Chris Peterson, Author at Hell's Bay Boatworks

Texas Hell’s Bay Owners Tournament

September 9, 2024September 9, 2024

Join us for our annual Hell’s Bay Boatworks Texas Tournament during October 4th & 5th, 2024. This year’s tournament kick-off party will be hosted once again by our great friend, Dave Hayward at Swan Point Landing Fly Shop. The fly shop is located at 1723 Cherry Street, Suite 4, Rockport, TX 78382.

Your individual tournament registration ($150.00) includes 1 tournament entry, 1 tournament bag and 1 dinner ticket. You can purchase additional shirt and awards dinner tickets.

Follow link below to sign up:

We’ll kick off this exciting fun-filled event on Friday at Swan Point Landing around 5:00pm for registration with a welcome gathering that includes refreshing cocktails and great food from Los Comales. The captain’s meeting starts at 6:00pm will be held to go over the tournament rules and any questions.

The tournament starts on Saturday morning of the 5th. After the tournament fishing day we will conclude with celebratory drinks, dinner, and awards ceremony Gabriella’s Seafood & Tapas in Rockport.

If you have any questions, please email info@hellsbayboatworks.com

Swan Point Landing

Friday – October 4th, 2024
5:00pm – 6:00pm Welcome & Owners Check-in
6:00pm – Cocktails, Appetizers & Captains Meeting

Saturday- October 5th, 2024
7:00 am – Lines in
3:00 pm – Lines out
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm Team Check-in and Scoring
6:00 pm Dinner and Awards

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Guide – Luke Kelly

November 19, 2021February 23, 2023

Captains For Clean Water efforts integral in securing new plan to reduce harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges in SWFL

November 18, 2021November 18, 2021

17 November 2021

Army Corps announces significantly improved lake operations plan

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced the long-awaited final plan for the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM), the rulebook that will dictate lake discharges for the next decade.
The model run they’ve selected to move forward with will significantly improve water distribution in south Florida compared to current lake operations and will help reduce harmful algal blooms like red tide and blue-green algae.

The plan is estimated to:
Reduce lake-triggered harmful discharges to the Caloosahatchee River by 37%
Reduce total flood control releases from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie River by 37%
Send over 3 times more water south to the Everglades

This selected model run will serve as the framework that the Corps will use to develop the actual manual (‘verbs and nouns’ as they say) that will govern how the water in Lake Okeechobee is controlled for the next decade.
Project Manager Tim Gysan said, “However, there is still a lot more work to do, and we ask everyone to continue to stay engaged with us. We will continue developing and evaluating the operational guidance that accompanies the schedule and will bring the two pieces together with the rollout of the final preferred alternative lake operational plan in mid-December, and your feedback is critical as we move through these next steps.”
The new LOSOM plan will go into effect at the end of 2022.
Captains For Clean Water (CFCW) has been intimately involved in the LOSOM process since the beginning with one goal — to influence the outcome of LOSOM so that more water flows south to the Everglades and Florida Bay and that, to the extent possible, damaging flows to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries are minimized.
With the positive LOSOM announcement, the team at Captains For Clean Water is proclaiming this a success in their mission to restore and protect Florida’s waters.
The entire staff of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District office, beginning with Colonel Andrew Kelly, and now Colonel James Booth, made sure the entire process was transparent and collaborative allowing and encouraging stakeholder feedback every step of the way.
Captains For Clean Water took advantage of this opportunity to unite stakeholders around a shared goal and generate massive public engagement in support of this goal and public interest.
CFCW Director of Public Affairs and Policy, Jessica Pinsky said, “Ensuring a favorable LOSOM outcome has truly been a tireless, yet united, effort by thousands of our partners, supporters, and passionate people across the country. Fishing guides, tourism-related businesses, and the entire outdoor community stepped up and stood with us through this process. Now, we are proud to see the result of our collective hard work translate to clean and usable waterways for all of Florida’s residents and visitors. This is why Captains For Clean Water exists!”
Capt. Chris Wittman, CFCW Director of Outreach and Engagement, explained the importance of the outdoor industry getting involved with LOSOM, “Together with chambers of commerce, environmental groups, and the outdoor industry — including our brand partners like YETI, Costa, Hell’s Bay Boatworks, SeaDek, Mustad, Orvis, and others — we sent letters to the Corps and met with policymakers at the Capitol in Washington DC. These voices represent economic impact and that carries weight with decision makers.”
CFCW rallied stakeholders and supporters to stay engaged with the process through education and awareness campaigns, public comment, social media engagement, several call-to-action opportunities, and hosted Colonel Kelly on multiple occasions.
Alycia Downs, CFCW Director of Education and Awareness, expanded on the reach and digital impact the organization was able to achieve, “We reached 16.5 million unique people with educational content this year through social media alone and provided an outlet for 25,000 of our supporters to take action by emailing the Army Corps. Our team has invested countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears into bringing public engagement into the LOSOM process. We brought thousands of our supporters to the table and they spoke up loudly — not once, but time and time again. Today’s good news is proof that, when everyone works together, we can fix these water issues.”
When asked what the LOSOM announcement means for Florida’s water resources, CFCW Executive Director Captain Daniel Andrews explains, “Since the founding of our organization in 2016, Captain For Clean Water has advocated for equitable treatment and distribution of the outflows from Lake Okeechobee. We believe that the model run chosen by the Corps is the best possible plan for all the stakeholders, Lake Okeechobee, the Everglades, and the state of Florida. This plan goes a long way toward accomplishing that equitable distribution of benefits and impacts throughout the entire water management system.”
Andrews cites the Army Corps’ openness to stakeholder feedback as the catalyst for this success, “On behalf of the united voice of our anglers, fishing guides, boat captains, industry-related businesses, and the entire outdoor recreational community across the country, we are grateful to Colonel Kelly, Colonel Booth, and the entire staff of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District office for allowing Captains For Clean Water and our supporters to become active and welcome participants in the adoption of a new and equitable LOSOM water management process.”

