Florida Sportsman Fishing & Boat Show Seminars feature the best local experts and industry pros.

Seminars begin at 11am and run all day long, both Saturday and Sunday, at separate inshore and offshore stages. Each following seminar will also begin at the top of the hour. Plan on grabbing your seat early, the best seats go fast.

Inshore Stage:

11 a.m., Fishing the Backwaters with Plastics Mark Nichols, inventor and manufacturer of D. O. A. lures, has tested his lures in shallow water all over the country, and the techniques he uses in the Indian River of Florida, Texas bays and Louisiana coastal islands will work just as well in South Florida. “Keeping a low profile is essential in skinny water,” explains Nichols, “and I can’t do that from the bow of a boat. I’ll get out and go down on my knees on a submerged sandbar when I see a fish, which might put the water around my chest.” Nichols will demonstrate lure retrieval technique while wading in the inshore pond, casting to a new display of virtual reality snook and redfish swimming in the roots of artificial mangrove plants.

Noon, Fishing Flamingo from a Bay Boat Capt. Alan Sherman is host of the Florida Sportsman Live radio show and writes the popular Action Spotter column for the South region in Florida Sportsman magazine--he‘s also a professional guide in Flamingo and Biscayne Bay. Alan’s father taught him to catch trout on a Mitchell 300 in the 50s, fishing Biscayne Bay and Flamingo from a wooden 18’ skiff. Sherman went on to spend a 30-year career in the charter business, running the partyboat Hurricane out of Baker’s Haulover. Now he’s gone back to his roots and guides clients to fantastic catches in a 22’ bay boat. “For novices or seasoned anglers looking to catch fish all day long,” says Sherman, “I like to stay out in the open water where there is steady action throughout the day. We catch snapper, trout, shark, mackerel, grouper, jacks, snook and tarpon--over a dozen different species on any given day.” Subjects will include how to find and position your boat over productive areas, favorite rigs for different species, and tackle selection. Always a crowd pleaser, throughout the seminar Capt. Sherman will toss prizes to the crowd.

1 p.m., Inshore Grand Slam: Snook, Trout and Redfish Capt. Blair Wiggins, a Cocoa Beach native and professional charter captain, is host of Fox Sports Network’s Addictive Fishing. Known as the Mogan Man to his many fans, he won the 2006 FLW Redfish series and a $100,000 payout by traveling the pro circuit 300 days a year. But Wiggins recently gave up professional tournament fishing to become the Director of the IMG Sports Academy Professional Fishing School in Bradenton because, “I love to teach fishing almost as much as I love to go fishing--now I have the best of both worlds.“ As a redfish pro Wiggins frequently had to cull through trout and snook to get to the winning redfish. “I catch a slam by accident almost every time I go fishing for redfish in South Florida,” says Wiggins. “All three species frequent many of the same feeding stations so I thought my seminar should be on how to purposely go after the three most popular inshore fish. Each tide flow--and even a still high or low--presents opportunities to catch quality fish if you know where these feeding stations are. My best advice is to work them all--grass flats, oyster bars, mangrove shorelines, cuts, channels and points.” Topics will also include capturing and keeping alive natural baits, tackle selection and end with a session on Wiggins’ top three lures for each species.

2 p.m., Sportsman’s Best--Redfish Capt. Terry Lacoss is a Florida Sportsman Department Editor, author of numerous feature articles and Sportsman’s Seminars columns, and author of the soon-to-be-released book, Sportsman‘s Best--Redfish. Lacoss runs the charter fleet out of Amelia Island Plantation and frequently guides charters into the picturesque backwaters of the Amelia and St. Mary’s rivers near the Georgia border. He also fishes lots of redfish tournaments and won the very first ESPN redfish cup in 2002 and the Jacksonville IFA Cabella’s Redfish Tournament in 2003. Lacoss will give advice on how to work the tides to follow the schools of redfish while they move from the deep channels at low tide, to the potholes at incoming tide, to oyster bars, and then eventually up into the tidal creeks at high tide. “Here in south Florida, just like the Northeast coast where I fish a lot, you have to follow the fish with the tides,” advises Lacoss. “This is true for species other than redfish, too. I see too many fishermen park in one spot for way too long. These fish don’t move far but the key is to move with them as they feed on shrimp, mullet and crabs that are around dock pilings way up in residential creeks and canals at high tide.” Topics will also include Lacoss’ top ten artificial baits.

