Riggin’ it Right Schedule

Offshore
11 a.m., Bonito Strips--how to make ‘em, how to fish em. Guest Instructor Eden White
12 p.m., 30-Second Kingfish Rig
1:30 p.m., Ballyhoo A-Z
2:30 p.m., How to keep, prepare and fillet your catch
3:30 p.m., All about teasers, spreaders and dredges

Inshore:
11 a.m., Soft Plastic Basics- rigging soft plastics for snook, trout, reds and bones
12 p.m., Uni-knot System--basic knots you need to know
1:30 p.m., Soft-plastic modifications--think beyond the manufacturer’s instructions
2:30 p.m., How to set up the basic sliding float rig with success
3:30 p.m., Terminal tackle rigs for live-baiting--popping corks, freelining, bottom rigs, etc.
4:00 p.m., Catch more fish with artificials and jigs

Angler on Foot

10:45 a.m., Beach fishing Florida’s East Coast
12 p.m., Effective bridge and pier fishing
1:30 p.m., Locks, spillways and canal banks
3 00 p.m., Beach fishing Florida’s East Coast
4 00 p.m., Effective bridge and pier fishing
4:45 p.m., Request hour

Hobie Kayak Stage--Fishing Seminar and slide show

Noon and 2 p.m. by Florida Sportsman Associate Editor Jerry McBride. Or stop in anytime and see the tricked-out boats and talk to the experts about how to fish from kayaks.

Federation of Fly Fishers Casting Instruction at the Indoor Fly Pond

11 a.m., Capt. Gary Meyers - Introduction to Fly Fishing
1 pm, Capt. Pete Greenan - Advanced Casting Techniques
Individual casting instruction, knot and fly tying, rod rigging programs all day at the Federation of Fly Fishers booth

Inshore Stage:
10,000-gallon pond with Sterling flats boat, mangroves and slide show

11 a.m., Wadefishing the Flats Capt. 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 developed in the Indian River of Florida work just as well in Texas bays and Louisiana coastal islands. “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 his version of lure retrieval while he wades in the Inshore Stage, a 10,000-gallon pond, and casts his lures to a virtual reality snook and redfish that are swimming in the roots of artificial mangrove plants. What is Mark‘s best advice for lure retrieval in shallow water? “If you think you’re retrieving it too slow, then what you need to do is slow it down some more!”

12 p.m., Snook on Artificials Capt. Danny Barrow’s father used to take him bridge fishing for snook when he was an infant, tying his stroller to the same rail that he tied a stringer of dinner fish--how’s that for “…been snook fishing since I was a kid!” As Barrow grew up he fished for everything from wahoo to bass, but now he has found his way back to his real passion, snook fishing. “I learned a lot about snook fishing from bass fishing,” says Barrow. “Back then everyone was using live bait, but after catching a few big bass on lures I learned it was actually more productive and a lot more fun, especially topwater lures.“ Barrow is now a fulltime guide specializing in snook fishing from a 20’ bay skiff out of Boynton Boat Club Park and has learned all of the best spots in the mid and south Lake Worth Lagoon. “The party is over in the inlet so the fish are scattered. But there are a dozen good places to look for them, like the Ocean Avenue bridges in Boynton and Lantana, the spillways, residential docks and small bridges in the Manalapana Lagoon, and lots of productive flats. By water these places are just fives minutes from north to south. So my seminar will start with how to catch them and then move to where to catch them.” Topics will include boatmanship around docks and bridges, tackle selection, and end with a segment on Barrow’s top-five lures.

1 p.m., Sportsman’s Best--Redfish Capt. Terry Lacoss is a Florida Sportsman Field Editor, author of numerous feature articles and Sportsman’s Seminars columns, and author of the 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. Marys 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 fish 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 into the tidal creeks at high tide. “Here on the southeast coast, just like the northeast coast where I fish mostly, 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 up in residential creeks and canals at high tide.” Topics will also include Lacoss’ top-ten artificial baits, which lucky attendees will receive as he tosses them to the crowd.

