POPULAR FISHING SEMINAR RETURNS TO THE KEYS

After a three-year in-person absence due to COVID 19, the Salt Water Sportsman National Seminar Series is to return to the Florida Keys on Saturday, Jan. 27, at Coral Shores Performing Arts Center, MM 89.9, oceanside in Islamorada.

The 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. educational event will cover the “how-to” and “where-to” aspects of catching the Florida Keys’ inshore, nearshore and offshore saltwater gamefish. Presiding over the event are George Poveromo, host of “George Poveromo’s World of Saltwater Fishing” on Discovery Network, and Capt. Mark Schmidt, a Key West light tackle guide and International Game Fish Association world-record holder.

“Entering our 37th year, the seminar series has become the nation’s longest-running and most popular educational course on recreational angling tactics and techniques,” Poveromo said. “Its success has always been about the vast amount of cutting-edge and pertinent how-to information shared on catching more and bigger gamefish within the waters at each respective Seminar Series stop.

“This information is explained in great detail by some of the best saltwater anglers, and each session is backed by elaborate visuals that include video, technical- and action-oriented images and onstage demonstrations,” he added.

Set to join Poveromo and Schmidt are South Florida and Keys professionals including Liane Lopez, Clay Cowart, Jimmy Gagliardini, Dr. John Stieglitz, Scott Wenzel, Ryan Wenzel, Alan Wenzel, Diego Toiran, Jim Willcox, Abie Raymond and Chris Hanson.

The $65 ticket price covers five hours of instruction, a 2024 course textbook, a one-year subscription or extension to Salt Water Sportsman magazine, one Roff’s Ocean Fishing Forecast Analysis, boat care products, a Bass Pro Shops discount card and chances to win thousands of dollars in door prizes.

The grand prize at the conclusion of the seminar is a guided Florida Keys fishing trip with accommodations. The super grand prize, to be awarded two weeks after the conclusion of the 2024 series, is a new Mako Pro Skiff 17. 

An after-seminar party is set for attendees beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday at World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada.To purchase tickets and learn more about the seminar, visit nationalseminarseries.com.