Summary:

In this conversation, Fly Navarro shares his passion for fishing and media. He discusses his background growing up in Palm Beach County and his experiences fishing in the Caribbean and Hawaii. Fly also talks about his transition to freelancing and creating content, as well as his involvement with the Blue Marlin World Cup. This part of the conversation focuses on the Blue Marlin World Cup and the logistics of the tournament. It also discusses the cost of entry, the minimum weight requirement, and the use of certified scales for weighing the fish. The conversation then delves into the emotional moments and the perspective of fishing. The story of the Apex boat is shared, highlighting the power of stories in the fishing community. The importance of people and the connections made through fishing are emphasized. In this conversation, Fly Navarro shares his passion for fishing and the joy he finds in sharing the sport with others. He emphasizes the importance of enjoying the moment and releasing the death grip on the fishing rod. Fly Navarro also discusses the satisfaction he derives from bringing new anglers into the sport and helping them achieve their fishing goals. He encourages young listeners to pursue their passions and not be afraid to take risks. Overall, Fly Navarro's love for fishing and his desire to promote the sport shine through in this conversation.

Takeaways

• Fly Navarro is a passionate angler and media creator, constantly seeking new fishing experiences and opportunities.


• He emphasizes the importance of staying connected through Wi-Fi and using social media to share his fishing adventures and promote the sport.


• Fly's background includes fishing in the Caribbean and running a boat in Hawaii, where he gained valuable experience and knowledge.


• He is dedicated to introducing fishing to new people and opening doors for others to enjoy the sport. Enjoy the moment and release the death grip on the fishing rod.


• Share the joy of fishing with others and help them achieve their fishing goals.


• Encourage more women and families to participate in fishing.


• Don't be afraid to pursue your passions and take risks.

Transcript:

Katie (00:00 .206)

Next week is the fourth of July, not only a very important holiday in the United States, but also the day of the Blue Marlin World Cup, the only international blue marlin tournament of its kind where for one day only the biggest fish weighed in any of the oceans around the world takes the win. Today, I'm sitting down with Robert Fly Navarro, the tournament director of the Blue Marlin World Cup. As we discuss the ins and outs of this tournament, what makes it so unique?

his career and the various endeavors and experiences that make Fly who he is.

Katie (00:42 .99)

Hey, what's up you guys? Welcome to the Katie C Sawyer podcast. I'm your host Katie. And today I'm sitting with the man behind much of the sport fishing media and what we know, Robert Fly Navarro. Fly, thank you so much for being here today. 100 % my pleasure. And thank you so much for your patience while we had all our technical difficulties. And you know, it is what it is. We're here, the content's being produced and that's all that really.

matters because I really like now touch on this because you have some a slogan that you live by and that's why we're both here today. What is it? I got a lot of slogans. Which one? There's a lot of slogans I live by. I only get one. I only get one ticket for this ride, so I make sure I'm having the best fucking time of my life. There you go. Well, my personal favorite, if we're going to go that far, is the one where

If you can expose one person efficient every single day, then then you're living your life. Right. that. Listen, that's that is my that's my business slogan. I wake up every day and my goal is to introduce fishing to one new person every single day. So that, yes, that is my goal. I absolutely love that. And I find it extremely admirable. But before we get into a lot of different things that I'm excited to be talking to you about coming into this big tournament season.

Tell us a little bit about your background. First, where are you tuning in from today? Where did you grow up? You have two parents that are Cuban and I want to hear about Childhood Fly. Okay, so there's certain things about Childhood Fly that I'll share and there's certain things I won't. But yes, I'm the... And this is something I repeat over and over and over. I am the son of two immigrants from a communist country.

And it's one of the reasons why I am such a big fan of America. I do a lot of work with our military. I'm on the board of directors for a nonprofit that gets active and retired veterans out fishing and hunting. So I am a huge pro -America guy. And anybody that's spent time with me understands that.

