Florida Sportsman Fishing & Boat Show
Destin, FL -Florida Sportsman Magazine will host their annual Fishing and Boat Show at the Okaloosa County Fairgrounds and the popular magazine promises that the Show will be bigger and better than previous years, with ongoing seminars, kids’ events, hands-on instruction and demonstrations. The most popular part of the event--a huge indoor tackle sale--will fill the 50,000 square foot Fairgrounds Expo Hall, with fishing boats and accessories added to the mix.
“One of the centerpiece attractions of the Show is the Riggin’ it Right Academy, Offshore and Inshore” says Show Director Robin Smillie. “Our magazine has a sharp focus on instruction and how-to, so this classroom setting is our way of bringing the pages of Sportsman to life.”
New to Riggin it Right is a filet demonstration where several lucky attendees who get their ticket drawn will take home a bag of flounder, grouper and snapper filets.
Show attendees sit at “learning stations” with supplies at hand, including wire, mono, pliers, and fresh bait like ballyhoo, sardines, and shrimp. Sportsman staff give personal hands-on instruction at rigging everything from a swimming mullet to a popping cork rig.
“If you want to learn from the pros and get your hands wet with the real thing,” adds Smillie, “just take a seat--it’s all included in one admission price. The most popular topics are the wired swimming ballyhoo rig tied by tournament pros in the Offshore Academy and how to rig, cast and retrieve all the different types of lures in the Inshore Academy.”
The Show also features an offshore and inshore seminar stage, a hands-on “castnet pit,” a knot-tying table, and flycasting pond complete with expert casting instructors. Kids events include an indoor spincast pond where volunteer parents teach casting techniques and all participants win a Zebco tackle box, a virtual reality bass fishing display, sportfish face painting by paraplegic artist Tony Ryals, and Fish Identifier Game where kids are challenged to match pictures of fish placed throughout the Expo Hall.
The list of exhibitors reads like a Who’s Who in Florida Fishing with over 100 booths of fishing tackle and boats, state agencies, conservation groups and seminar speakers. Most of the exhibitors are set up to sell tackle, fishing gear, clothing, charters and guides, fishing boats and accessories, so deals and bargains are the order of the day. In one of the many promotions, anyone who purchases fishing reels at the show can take their new reels to the Berkley Trilene booth and have it spooled with line for free.
Along with the exhibitors selling tackle and fishing-related merchandise and 15,000 square feet of tricked-out fishing boats, the Show focuses on instruction and information for the novice as well as the accomplished angler. "All of our seminar speakers have a wealth of angling knowledge,” says Smillie. “We want to make that information available to the average weekend fishermen and their families."
Hard-core fishing information will be offered by a dozen of the area’s top fishing pros on subjects that range from fishing for trout with artificials to bottom fishing for snapper and grouper. Realistic fishing conditions will be simulated as seminar speakers share their knowledge from the decks of working fishing boats. The seminar stages are real fishing boats, fully outfitted for inshore and offshore fishing applications. The inshore stage is a Ranger flats boat floating in a 10,000-gallon portable pond--the seminar speaker stands on the front deck and gives a lesson by casting lures to the edge of a stand of mangroves. The offshore stage is a 26-foot offshore boat loaded with downriggers, marine electronics, bait wells and tackle. Seminar speakers stand in the cockpit of the boat and demonstrate the proper use of these fishing devices. The audience will experience the virtual reality of fishing and enjoy a sense of being there on the boat with each seminar speaker, learning first hand what makes these pros so successful.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will display the Florida Sportsman Grand Slam Tank, a 500-gallon mobile aquarium that houses a live redfish, sea trout, and snook. The redfish and snook were hatched and reared at the Port Manatee hatchery near Tampa, but the trout was captured from the wild. Florida Sportsman Senior Editor Vic Dunaway coined the phrase “Grand Slam” during his early years with the magazine and it is now used worldwide to describe catching three local gamefish in the same day. Also in the FF&WCC booth will be representatives of the Wildlife Division and the Florida Marine Enforcement Division.
For those who want to learn how to net their own bait, Buster McKenzie of Calusa nets, a Ft. Myers based castnet manufacturer, will give hands-on instruction in throwing a castnet at the 600-sq.-ft. castnet pit. "We teach two methods--the standard double load is one, but we also teach our own invention called the Dry Load. It’s the easiest to learn, and as the name implies, you won’t get wet. Throwing a perfect circle is all in the load."
At the Florida Sportsman booth, Florida Sportsman staff writers and editors will be on hand to greet the public and talk a little fishing. “We’re never short of story ideas in the Panhandle,” says Editor Jeff Weakley. “There are endless fishing opportunities there and we’re looking forward to meeting our readers and hearing their fishing stories.” Senior Editor Vic Dunaway will be in the booth with a live cooking demonstration and handing out samples of fish chowder made from a recipe in his new book, The Anglers Cookbook. Also in the booth will be Florida Sportsman Live radio show hosts Ed Fish and Mike Flowers.
At the Zebco Kids’ Take Me Fishing Spincast Pond, youngsters will get instruction on casting technique and compete in a can’t-lose contest to win lures and rod-and-reel combos. Every child who enters will receive a Zebco Tackle Pack and those who successfully land their lure in a floating target will win a Zebco 12-pound-class spin outfit. “Watching them learn to cast is as much fun for me as fishing,” said Tom Putnam of Half Hitch Tackle. “Last year some neighboring exhibitors got bonked on the head a few times with rubber lures, but over 300 kids walked away with a prize--30 of those prizes were rod-reel combos.”
“Anyone who enjoys fishing will have something
to see,” promises Smillie. “It’s a Family Fishing Festival, so bring
the kids and plan on spending the entire day surrounded by fishing events
and fishing stuff.” 
For the most recent info on this event and others,
check our Destin Special Event Calendar.
