Author Pat Mansell announced this month that he is writing a second edition of Living Legends of Big Game Fishing to be published by the end of 2025. The new edition includes among others, TBF’s President Ellen Peel, TBF Board Member Charles “Fin” Gaddy and former TBF Board Member Joan Vernon. Mansell is known for his writing about a variety of subjects, in particular, his series of six adventure novels set in the Bahamas, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Florida Keys entitled The Bimini Twist Adventures. These were followed by a collection of exciting stories as told by some of the greatest big game fishermen in the world (Living Legends of Big Game Fishing), and five books on the biography of a giant in the sport fishing world, The Bouncer Smith Chronicles. A recent addition to this library is the story of the History of Bud n’ Mary’s Marina in Islamorada, Florida Keys. Bud n’ Mary’s is the center of the universe for sport fishing in what has been called The Sport Fishing Capitol of the World. I spent two years writing the history of Enrique’s Dock in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Isla Mujeres lies off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and is in the path of one of the greatest migrations of pelagic fish in the world.

Sportsmen and women from all over the world come to Isla because the waters are so fertile with big game fish. And an interesting aspect of fishing in Isla is how well-protected the waters are. As the Lima family developed that island, it did so with conservation in mind. Thus the fishery has been preserved which gives the sportsmen and women who come so many more chances to hook up (and release) their catches.