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Nov. 13--PALM BEACH -- The fish are beastly, giant in size and seemingly with strength to sink the boats that stalked them.
Still, that didn't stop early sport fishermen who trolled South Florida's warm waters for the ultimate catch of the day.
"The Blue God and The Silver King: The Origins of Sport Fishing on Florida's Southeast Coast," a new exhibit at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, explores the early days of sport fishing. The exhibit includes turn-of-the century boats and tackle, some of the first fishing guides of the area, black-and-white photographs of area residents with their impressive catches and more.
"Sport fishing really caught on during the Gilded Age [1865 to 1901]," said Tracy Kamerer, chief curator at the Flagler Museum. "It was a time when people were developing an interest in physical fitness. People were getting into tennis and swimming. Collegiate sports started at this time; football and baseball became professional."
Some of the first sport fishermen were wealthy Northeasterners and Europeans drawn to our fish-friendly shores, which were blessed by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, or the Blue God, as it was called, Kamerer said.
The silver king was the tarpon, a silver-scaled fish popular during the time because it put up such a fight when hooked.
Part of the exhibition features mounted fish commonly caught in South Florida, including snook, permit and hogfish.
Many of the items come from the International Game Fish Association in Dania Beach, as well as the Historical Society of Palm Beach and the American Museum of Natural History.
In a number of photographs, some dating to 1893, the sizes of the fish are striking, but the boats were not. Early fishermen ventured out in canoes and rowboats. Despite the simple vessels, these fishermen caught fish displayed, such as an 800-pound hammerhead shark, a 45-foot whale shark -- which put up a 39-hour fight -- and a 600-pound sawfish that looks more monster than animal.
In those early days, game fish grew to enormous sizes because of their healthy numbers and a smaller game fishing industry, said officials at the Game Fish Association.
These days, overfishing is a major problem. More than 70 percent of the world's fish species are heavily fished or depleted, according to a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization report.
The Flagler Museum has only one photograph of its namesake, Henry Flagler, fishing off The Breakers Hotel pier in Palm Beach. The railroad tycoon is shown reeling in a sailfish in the late 1800s or early 1900s.
Flagler plays into sport fishing history because the construction of his railroads and hotels along Florida's southeastern coast allowed travelers to visit local fishing destinations easily.
Piers helped sport fishing go mainstream and ushered it into the craze of the 1930s. The exhibit showcases old photographs of the Breakers Pier and the former Rainbow Pier, off Worth Avenue.
"Piers became the democratizers of sport fishing," Kamerer said. "Now you didn't need a big boat to get out to the water. It became quite a social event to go down to the piers and see what the fishermen came in with."
Ivette M. Yee can be reached at imyee@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6538.
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Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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