3 p.m., Fishing for Monster Snook Dave Justice is a Product Innovation Associate and Pro Staff Manager for Berkley Line and is known throughout Florida as one of the top snook catchers of all time. Dave published a video on monster snook fishing and has made numerous appearances on TV shows, including Bill Dance Outdoors, Rick Murphy’s Outdoor Adventures, Shaw Grigsby’s One More Cast, and Bob Stuart’s Southwest Florida Outdoors. Dave has caught more than 400 snook over 30 pounds--his biggest was a 42-pound behemoth caught on a live “tuna mullet.” “For September in the Miami area, I have two plans for catching snook,” says Dave. “My first choice would be fishing live mullet around lighted bridges, concentrating on areas where there are lots of black mullet. My plan B would be jigging the ledges in Palm Beach, Jupiter and Ft. Pierce inlets--I like to fish 40-foot ledges and creep the jig down and crawl it back up.” For jigging, Dave fishes 30-pound Spiderwire on heavy plug rods and for bridge fishing he uses 80-pound mono on a 10-foot “snook pole,” a custom rod with a 2-foot butt. After his seminar Dave will take the crowd to the Inshore Riggin’ It Right Academy to teach them his three most important knots for snook fishing: The braid-to-mono weave, the Stren knot, and the non-slip mono loop. “Tell everyone to bring their charts and maps and I’ll be happy to mark off my top ten areas for year ‘round snook fishing in Southeast Florida.”

4 p.m., Bucktail Jig Fishing Capt. Tony Bozzella is the maker of TBS Jigs and has been a consistent top five money winner in inshore tournaments around Florida. Capt. Tony has a unique plan when it comes to artificial lures, believing that a bucktail can outfish any lure on the market when fished properly in the right conditions. "Bucktails are deadly!" says Capt. Tony. "They can have more action than plastics and my seminar will back up that claim." Capt. Tony looks for a lot of current and runouts, focusing on feeder creeks, mangrove cuts, and oyster bars--all of these create fast moving tidal water that attract feeding redfish, snook and trout. Twenty years of jig-fishing knowledge is packed into this 45-minute seminar, so you won't want to miss it. The seminar will end with a segment on Capt. Tony’s top five types of lures.

Offshore Stage

11 a.m., Swordfishing With THE Expert So you want to try swording but don't know how to start? Now South Florida’s top expert in catching broadbills will show you the ropes. Capt. Bouncer Smith of Miami Beach is one of the most recognized charter skippers in South Florida, having won the Billfish Foundation’s Captain of the Year award, the Miami Beach Rod & Reel Club’s Guide of the Year Award, the Met’s Top Guide Award, and the prestigious Met Hyman award for commendable public service--not to mention setting over 20 IGFA world records. Bouncer’s seminar will focus on nighttime fishing for Florida’s fabled broadbills. Starting with the serious business of boat and tackle preparation, Bouncer will talk about when, where and how to venture out to the offshore canyons to catch a swordfish using methods ranging from super simple to the more technical that the pros use to put a bait in front of a fish. Other topics will be swordfish safety and boatmanship, tackle, moon phases, bait and how to locate fish. This seminar will leave you with the know-how to get right out there and battle with a swordfish of your own.