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Captains For Clean Water is a Florida-based 501(c)3 grassroots nonprofit on a mission to restore and protect aquatic ecosystems for the use and enjoyment of all. Founded by fishing guides, CFCW has united the outdoor industry, business community, and concerned citizens at the frontlines of the fight for clean water — the lifeblood of Florida’s economy and $85.9 billion tourism industry. http://www.captainsforcleanwater.org

Guide – Chase Simpson

November 16, 2021November 16, 2021

Guide – Travis Glidden

November 8, 2021May 19, 2022

Backcountry Fly Championship Series

October 20, 2021January 18, 2022

Fly fishing tournament Oct. 29/30 for Snook and Redfish. Based in Flamingo and the Keys.

CFCW Guide Rendezvous 2021

August 26, 2021January 18, 2022

Join us for the 2021 Guide Rendezvous! Gather together with the top fishing guides and brands in the industry for a few days of camaraderie, good food, cold drinks, and no shortage of “big fish” stories.

The schedule will be stacked with discussions led by industry and conservation professionals about growing your charter business and protecting the resources on which your business relies. Test your abilities against other guides in the infamous “Guide Games” and stock up on discounted products from sponsor brands during the Super Sale.

https://captainsforcleanwater.org/guiderendezvous/

Guide – Brian Vaughn

August 3, 2021February 1, 2023

The 7th International Bonefish & Tarpon Trust Science Symposium & Flats ExpoXSXX

July 28, 2021October 20, 2021

Bonaventure Resort and Spa November 12-13, 2021

The 7th International Bonefish & Tarpon Trust Symposium will be the largest and most significant in the history of this special event. Stakeholders from across the world of flats fishing – anglers, guides, industry leaders, government agencies, scientists, outdoor writers, authors and artists will converge on the Bonaventure Resort and Spa November 12-13, 2021, to attend the premier conference in saltwater flats conservation.

The 2021 program will include presentations on major research findings by BTT along with spin and fly casting clinics, fly tying clinics, panel discussions with top anglers and guides, art and photography, and a special banquet honoring those who have contributed to flats fishery conservation.

We will also feature an expanded Flats Fishing Expo, where sponsors will have a bright spotlight to share information about their products and corporate commitment to conservation with the hundreds of participants who will be attending.

Click Here for ticket information.

The outdoor industry rallies together to demand true balance in the new Lake Okeechobee management plan

June 28, 2021July 28, 2021

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If you can’t find Chris Peterson in his office at Hell’s Bay Boatworks, you might have luck tracking him down out on the water, probably with rod in hand. More likely though, he’s on the road advocating for water quality, either through one of his conservation-based board-of-director roles or through his participation in events like Skiff Challenge—a boat race around Florida to raise awareness about the state’s water-quality issues.

Most of the time, if he’s not fulfilling his duties as the owner of Hell’s Bay, he’s either spending time on or fighting to protect the resource that his business depends on—our water. It’s a dedication to protecting our natural environments that you’ll have no trouble finding at many other companies throughout the outdoor world.

