PEOPLE OF INTEREST
The RIVER WARRIOR
Henry Caimotto, owner of Snook Nook tackle shop, has been a driving force in the efforts to stop Lake Okeechobee discharges into the St. Lucie River.
BY GREG GARDNER
No one has had a louder, angrier voice in the fight
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for clean rivers on the Treasure Coast than Henry
Caimotto, owner of the Snook Nook tackle shop in
Jensen Beach and co-founder of Rivers Coalition.
“Henry is mad at the politicians and he tells them right to
their face,” says Mark Perry, president of the Florida Oceanographic
Society in Stuart and a board member of the coalition
set up to fight harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee into
the St. Lucie River. “That is what I admire about him. He is so
outspoken. He had a lot of push and he continues today. He
has had great effect pulling people together. ‘Accountability’
was his favorite word and he wanted people held accountable
for the damage done to our rivers.”
Perry, who has known Caimotto for 38 years, remembers
the petition with 50,000 signatures and the bus chartered to
Tallahassee to deliver them to Gov. Lawton Chiles. “Henry is
an amazing guy. What a character,” Perry says.
Caimotto, who moved to the Treasure Coast in 1983, wrote
a fishing column for years and hosted a weekly radio show,
but he made the most noise on a program he hosted on Martin
County’s TV channel. “People would call in and it got too
controversial,” Perry says, adding Caimotto’s show was taken
off the air. Prior to that, he hosted a cable TV fishing program.
GREG GARDNER
“Henry is a tireless fighter and I wish we could make more
of him because people have been inspired by his anger and
enthusiasm,” says Karl Wickstrom, founder-publisher of
Florida Sportsman magazine and an influential conservationist.
“I’ve enjoyed working with him (at the coalition),” says
Wickstrom. “We are on a 50-year losing streak and he has
seen the river deteriorate. He used to come to the River
Coalition meetings and say we should demand action. People
thought it was too strong. He was right. We should demand
action to counter tremendous influence peddlers with power
beyond belief. He has been a huge factor. He is depressed
about the lack of good government to protect the river. Henry
has been a constant foe of Big Sugar and Big Ag forces that
dominate our water management system. He has been one of
the best and loudest to scream about it. We should be shedding
tears of thanks for Henry.”
Caimotto’s love for the rivers and outdoors had far-reaching
impact on the area as he passed on conservation ethics
to thousands of fishermen who have stopped by the Snook
Nook as children and years later with their children.
Patrick Price is captain of the charter boat Daymaker in Jensen
Beach and recent contributor to relief efforts for victims of >>