Noon, Tarpon for Fun, Dolphin for Fillets A native Floridian, Capt. Gil Gutierrez grew up fishing the offshore waters of the southeast coast of Florida with his dad. He started his charter business based on the knowledge gained by mating on several of the busiest charter boats in Miami. Capt. Gil’s favorite “fun fish” is tarpon and favorite food fish is dolphin, so this seminar is split into two parts, with tarpon first and dolphin second. “Tarpon are thick December through June along the beach close to inlets,” says Capt. Gil. “The best thing about them is they‘re easy to find and easy to fish for--no complicated rigs or tackle. I use crabs and shrimp fished on a 50-pound leader and a 8/0 circle hook, simple as that. And you don’t have to run 20 miles out. Just turn right or left out of the inlet and look for rolling pods.” As for dolphin, “They’re here all year ‘round. I use the run and gun method, meaning I stay on plane until conditions tell me to stop, like diving birds or a weed patch with life. Dolphin are a feeding machine and they move around until they find something to feed on, so if the weed line has no life in it they move on.”

1 p.m., Deep Wreck Fishing Capt. Jim Anson, co-host of Florida Sportsman Live radio, has set 32 IGFA world records on amberjack, barracuda, cobia, redfish, jack crevalle and permit and has guided his clients to another 146 records on a variety of saltwater and freshwater species. In 2004 the IGFA awarded Anson the Lifetime Achievement Award, putting him in the company of only six other angler-luminaries like Ralph Delph and Bob Crossett. Anson’s seminar will be on a little-known technique called “deep drop” fishing with live bait. This technique prevents the bait from wrapping around the line and weight which ultimately causes the line to cut through itself, losing the fish. Other topics will include how to find wrecks and how to drift or anchor over them, tackle selection, and bait rigging techniques. Immediately after his seminar Anson will appear as a guest speaker at the Offshore Riggin’ It Right Classroom to show you how to tie this unusual live bait rig.

2 p.m., More Fish with Less Time and Money Capt. Hank Williams is the owner of Wet Willy Charters and has fished local waters for over 30 years, learning ways to spend less time and money to catch more fish. Hank has developed dozens of nifty tips that will produce better catches of snapper, grouper, cobia, kingfish and all the offshore fish that swim Gulf Coast waters. This seminar will be all about maximizing your catch while minimizing your effort and expense. “If you learn to be a better fisherman you will save money on fuel and tackle,” advises Capt. Hank. “Boating has become more time consuming and more expensive over the years so you need to learn every little trick rather than using the same old tactics that aren’t working. The change in water quality--especially red tide--has caused all of us to start to think beyond the basics and old tactics. It’s not more money or more time that will improve your catch, it’s smarter fishing, pure and simple.” Along with rigging techniques to catch popular table fish, Capt. Hank will offer advice on using electronics to find fish you couldn’t find before.

3 p.m., Snapper and Grouper Capt. Rick Ryals is co-author of Florida Sportsman’s new book and DVD, Sportsman’s Best -- Snapper and Grouper, and team leader of Riggin’ it Right at all Florida Sportsman Fishing Shows. Ryals is also the captain of a new 35’ Cabo Express, Dos Amigos, that fishes Florida waters in search of big snapper and grouper. Ryals has won many tournaments over his 30 years of Florida fishing and will speak about how to greatly improve your catch of the most sought after reef and wreck fish, snapper and grouper. Topics will include rigging bottom fishing terminal tackle, best baits, how to catch and store live bait, anchoring and drifting techniques, and end with someone in the audience winning an autographed copy of Sportsman’s Best--Snapper and Grouper.

4 p.m., Kingfish A to Z Capt. Dennis Young of Jacksonville was 17 years old in 1987 when he won his first tournament--he skipped school to fish the Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament, the biggest kingfish tournament in the world with a field of 1,000 boats. “I got expelled on Friday but I had $35,000 in my pocket thanks to a live silver mullet and a 49-pound kingfish, so it was well worth it,” says Young, who went on to fish several years of the SKA circuit and eventually settled into a successful charter fishing operation. Subjects will include how to locate feeding schools of kingfish using “breaks” in water temperature, salinity and depth and the best baits, rigs and tackle to use for a successful kingfish trip.