2 p.m., Surf Fishing College Larry Finch teaches Angler on Foot at all Florida Sportsman Fishing Shows throughout Florida. He also makes his living pulling fish from the surf--each November he averages 100 pounds of pompano per day on hook and line. “I’ve been surf fishing the east coast of Florida for 35 years,” says Finch, “and these are the best days of surf fishing I’ve ever seen.” If you’re like most surf fishermen, you’ve stood there without a bite while Finch reeled them in right next to you. This seminar will teach you how a pro does it and cover everything about catching and rigging sandfleas, tackle selection, tying terminal rigs and Finch’s secrets to being at the right place at the right time. As an added bonus, one lucky seminar attendee will win one of Finch’s DVDs on surf fishing the east coast of Florida.

3 p.m., How to Fish the Lake Worth Lagoon Capt. Barry Brimacomb was born and raised in West Palm Beach, growing up fishing the waters of the Lake Worth Lagoon with his grandfather, on foot and from eight different boats. He is now a guide who specializes in fishing the Lake Worth Lagoon and was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the West Palm Beach Fishing Club. “You don’t have to travel far to find good fishing,” says Brimacomb. “Summer can be slow, so many people assume it’s that way all year long, but the Lake Worth Lagoon has lots of productive areas that are mostly overlooked. The fall mullet run kicks off some of the best fishing of the year, so my seminar will focus on where to go to catch big numbers of fish that chase this annual migration, like snook, jacks and tarpon.” Capt. Barry will cover how to find and fish some of the recent improvements made to the Lake Worth Lagoon fishery, like the Snook Islands project and enhancements made to several of the spoil islands.

4 p.m., Planning Trips around Moon Phases and Tidal Flows Native Floridian Capt. Ray Markham is Florida Sportsman’s West Central Field Editor, co-host of Florida Sportsman Live radio and the Inshore Riggin‘ it Right team leader at all Florida Sportsman Fishing and Boat Shows. Markham is a firm believer in using tidal flows to locate and catch more fish, so this seminar will be all about how tides and moon phases affect feeding and migration habits of the huge variety of sportfish that swim in southeast Florida waters. “I’ll reveal the secrets of planning successful fishing trips using the Florida Sportsman Fishing Planner,” says Markham. “This interactive seminar will be species and location specific, and I encourage everyone to bring your questions to the table as a participant to understand where, when, and how tides in Southeast Florida affect fishing. Weather has a big affect on tides, so understanding how weather interacts with the tides will give you a better shot at catching more fish.”

Offshore Stage:
Offshore boat with downriggers, outriggers and kites--slide show

11 a.m., Swordfishing with an Expert So you want to try swording but don't know where to start? Now West Palm's teenage phenom Nick Cardella will show you how. When it comes to fishing South Florida, Nick has done it all: inshore, offshore, fresh water, spin, plug and fly. But for the past four years Nick has found a new love and that’s nighttime fishing for Florida’s fabled broadbills. This very weekend Nick is fishing the Miami Swordfish Tournament at night and giving this seminar during the day, so he will have up-to-the-minute reports of the state of swordfish in southeast Florida. Starting with the serious business of boat and tackle preparation, Nick 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. His seminar will leave you with the know-how to get right out there and battle with a swordfish of your own and will end with a demonstration at Offshore Riggin it Right on how to rig a squid for swordfishing.

12 p.m., Winning Sailfish Techniques Born and raised in Florida, Capt. Torey Turney is known to his peers as the hottest tournament captain around. “This past May was my best tournament month ever in my life,“ says Turney. “In three different tournaments I came in second and fourth in two different divisions in one tournament, second in another, and in the Palm Beach Growers Association tournament I defended my 2007 championship, winning by just one-eight of a pound.” In 2007 and 2002 Turney also won the Silver Sailfish Derby, the oldest sailfish tournament in the world, and he once fished with his mother in a women’s tournament at Tropic Star Lodge where nine boats caught 1,257 sails in six days. “Most boats will do two riggers and two flatlines, but I drift with a sea anchor off the bow and two kites with two baits each off the stern. Fishing kites is the best way to catch sails, keep the heads underwater and their tails slapping on the surface.” Turney advised using circle hooks for sails before it was the law and says that knowing how to use circle hooks properly is the best winning strategy. Topics will also include tackle selection, boatmanship and how to properly deploy a kite, with a special ending segment on fly fishing for sails.