Katie (03:04 .398)

But it mainly it comes from my parents and my grandparents because of the fact that I heard how bad communism and socialism is. And unfortunately, I also got a chance to see what socialism does because I was in Venezuela when Hugo Chavez got voted in and I saw a wonderful country literally get destroyed in less than 20 years. So yeah, I'm a big America first kind of guy, a big

freedom of speech kind of guy. A lot of people have died for our freedom. So I do a lot of stuff to make sure they know how much I appreciate what they've done and they being both men and women, cause we got a lot of ladies out on the front line making sure we can sleep at night. So where did you grow up? I grew up right here where I'm at right now. I grew up in Palm beach County. I still live in Palm beach County.

I've fallen, it's a weird thing. If you look at statistics, they say something like 60 % of Americans still live within 10 miles of where they grew up. And that's me. My high school is less than 10 miles away. My first job is less than 10 miles away from where I live. But I spend like 250 days on the road. I travel all over the world. I average about 200 ,000 miles a year.

Freaking flyer mom. Yeah. No. Yeah. You've got all the perks. Yeah. I definitely do. It's pretty bad when I go into the airport and they all know me. My girlfriend thinks it's the funniest thing. I've traveled with some of her friends. We all go and Mr. Navarro, how are you? What's going on? She's like, really? I'm like, yeah. And now it's gotten to the point. I was just flying back from Doha in Qatar. That's a cool airport.

I've never seen anything like it. There's playgrounds everywhere, little like museums. So great. Any of those airports in the Middle East are phenomenal. But I got on my plane as I'm sitting on my seat. The flight attendant walk up to me. She goes, you were on my flight a few weeks ago, weren't you? I'm like, yeah, I know exactly who you are. So that's how much I'm on the planes. I know the flight attendants. That's why I try to be so nice to them.

Katie (05:30 .318)

because if you're not, they'll remember you on the ride back. Actually, I just try to be nice to everybody. I want people to treat me nice, so I treat them nice. Yeah, I mean, 100%. And that's part of being a part of this community is scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Everyone's out there. We're all fishing.

We're all looking for a good time and especially in the sport fishing space in the recreational angler space, you know, like everyone's got a boat owner. Everyone's working hard to make sure that they do a good job and sharing information out there is so pivotal. How do you feel about that? Did you grow up? Wait, hold up. You're distracting me. Did you grow up fishing the Caribbean? So I didn't start fishing the Caribbean until I took this profession, this road down a profession.

I was in college, I was 18 years old, I was making a whopping $4 an hour and a friend of mine, his dad was a boat captain and he's like, what are you doing this summer? And I said, well, I gotta work, I gotta make some money to pay for college and when I'm not working, I'm gonna go fishing. That's what I did every summer. And he's like, well, I want you to go with me to Mexico. And I'm like, okay. I go, but I don't know anything about working on big boats. He goes, I'll teach you.

But I need somebody that's bilingual. And English is my second language. So once I went down to Mexico and people figured out that I spoke two languages, I was gone. Yeah. I was, I mean, literally, I was gone. They grabbed me and I ended up going through the canal for the first time, going fishing Panama and Penas Bay, went up to Costa Rica. my gosh, chills. That's exactly what happened. Yeah. So and then shortly thereafter, I moved to Venezuela and

I started fishing out of there for four, I lived in Venezuela for four years. And yeah, it was great. I mean, I absolutely loved it and spent 20 years of my career fishing out of central South America, St. Thomas. I know you told me to stop before, because we were starting to talk about St. Thomas. No, now's the time. Bye. And then I got an opportunity to run a boat out in Hawaii. So I flew out to Hawaii and I ran a boat for two years.

Katie (07:45 .134)

And after that, I came home and I went into business for myself. Question. I have a handful of questions. The first one is, did you ever finish your university degree? I got a two year degree to be a teacher. I wanted to be, what I really wanted to be was a high school guidance counselor. I have this thing and most people know I don't have children, but I have a thing that I want to open doors for as many people as possible, especially our youth. And