FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ When George Poveromo and Mark Sosin started the Salt Water Sportsman Seminar Series in 1988, they figured they'd be fortunate to do the seminars for a few years.
Never did Poveromo think he'd still be educating and entertaining saltwater anglers 30 years later.
"It was 'Let's see what happens.' Nobody had any idea that it was going to go this long," said Poveromo, who has a Florida Keys seminar Jan. 28 at Coral Shores High School in Tavernier.
"I think it was after the first year, we were talking with (Salt Water Sportsman magazine publisher) Spider Andresen and he said we might get a couple of years out of it, it's probably a fad. (Editor-in-chief) Rip Cunningham had more foresight. He said, 'I think you could get 10 years out of it.' I thought, 'I hope Rip's right, but maybe we'll get four or five years.'
"It's been a fun ride, and I still enjoy doing it as much as when we first started."
The primary reason for the popularity of the seminar series, which this year visits eight locations from Texas to Florida to Massachusetts, is the local experts who explain precisely where, when and how they catch fish.
Several captains are on stage at the same time, and Poveromo grills them on everything from the hooks, knots, baits and lures they use for a particular species to their techniques, which often differ.
Next Saturday's seminar will cover how to catch fish ranging from wahoo and dolphin to snapper and grouper to bonefish and tarpon, as well as tactics for fishing humps, wrecks, reefs, bridges and flats.
In addition to great information, the seminars also give away lots of door prizes that include fishing line, sunglasses and rods and reels.
Poveromo, of Parkland, and Sosin, of Boca Raton, who is no longer involved with the seminar series, came up with the idea from fishing clinics they gave at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
At the time, they were both editors with Salt Water Sportsman. The boat show had asked Cunningham if he could arrange the clinics and he asked Poveromo and Sosin to do them.
"We got roped into it," Poveromo said, laughing. "We were at Bahia Mar at the food courts. We had one little stage up there. We'd look at the bleachers and there'd be 30 people, but they were there to eat and they'd leave after they finished eating. They were not there to sit down and learn something.
"Mark said what we ought to do is a stand-alone saltwater fishing seminar. I said, 'I think this is a great idea, why not do this as a tour and go to several different places?' Mark and I sat down and kicked it around and went to Rip. We said we could do it under the banner of Salt Water Sportsman and he loved it. We would pick some venues, get some good teaching teams together and do it."
Poveromo and Sosin also had to sell sponsors on underwriting the seminars, which turned out to be easier than they thought. They also wrote a textbook for the series and the magazine heavily promoted the seminars, which were held in seven cities that initial year.
The first seminar was in Kissimmee, their thinking being that it would draw anglers from both coasts, and they were right: 711 people attended. The following week at Broward College in Coconut Creek, they had more than 1,000 people.
That success led to a second year, with the seminars visiting "pretty much the same cities," according to Poveromo. The locations changed the following year after the magazine got "a ton of letters" from readers who wanted the seminar to come to their cities.
"Finally, around the 10th year, I'm starting to realize if we just keep this good program going and keep our faculty fresh and entertaining, this thing could go on," Poveromo said.
And on and on and on.