1 p.m., Vertical Butterfly Jigging Like many northern transplants, Ralph Palumbo moved to Florida mostly because of the year-round fishing opportunities. Soon after he arrived he made connections with local fishing luminaries like the Cardella family and learned to fish the area, applying a few techniques he brought down from Ney York, like jigging for stripers. “When Shimano first came out with their Trevala rods and butterfly jigging system,” says Palumbo, “I started to experiment with the gear and technique. I fine tuned it to fit the West Palm area and now want to share it with others. The best advice I can give is to always keep the jig working vertical, and use proper tackle that is designed for this type of jigging. Without those two critical components you will wear yourself out and draw very few strikes. We can be fishing side by side over a wreck, me with proper tackle and technique and you with poor tackle and improper technique, and I’ll get ten strikes to every one of yours.” Palumbo says the best opportunities are over wrecks and reefs, so he’ll talk a lot about proper drift techniques and how to fight fish away from the wreck. He will also explain why he prefers braided line on spinning reels.

2 p.m., Advanced Trolling Techniques for Weekend Anglers Capt. Mike Beebe is a Penn Pro-Staffer and a local offshore charter skipper that was born and raised into the tackle business. Old timers will recognize his great uncle, George Debay, who owned a tackle store in West Palm Beach back in the sixties and seventies. Fishing from a 25-foot center console, Capt. Beebe specializes in trolling at what he calls, “elevated trolling speeds.” He doesn’t care to use the gas-gulping tactics that the bigger boats use while trolling at higher speeds, plus his natural baits don’t suffer the washout that plagues high speed trolling. He has developed more efficient trolling tactics that work well for wahoo, dolphin, tuna and sails. “Anyone can do this from a center consol,“ says Capt Beebe. “I use wire to get down to the wahoo and at the same time I pull the surface with mono for all the others. My seminar will be about how to cover all the species at the same time.“ Topics will include how to troll with ballyhoo, bonito strips, mullet and artificials and how to rig downriggers and planers to get to the right depth to put fish on the table.

3 p.m., Dolphin Fishing Capt. Rick Ryals is the author of Florida Sportsman’s soon-to-be-released book, Sportsman’s Best: Dolphin, and team leader of Riggin’ it Right at all Florida Sportsman Fishing and Boat Shows. Ryals has won many tournaments over his 30 years of Florida fishing and will speak about how to greatly improve your catch of one of the most sought after table fish in Florida--dolphin. “They’re great fighters, with the prettiest jumps and best runs around,” says Ryals. “They’re all over Florida and they grow at an incredible rate, consuming twenty percent of their body weight daily--the biggest bulls around are just three years old!” Ryals skippers the fabulous Cabo sportfisherman Dos Amigos all over Florida and the Bahamas and there’s nothing he’d rather catch than big dolphin. This seminar will be all about how to find and catch the big “slammers,” including what baits to use and how to rig them, what conditions to look for, when to troll and when to run and gun, and how to plan your trip so you’re in the right place at the right time. At the end of the seminar someone in the audience will win an autographed copy of Ryals’ other book, Sportsman’s Best--Snapper and Grouper.

4 p.m., Bottom Fishing: Wrecks and Reefs. Capt. Eden White is a Florida Sportsman field editor and host of the Palm Beach edition of the Florida Sportsman Live radio show. He is also a local charter captain and top-notch bottom fisherman. White will share his expertise on finding and anchoring over wrecks and reefs, favorite baits, rigs and tackle, and using electronics to find good bottom. “Bottom fishing is like the real estate business--it’s all about location, location, location. When you find good bottom, you’d better be sitting right on top of it,” advises White. Topics will include how to anchor over wrecks and reefs, bait rigging for different species, and a special section on how to build Capt. Eden’s famous chum bucket.