he laughed. He said, “No, really son, what are you going to do?” F L O R I D A B A Y 0 5 F O R E V E R C H A P T E R T WO And, that’s what I did. So, I moved down to Little Torch Key, 28 miles above Key West and started guiding. Back then, the fishing was fantastic but the customers were not. It was $55 a day as a guide, $35 for a half a day as a guide. Those days went by and I ended up producing a lot of world-record catches for my clients and becoming a really fair-haired guide. Then, I was on the water for hire, more than 330 days a year for hire at double the going rate which was $55 a day. I was getting 100. I can remember, back then, the schools of tarpon, which was always my favorite, that would come down a bank out of the channel. I can still prognosticate when that will occur. In late March, the moon phase, in late March or early April. But nowadays, there will only be 6 or 8 tarpon that will go due at the same time of the tide. F L O R I D A B A Y 0 6 F O R E V E R C H A P T E R T WO Back then, there would be a school of a hundred tarpon coming. It was just like clockwork. It was fantastic. The reason now, I think that we don’t have the big schools has to do with the water pollution and the lack of freshwater that flows through the Everglades into the Keys. Back in the ‘80s we formed an outfit here in the Keys called the Everglades Protection Association. I was the first Vice-President of it. Billy Pate was the President. They wanted me to be the President of it, but I was busy flying for Pan-Am and I couldn’t be at all the meetings. So, it went on like that. HAYDOCY: Can you tell me why the Everglades Protection Association was founded? Was there an event, something bad that was happening on the water that you noticed? APTE: Oh, absolutely. F L O R I D A B A Y 0 7 F O R E V E R C H A P T E R T WO The reason we formed that organization was because the commercial fisherman. I forget, they were called the Commercial Fisherman of Florida, were really, really ripping things up and killing so many fish and doing a terrible job. We had many, many meetings up in Miami, in Everglades City, and in the Keys. We got that turned around, which was very, very good and necessary. We still have a water pollution problem here because of the sugarcane people up near Lake Okeechobee and we have to get that turned around. We had a lack of bonefish here happening because of that, because of the water pollution. It would kill the food source for these fish. The fish weren’t happy, they wouldn’t be here. HAYDOCY: What was the guide community like when you were down here? The guide community? F L O R I D A B A Y 0 8 F O R E V E R C H A P T E R T WO Did you guys have good camaraderie amongst the fishing guides? What was that like when you first started? APTE: Well, when I first started guiding down on Little Torch Key, Islamorada had most of the clients and most of the guides. I didn’t get along too well with them because I was producing record catches for my clients and when they had tournaments as a guide, I was the winning guide from the Lower Keys because I worked very, very hard. You know, life goes on. You have to do what you have to do. There was only one guide from Islamorada that I got along with very well. Unfortunately, he got killed in a plane crash in the backcountry here, spotting tarpon, Jim Brewer. His son is still a guide in Islamorada and very good. Jim and I - Jim came to me when he wanted to be a guide. He said, “Stu, where should I start? In the Lower Keys like you did?” F L O R I D A B A Y 0 9 F O R E V E R C H A P T E R T WO I said, “No, Jim. You’ll get more clients out of Islamorada, and you’ll do really well.” And that’s what he did. But, being a guide was a means to an end. Getting laid off from Pan-Am was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Number one, I never would have come to this full-circle and met my wife. Never would be here right now. No telling what I would have done.