Posted: 3:44 am
July 6, 2008
THE International Game Fish Association's celebrated catch-and-release tournament is called the Super Bowl of inshore fishing with 32 anglers from around the world stalking the Florida Bay waters for bonefish, tarpon, permit, snook and redfish.
So what do you compare it with when you win both the Inshore and Offshore World Championships in the same year?
Robert Collins of Florida won the Offshore in Mexico earlier this year, followed by this week's Inshore Championship, defending his Grand Champion title by accumulating the most points for the five targeted species. It was also his third championship in the eight years of the Inshore tournament.
In the fly division, Mark Cooper, Aurora, Colo., won on releases of a redfish, a tarpon and three snook. The former lineman for NFL's Broncos and the Buccaneers totaled 775 points while going scoreless the final day.
The 32 anglers gained entry by winning one of more than 55 fly and light tackle IGFA tournaments in 2007 held in eight countries representing nearly 3,000 anglers. Of the champions, 15 were first-time invitees, including anglers from Sweden, Uganda, and Darwin, Australia.
The anglers fished with a different guide each of the three days based on a drawing, with the top scorers receiving Rolex timepieces.
Educators from around the country will convene in Traverse City, Mich., this week for a one-of-a-kind training program to learn how to use fishing as a means to connect textbook learning to real-world skills.
The Future Fisherman Foundation, the angling education arm of the American Sportfishing Association, is conducting its sixth-annual Physh Ed National Education Grants training at the Northwestern Michigan College campus.
For the upcoming 2008-09 school year, the foundation awarded grants of up to $2,500 apiece to teachers from 35 states. Each school sends one representative to the training, where they will learn from aquatic education professionals and experts in teaching the teachers.
The workshop features instruction in fly and spin casting, conservation education, lesson planning, developing resources and building grassroots partnerships, and effectively evaluating a program's success.
