Herb Goodman -The Florida pioneer

This man was the lejend who blazed trails for Florida land based shark fisherman.He fished mostly in the palm beach area and in particular the Boynton Inlet area.
Herb Goodman never wrote a book but he was a pioneer in land-based shark fishing from Lake Worth Florida and was featured in many a fishing magazine,local newspapers,and many books.He became famous not only because he was a consistent fisherman that caught big sharks but because he developed new techniques to help the shark fisherman deploy there baits out into deep water.I believe he single handedly did more to put land-based shark fishing in the spotlight than anyone else of his era.He became a celebrity and on any given Sunday could be found at the Boynton Inlet in Palm Beach fighting a shark.Along with men like Walter Maxwell and Frank Mundus he remains to this date as one of the major Icons in the sport of shark fishing.What Herb Goodman did in his 60's young men of half his age today can't hardly do because it's a different world or because they don't want it bad enough and are not willing to work for it.Herb never wrote a book but given the right circumstances with his expierience he could of wrote several books that would still today be used as a guide for the shore bound sharker.When I was a teenager in high school I checked out all the books in the library that had shark fishing in them and that's how i found out about Herb Goodman and then continued searching near and far for information about him;back then there was no internet so when I found out Herb owned a small hardware store in Lake worth me and Rene de Dios went and met the old man .It was an expierience to say the least he was a soft spoken man but willing to discuss his shark fishing adventures with us.His store had a collection of assorted shark fishing items including his Harnell w 12/0 and some big shark jaws that hung on the walls.The day I met him I got his autograph which i cherish to this day.I Wish I could of got to know him better.

Mike Palmer on Herb Goodman
a customer of mine today was in a store down in south fla , and found a shark fishing book on shark fishing for sharks and it had herb in it . he said it had hundreds of photos of all the sharks he caugh in the 60-70's and he said next time hes down that way he'll pick it up for me . I READ THAT BOOK AND STUDYED it from 9th-12th grade and used to go down to his lock shop every weeked when i was old enuff to drive ! he was a grummpy old guy but he liked me, and i was the only one that he would talk to about sharken! a few years ago florida sportsman wanted to do a story on me about shark fishing from the jettys and the surf. i thought about it and would only do it IF I COULD do the whole story on how how herb done it in the early 60's, 70's use his photos and and pay homage to the man him self, and they way its evolved over the years and the way ALL OF US , not just me , use diffrent tackle , rigs , harness, bait deployment . just look on the internet all of us do it diffrent , but we get the same results . we catch them! herb is passed a way for some time now but i tracked down who has is pics and tackle amazingly . i told him who i was and was stoked because he said herb used to talk about me all the time! i wished i new that i would have stayed it touch! the guy that i contacted said i was very welcome to come down and see herbs rods , reels, tacke and pics any time , that i will do!
but as far as the story for the magizine , he felt that sharks are very exploted , i felt the same way. so i said no to doing the article for the mag
he expained it was a diffrent era back then, it was cool to kill them way before jaws hit the big screen. I FELT I HAD MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE! i think now with the internet with sites and groups like this one , we can all share info , tips and maybe hook-up and meet new freinds to fish with , all with the same passion . we are a small group of fisherman who enjoy and , we all work hard at it and put in a lotta time just to getta bite . not to mention its a pretty expensive sport , line , hooks rods +reels you guys in texas travel a long way just to fish! if i owned a ten gallon hat i would tip it for ya! i think ill keep this land based fishery to a small group of fisherman like us , besides if it got published you know how many gurus would be trying it and lord knows how many sharks would be killed!............besides ive be doing this for 30 years now , hope this doesnt come out wrong , let them do like i did put your time in and watch us thats how i learnd ! im 42 now and nobody and i mean nobody has taken any intrest in what our little
group does. all they want is a callcutta 700 with 80# power pro and they think they have a 80# rig . get a 12/0 thats a 80# reel ! i think they watch to many fishing shows on tv!
at our shop my boss has his own fishing show. a one hour program with all these top pro captians as guests. u see them on espn and trust me most of the guys that post pics on this site are a lot better anglers than them period
let them try doing what we do , they cant, they might get there hair wet!
and they will have no clue on how to rig or get a bait out, ......oh wait whats what the camera boats are for!.......sorry to get off base on this post
from herb to the tv captians , .......im babbleling again.......think ill go read websters .......if you havent noticed my spelling ..........sucks, ....later , mike

Fisherman from Lake Worth pier are lucky have deep pier fishing roots but you don't know the half of it .Palm beach fishing ,pier fishing, and shark fishing go together and go back a long time.It would take me many pages of posting old pics to insert just a fraction of that history.Here's a tidbit ,,,,the old Lake Worth pier ,the lake worth pier big game fishing club and Herb Goodman the shark fishing legend is on the top row fourth from right corner wearing his traditional old school fishing cap.Land based fishermen were respected more during that era and less stringent fishing and community laws in place. color]

Herb Goodman the Lake Worth Pier Big Game Fishing Club 1960's photo -top row 4th from rt side