Tag Archives: CORTEZ
Cortez fishing village inundated by Hurricane Idalia
As residents and business owners cleaned up on Thursday morning following the storm surge from Hurricane Idalia that flooded local roads, the recurring consensus was: “We got lucky.” “There was no boat damage (to the fleet of fishing boats). We lost a few boards on the dock,” A.P. Bell Fish Co. owner Karen Bell said. “We were very lucky.” Cortez is one of Florida’s last commercial fishing villages. It hugs the north shore of Sarasota Bay. On Wednesday morning, its roads were underwater, but by that evening, the waters had receded and roads were passable. In advance of the storm, A.P. Bell workers had secured the fleet of fishing boats with extra dock lines. 11 photos, >>click to read<< 17:27
Marty Tupin: A colorful character remembered
Longtime Cortez and Bradenton Beach resident Marty Tupin passed away on Aug. 1, just a few weeks before his 63rd birthday. Over the years, Marty was a commercial fisherman, a fiberglass and metal fabricator, an artist, a furniture maker, and more. After a portion of his right leg was amputated, Marty spent his final couple years as the ever-vigilant parking attendant at the Drift In bar in Bradenton Beach, where he zipped around on his three-wheeled electric scooter supervising the sometimes challenging two-deep, tandem parking reserved for patrons only. The Drift In, 120 Bridge St., will host a celebration of life on Sunday, August 27, at 2 p.m. Attendees are invited to bring a dish to share and to share their memories of Marty. Life’s challenges – Marty’s sister, Judy (Tupin) Mossorofo, lives in Venice with her husband, Charles Mossorofo, and they shared their insights on Marty’s colorful and sometimes challenging life. Photos, >click to read< 10:31
Stormy weather triggers 1st mullet run in ‘nick of time’ for a Christmas payday
It was the first substantial mullet run of the 2021-22 season and, by late morning, dozens of boats and anxious fishers were on the Intracoastal Waterway pursuing mullet near the Cortez Bridge. Along the way, fishers race and jostle to net them and unload their catch at the Cortez fish houses, which pay higher prices for egg-bearing females. Around 11 a.m. Dec. 21, Brett Dowdy, Shawn Childers and Ryan Sloan, mullet fishers with about 39 years of combined experience, unloaded their first haul of the day at John Banyas’ fish processing plant, Cortez Bait and Seafood. Photos! >click to read< 07:40
Stone crab season to open, race to place traps begins
Stone crab season opens Oct. 15 and crabbers are permitted to drop traps 10 days in advance. Cortez fisher Brian Lacey and his crew wasted no time Oct. 5, the first day traps were allowed in the water, putting their first load out in the Gulf of Mexico at midnight. “The longer the soak period, the better the catch, typically, for stone crabs,” Lacey said Oct. 5. In 400-trap increments, the 7-year commercial fisher aimed to drop 2,700 traps within a 40-mile area in a four-day span. >click to read< 08:47
Coronavirus Florida: Cortez fish company staying afloat
Fishing boats are still leaving the docks in Cortez, but coronavirus has changed the specifics of where the hauls wind up. Karen Bell, president of A.P. Bell Fish Co., said “we’re holding our own” when asked about the impact the virus has had on the fish house she owns in the historic village of Cortez that sends seafood all over the world. Business is far from brisk, but demand is still there, even if the target has been altered. “It (the virus) shifted everything around,” Bell said. “People are still eating but they’ve changed how and where they eat.” Of the fish being unloaded now, 60% are coming from inshore, 40% offshore, Bell said. Before the virus upended the economy, it was the other way around. >click to read< 10:20
Mullet on the run, fishermen running into rough weather, waters
“We had a little lick today,” Jason Walker, 45, of New Smyrna Beach, said Dec. 18. Walker has worked as a mullet fisherman for 22 years. He called a “lick” a small catch, while a “load” would be a big catch. When there’s a load, the parking lock at the Cortez, Bait & Seafood Retail Market, 12110 Cortez Road W., is full of trucks towing trailers loaded with the commercial fishing boats, which carry the catch on board after a good day on the water. “No loads this year,” said Walker, who still anticipated big catches to come. >click to read< 16:26
Cortez fishing giant and business leader named Manatee County’s Outstanding Agriculturist
Karen Bell was supposed to present a talk on the $11 million Manatee County seafood industry. Or, so she thought.,,, “I am just shocked — thank you so much — because, and I thought, Scott, I thought we were here for you,” Bell told the crowd, and Scott Moore, a charter boat captain and conservationist who is being inducted into the Manatee County Agriculture Hall of Fame. “I’m just shocked that you all got one over on me.” Bell serves on local and national boards representing the seafood industry and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Reef Fish, >click to read< 16:59
Start of stone crab season in Cortez is worst in recent memory
Theories abound but one thing is for sure: The current stone crab season is off to one of its worst starts in recent memory for the oldest active fishing village in Florida. It’s that bad. “There’s nothing. There’s no crabs around because it’s all dead,” said John Banyas, a fourth-generation fisherman from Cortez.“The latest from our 400 trap haul was only 4 pounds, a record low in these local waters,” said Banyas, 52, who is also the owner of Cortez Bait & Seafood Inc., Swordfish Grill & Tiki Bar and Cortez Kitchen. >click to read<07:42
Florida Fishermen to cast vote against net ban
Local commercial fishermen plan to petition Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) next month to place an amendment on the November ballot reversing the gill net ban. Mark Coarsey, of Fishing for Freedom’s Manatee County chapter, has been collecting signatures in support of lifting the net ban at the annual Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival in recent years. He will be taking them to the last of five CRC meetings in the state on Tuesday, March 13, from 1-7 p.m. at the University of South Florida Student Center, 200 Sixth Ave. S. in St. Petersburg. >click to read< 17:53
Linda Brandt: Mullet is so much more than bait
I grew up thinking mullet was only for bait and smoking for dip. That was probably because when I went fishing with my dad, he used mullet for bait. And because he fished with a rod and reel and mullet are mostly caught with cast nets, they didn’t show up freshly caught on our table. Apparently I have been missing out on not only one of Florida’s oldest delicacies, but a piece of state history as well. >click to read< 15:30
Cortez helps Florida fishing communities hit by Irma
Residents of the Cortez historic fishing village are reaching out to provide aid to fellow commercial fishermen in Chokoloskee and Everglades City in the wake of Hurricane Irma. The donation drive kicks off at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, at Bradenton Elks Lodge 1511, 2511 75th St. in Bradenton. Collection will continue through 4 p.m. with items being delivered to a distribution point at the Chokoloskee Church of God on Wednesday morning. click here to read the story 08:44
Saturday and Sunday! Stone Crab Festival in Cortez! Be There!!
The Stone Crab Festival, held along north Sarasota Bay in the historic Cortez commercial fishing village, returns for its third year Saturday and Sunday. Organizers are promising “tons of food and drinks, live music, and boat loads of fresh stone crab” and “all vendors on site are local artisans from the surrounding area.” Read the rest here 09:30
Cortez in running for “Ultimate Fishing Town” title
Bradenton.com – CORTEZ — Manatee County’s historic fishing village is a contender to be voted the “Ultimate Fishing Town.” Cortez was nominated for World Fishing Networks’ Ultimate Fishing Town contest, 
putting the community in contention for a regional prize of $3,500 or grand prize of $25,000. “I just think Cortez is coming into its own,” Karen Bell said. “People are learning to appreciate commercial fishing.” continued