The outdoor industry is truly one-of-kind. Although it’s a multi-billion-dollar business, the commitment from the industry’s brands and organizations to protect our wild places has more of a mom-and-pop, grassroots feel. Central to the success of that commitment is clean water.

That’s why dozens of outdoor brands just delivered a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers demanding that Lake Okeechobee is managed more equitably going forward. In the letter, the industry is urging the Corps to implement a new plan that increases flows south to the Everglades during the dry season (when it’s desperately needed) in order to create more capacity in the lake to hold water during the wet season and avoid toxic discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries.

https://i1.wp.com/captainsforcleanwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/DSC01061-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1 — Team -HB< Skiff Challenge victory lap in Fernandina Beach, FL

Simon Perkins, President of Orvis, recognizes the importance of his company stepping up in this moment, saying about the letter, “One of our core values at Orvis is to protect what you love. The Everglades and the Florida coastal system are on the verge of extinction. Not only do they make up one of the world’s most remarkable ecosystems, it’s also an ecosystem that sustains an $85 billion economy that is dependent upon clean water. Now is the opportunity for the outdoor community to stand together and use its voice to protect these invaluable treasures, or risk losing them forever.”

The letter comes as the Corps is finalizing the new Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM), which will replace the lake’s current operating framework and dictate lake releases for the next decade. That’s why it’s critical that the new plan represents a more balanced approach to the system, one that reduces harmful discharges to the coastal estuaries by sending more water south from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades during the dry season and providing more capacity for the rainy season.

If LOSOM doesn’t achieve that balance, the status-quo lake management will continue to degrade south Florida’s estuaries and the communities that depend on them. The Everglades, a national treasure, will continue to suffer from salinity imbalances that destroy essential seagrass habitat. The east and west coasts will continue to receive damaging discharges of freshwater from the lake, often loaded with toxic blue-green algae and always laden with nutrient pollution capable of fueling harmful algal blooms.

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If the new plan doesn’t provide a truly equitable distribution of water, then we will continue to see devastating impacts to our estuaries—something that Peterson is fighting to avoid. He realizes LOSOM is an opportunity to correct a great deal of those system imbalances, stressing, “Clean water is the lifeblood of Florida and the beating heart of the marine industry. For too long, the status quo has benefited few at the expense of our businesses, estuaries and communities. This is our chance to get it right. Restore the Everglades, manage Lake Okeechobee equitably, and let’s safeguard our state’s most valuable resource—clean, healthy water.”

And there’s no question that Florida’s most valuable resource is clean, healthy water. Florida’s economy runs on water, which is at the heart the state’s $85 billion tourism industry, including an $11 billion fishing industry and $23 billion recreational boating industry. Without clean water, that economy—to which south Florida’s estuaries are vital—will suffer major impacts. It’s time that the framework used to manage Lake Okeechobee recognizes that Florida’s 21^st-century economy hinges on clean water.

Chuck Yates, VP of Sales for SeaDek Marine Products, sees that economic connection every day, saying, “As an international company based in Florida, we supply marine products for every aspect of life on the water—fishing, sailing, wakeboarding, pleasure cruising—you name it. Our business supports thousands of jobs that rely on the health of the Everglades and the connected estuaries. Without clean water, the $33 billion marine industry hangs in the balance.”

Win-12 (1) — Team -HB< reflecting on the Florida’s water issues after circumnavigating the entire state in 44 hours… 4 minutes.

But it’s not just Florida’s fight—the opportunities that the sunshine state’s waters offer are treasured by people across the nation. That’s why this letter to the Corps came with support from brands headquartered all over the country, from Texas-based YETI to Daiwa in California, Flylords in Colorado, Scientific Anglers in Minnesota, and dozens more in between. The passion to protect Florida’s waters extends well beyond its physical borders.

It’s a national interest championed by brands throughout the industry. Fishing and the outdoors are more than a way of life for millions—they make up an economy worth billions. And Florida’s waters at the center of that economy, so it’s critical that we do everything to protect them.

Thankfully, the industry is doing their part to protect them. The Everglades and south Florida’s coastal estuaries are under immense stress right now. Decades of water mismanagement, altered flows, and a complete manipulation of the system have taken a toll, but a balanced LOSOM can help alleviate some of that stress with near-immediate results. If LOSOM is written in a way that restores the system closer to its natural order by maximizing flows south to the Everglades during the dry season, then we’ll find ourselves a great deal closer to preserving a national treasure for generations to come.