Party with the IGFA

For decades, the International Game Fish Association has held its annual "big event" - the banquet and auction - each winter at the very exclusive The Breakers Hotel, in West Palm Beach, Florida.
   
This year for the first time, the IGFA moved the event to the home field - specifically, the association's headquarters and museum in Dania Beach.
   
As editor and IGFA rep, I traveled down to Dania Beach to take in the Friday, Jan 27 event, and to see if the IGFA's HQ was up to handling the hundreds of attendees.
   
In truth, I loved it. I liked the venue far more than the breakers. I guess in part I felt the atmosphere was just a bit less formal and a bit more relaxed. And instead of eating dinner while enjoying the spectacle of live auction  bidding in a cavernous ballroom, we ate under an amazing array of life-size fiberglass mounts, "swimming" just over our heads - so much more appropriate and, well, just more fun.
   
So, bottom line: One of the great events in the world of sport fishing just got even better.

PHOTO: The calm before the storm when the onslaught of approximately 300 guests will turn the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum into a hub of activity.