The organizers of today's season-opener in the Nextel Professional Tarpon Tournament Series think they've got something special going in Boca Grande Pass.
No other fishing tournament in the world, they say, features almost 50 boats, all targeting man-size fish in the space of a few acres.
Judging by the high-profile sponsors of the tournament and its related TV shows — Miller High Life, GMC, Yamaha and Jim Beam — they're finding a lot of folks who agree.

"This is the first time Nextel, which is a Fortune 200 company, has ever sponsored anything to do with fishing," said Sarasota radio personality Joe Mercurio, a partner and spokesman in the venture.
Nextel spokeswoman Michele Pinnau said the tournament gives the company the chance to target a new market on Florida's Sunshine Network, which their research shows has 6 million viewers — mostly men in the 18-54 age group.

Mercurio said last year's final show out-pulled the Bass Masters Classic, shown at the same time, with a 1 share on a late-July Sunday evening.
If viewers think boats in the tournament look like they just rolled off a NASCAR track, replete with plastic-wrapped color graphics, that's not a coincidence. Mercurio said there will be 18 "NASCAR-wrapped" boats in the field of 47 that will begin trying to qualify this morning for the season championship in June.
And it won't be just the graphics that are pretty.

"Most boats will have Hooters girls as observers. It makes for good TV," Mercurio said.
This year, not only local guides and team members, but professional anglers from three national redfish tours, have jumped into the melee that is tarpon fishing in Boca Grande Pass.

"It's controlled chaos," said Captiva Capt. Ozzie Fischer, whose Columbia Sports Wear team won the Jim Beam Cup championship event in last year's inaugural PTTS season. Other team sponsors include Castrol GTX motor oil, 7Up, eBoatLoans, and Chevy.
Control is lost and chaos begins whenever any of the boats hooks a maniacally fighting tarpon in the midst of 46 other teams all dangling three lines each. Anglers can choose to fish with any baits, which usually are leadhead jigs.
They'll be angling not only for tarpon, but for a 19-foot Century skiff powered by a 115-horsepower, 4-stroke Yamaha engine and Continental aluminum trailer for the winners, and prizes of $2,000 and $1,000 to place and show, respectively.

Last year's high-point team collected about $60,000 in cash and prizes through the four qualifying tournaments and the championship.