Published: Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008

Updated: Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008

Elite guides to share secrets

MIAMI — As we idled through Dumbfounding Bay, I wondered how many sets of eyes may have been on us.

The sun had just peaked to show us the pale colors of condominiums, which towered above us in all directions. I felt like a rookie kicker in Raymond James Stadium.

The wind sprinted through from the east, pushing waves through the bay and shoving clouds across a full moon. We dipped and turned in a most unique version of the “great outdoors.”

We had planned on chasing sailfish in the Atlantic Ocean with George Poveromo, host of George Poveromo’s World of Saltwater Fishing on ESPN2, and Editor-At-Large for Saltwater Sportsman.

But 30-knot winds and eight-foot seas stripped that option away.

Fortunately, on Jan. 17, area anglers can learn secrets from Poveromo and other elite guides around the state without getting slapped around the by the wind.

The seminar

It’s coming to Bradenton.

On Jan. 17 at Manatee Community College’s Neel Auditorium, Poveromo will host the Saltwater Sportsman National Series’s West Coast Florida edition.

Poveromo will be joined by Capt. Ted Lund, editor of Saltwater Sportsman; Capts. Allan Engel and T.J. Stewart, premier Bradenton guides; Dr. Mitchell Roffer, the nation’s leading authority on locating surface temperature breaks and ocean-circulation features that hold fish; Capt. Jimmy Price from North Carolina, who specializes in trophy-size flounder and speckled trout; Capt. “R.T.” Trosset, a legendary Key West light-tackle guide and IGFA World Record holder; Capt. Rick Featherstone, a noted southwest Florida guide specializing in tarpon, permit, cobia, king mackerel, grouper and snapper; and Capt. Jeff Hagaman, a backwater and nearshore guide from Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor.

A ticket is $55 and includes a 2009 comprehensive textbook, a one-year subscription or extension to Saltwater Sportsman Magazine, one Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecast Analysis (offshore tuna, dolphin and marlin) and more.

For more information, visit www.nationalseminarseries.com. To order tickets by phone with a major credit card, call 1-800-448-7360.

The show

George Poveromo’s World of Saltwater Fishing, which has been airing on ESPN2 for nine years, will kick-off its new season at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 28. The series runs through March 28 with featured airings every Sunday at 7:30 a.m. and encore performances on Saturdays at 6:30 a.m.

In the first Dec. 28 episode, Poveromo takes his Mako 284, MARC VI for some Key West bottom fishing. Along with Capt. Mark Schmidt, they fish numerous rock piles for mangrove snapper, grouper, mutton snapper, not to mention a 50-plus pound barracuda that severs ¾ of a 15-pound grouper a few feet away from the landing net.

Back to the trip

We certainly didn’t want to be that 40-foot sportfishing boat that we saw entering a pass into the Atlantic and brave eight-foot swells that seem to swallow this boat with each walloping wave.

“We obviously couldn’t get into the Atlantic,” Poveromo said. “The funny thing is, when people think about inshore fishing in Miami, they think about the flats with bonefish and permit. But in the North Bay areas we fished a very good seatrout bite.”

We were on the cusp of a city with a population of roughly 5 million.

In front of the jagged skyline of downtown Miami, while the city seemed to rest in a dull hangover this Sunday morning, we hit an almost non-stop trout bite free-lining shiners, or with shiners under popping corks.

This was not the best the east coast has to offer. You can, however go one or two miles into the Atlantic and into 600 feet of depth and chase sailfish, marlin and dolphin. Such pelagics are Pomeromo’s favorite to catch, and no doubt are his specialty.

But risking it this day would have been near-suicidal.

Nick Walter, outdoors writer, can be reached at 745-7013.