History

While vacationing with his family in Florida several years ago, Josh Jorgensen, an avid angler from Canada, took up the sport of Big Game Fishing. After several years of fishing from the surf, Jorgensen and his friend Tom Kieras, decided to participate in a local shark fishing tournament in 2007. The team did not do very well, but by fishing the tournament, Jorgensen became inspired to start his own tournament.

After much research and effort, Jorgensen had organized the 1st Annual Blacktip Challenge Shark Fishing Tournament in 2008. The tournament was designed to target the winter Blacktip migration. Blacktip sharks begin their northern descent in the beginning of January and return to the north in April. The 1st annual tournament was sponsored by Power Pro Fishing Lines. The tournament began on January 1st and ended on March 31st. A total of 14 anglers participated in 2008 and managed to catch and release 156 sharks during the three month period.

After a successful inaugural tournament in 2008, 'Blacktip Challenge' creator and director, Josh Jorgensen, began planning for the 2009 event with an expanded vision. Josh, a supporter of conservation-minded fishing, expanded this year's tournament beyond the 'CPR' (catch, photograph & release) format of 2008 with added steps to qualify catches that include measurement taking for use in estimated weight formulas, and most notably, the application of research-tracking tags, prior to the release of all animals back to the wild. Jorgensen decided that a partnership with NOAA's Apex Predator Program was the most proficient way to involve tagging in the tournament format. Frank Mundus, more notoriously known as 'The Monster Man', was the real-life inspiration behind Peter Benchley's iconic shark hunting character, 'Captain Quint' from the book and movie, JAWS. Mundus, the founding father of recreational shark fishing, was also instrumental in efforts with researcher John 'Jack' Casey to start the first ever shark-tagging program in the early 1960's, which is known today as the Apex Predator Program.

In 2009, the Blacktip Challenge partnered with members of the scientific community like Dr's Nancy E. Kohler and Patrica A. Turner of the National Marine Fisheries Service, fisheries research biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Eric Sander, David Hall of Hallprint fish tags, and of course, the growing field of generous sponsors helping to make it all possible.

In efforts to share his passion, and after viewing enough of what he refers to as, "The same old fishing shows on TV", Jorgensen approached fellow big-game anglers and wildlife videographers, Sean & Brooks Paxton, to gauge their interest in filming the 2009 tournament. As heads of a production company specializing in such topics, the Paxton Brothers agreed a collaboration made sense on several levels. He and his brother are co-hosts and creators of the Adventure & Wildlife television series, and producers of a documentary about their personal experiences with the legendary shark hunter, Captain Frank Mundus.