Sports & Outdoors
Gasparilla Island Tennis Classic canceled for 2021
January 8, 2021
STAFF REPORT -It is with sadness that this year’s Gasparilla Island Tennis Classic, sponsored by the Boca Beacon & participated in community wide, has been canceled. Tennis surely continues to …
Coral Creek Club welcomes world-renowned teacher David Leadbetter as Director of Instruction
September 25, 2020
STAFF REPORT – The private Coral Creek Club in Placida, Florida, is pleased to announce that David Leadbetter has been engaged to serve as the club’s Director of Instruction. In an exclusive multi-…
Stories of early island fishing guides (Part II of II)
September 4, 2020
Part I of this series ran in the August 21 edition of the Boca Beacon. You can find it online at bocabeacon.com, or on our Facebook page with the same name. SUBMITTED BY THE BGHS- Boca Grande’s ear…
Stories of early island fishing guides (Part I of II)
August 21, 2020
SUBMITTED BY THE BOCA GRANDE HISTORICAL SOCIETY – Local guides have been taking guests fishing since the late 19th century. Among the early guides was Phalo Padilla, born in 1888, who was a guide a…
First tournament win for Capt. McBride; Sitarah wins Red Gill
June 26, 2020
BY MARCY SHORTUSE- One lone tarpon made it to the boat in the 5th annual Red Gill Invitational Tarpon Tournament held on Saturday, June 20, and one has to wonder if the team on the winning boat di…
Team Dorado takes first in Ladies Howl, Jill Marie close behind
June 19, 2020
BY MARCY SHORTUSE- The sharks took more than their fair share of a taste of the action in the 12th annual Ladies Night Out Howl at the Moon Tarpon Tournament on Saturday, June 13, but Mother Nature…
Red Gill on for this weekend
June 19, 2020
STAFF REPORT- This Saturday, June 20, the rescheduled Red Gill Tarpon Tournament will be held in the Pass from 5 to 8 p.m. The registration fee is $600 per boat, and each boat receives five t-shirt…
Tarpon tug-of-war: My first fight with the feisty silver king
June 19, 2020
BY OLIVIA CAMERON- Reeling in a tarpon is a rite of passage in the town of Boca Grande. As a Florida native, I spent most of my time soaking up the sun and getting saltwater in my eyes. However, I …
Bahamas reopen for fishing, Gasparilla Island boat traffic still heavy
June 19, 2020
BY OLIVIA CAMERON- Just 50 miles from the east coast of Florida rest the western islands of The Bahamas, an archipelagic state that has consistently thrived off of tourism and fishing until the pan…
‘Win Big’ Waylon Mills takes first in Howl at the Moon
May 22, 2020
BY MARCY SHORTUSE – Capt. Waylon Mills once again showed them all how it’s done in the 16th annual Howl at the Moon Invitational Tarpon Tournament, held last Saturday, May 16.
Mills and his team, t…