Happy New Year everybody! I am soooo late on posting this. I’m pretty sure it is a record. There is so much I would like to cover in this update, so let’s dive in. If you are new to my website or this is your first time searching around for a charter of any sort, let me tell you this. There are many pitfalls, tricks and distractions in this charter market. It has been turned into a game of nonsense. Good news is the nonsense is easy to spot. I’ll guide you and show you every step of the way. My operation is built around making things easy. I don’t do things the hard way.

I have a short bio on my website, but I am a near life long local of the middle Keys. I broke the employee cycle 14 years ago and started a business that I built around serving the needs of nearly any vacationer to our area. I am the owner/operator of my custom charter adventure business. Having 20 years in the local hospitality industry on many different levels, I engineered a solution to what you want to do when you are here on vacation or as a seasonal resident. It has worked well since the first day I ran my first charter. You don’t have to take my word for it. I may be late this month, but I post monthly updates on here. I also post on my social media accounts, which I keep posts different and balanced between the 2, which show what my customers are doing when I have content. No fake stuff, no memes, no memories of better times. Just what we do on the regular in real time.

If you are still reading, stay with me. It will get more interesting. If you book a charter with anybody, don’t do this!!! Trust me on this. This is great advice. Don’t use fishingbooker or a 3rd part app booking site. Never pay a middle man that pays a captain less because it hurts the end product, which is your trip. It’s changing our industry in the worst way in many ways. Don’t watch a tv show and book a trip because it looked cool. TV is an edited production that produces a result under the best circumstances that they want you to believe what you are seeing is a common reality. We have a local tumor of black boats that is hurting the industry based on what you don’t know. Charter “Wallmart” isn’t going well in a small town. DO NOT EVER GIVE YOUR CREDIT CARD INFO OVER THE PHONE!! You would never believe how many times I have had another captain’s clients personal info in my hands because of zero respect and security standards. Those clients had no idea who I was or that I had their CC info that I could do anything with. No clue. That is an impossible scenario in my business, because I am a real business. Book with me directly and you are secure in my system and in direct contact with me and not an agent of any sort. Do not put yourself or your family on a boat that you know nothing about. The fishing/charter game has evolved into a circus with loose regulations with zero enforcement on any standard. Half the boats in the game are a trap. If something seems off a little…..chances are you are about to get hooked and reeled in before you step on that boat. The economy here has been tough. Nobody here is getting rich running charters. Plenty of people getting by……by spending less money and cutting corners. One third of the fleet is in barely surviving mode right now.

Charters are very expensive. I wish I could make it more affordable. My boat was made in America, but every part of it comes from overseas. Tariffs are about to murder that last bit of profitability in the industry. Raising my rates further sound good for me, but will price many out of what I offer. It has already happened from the price point where I started my business many years ago. The last few months I have replaced my engines, a few pumps, half of my electronics, switched to a lithium battery system and thousands of dollars in upgrades. I did it because 2025 prices may not allow me to afford that and I will take the hit now. Not many guys in the charter business are good at running a business. I’m not the best or worst, but my boat is ready to work very hard and I work smart to serve you and keep my business running well into the future. I reinvest in my business, the boat and many of the moving parts of my operation because it all matters in good times and tough times. I believe in what I’m doing.

Ok, I’m done with the blah blah blah… Report time. The water is cold, so let’s start with fishing reports. Let’s say 65ish on the bay side and 70 on the ocean side. That is really good for fishing. Shallow reefs to deep reefs is all A game. Winter/Spring is shallow reef season. If you want to go catching, shallow reefs are a great into to what our fishery has to offer. We don’t have to go far, it’s not complicated or technique heavy. A 4 hour morning reef trip will catch us a pile of fish. Afternoon trips will also produce well, but mornings are best. A dozen species is common. Plenty of fun fishing, lots of catch and release and usually enough for a dinner or two. Also a great option on the windy/bumpy days.

The deep reef has been very consistent with medium and large yellowtail snapper. Once I get the ball rolling on this program it’s just keeper after keeper. I have a system. A recipe for success. If you are a good listener, you execute the steps….the magic happens. The cooler gets filled. In addition to deep reef, the mid reef has been producing large mangrove snapper, mutton snapper, kingfish and cero mackerel. All fun great fishing and great eating.

Plan B depending on the wind and direction has been the bayside of the island. Here, we target mangrove snapper. Plenty of other players include yellow jacks, mackerel, grouper and sometimes sharks. It depends on conditions and what you want to and can do. A great option for new anglers, families and people with mobility restrictions. It is just an over all easier and more friendly style of fishing.

It has been months since I have run any in the water trips. Kind of unusual. Yes, the water is cold by my standards. I get it. Visibility on the reef usually fluctuates between the passing of strong fronts. This season we have seen more clear water days than cloudy. Water has been bouncing between 70-74 degrees. Nothing a rental wetsuit can’t help with. They can be rented from Captain Hooks Marina, where I depart from. If you are looking ahead for Spring Break 2025 bookings, sandbar trips, snorkeling and even mermaid tails are all solid options. Still a hard no on lobster trips. Just the wrong time of the year, so no lobstering.

Thanks for reading! I know this was not an exciting report. Thanks for supporting my business. I want to finish with a summary of my business. I am a unique business. I believe you choose me because I show you how and why I operate. You are expected to be interactive and involved in and during your trip. We build a mini relationship with the goal of a successful adventure. I am not the clown at the kids party to entertain tuned out people for 4 hours or more. With me, you are learning and earning, which sets the tone of your trip and the quality of the outcome. However, I do offer custom trips. I can work with whatever you bring to the table. I do have a “notes” section for you to tell me about your group and what you want to do or how you want the trip to go if there are any unusual or special circumstances. For some reason nobody has mentioned in notes that they plan to leave their brains at home. No mention of the impossibility of learning 3 step instructions or being a liability by ignoring any reasonable common sense measure to prepare for your trip. I run those trips. Sometimes quite often. That is your choice. That is your half of our relationship. Those trips hurt my brain and are just simply difficult work. It’s part of doing business these days. In summary, you are my crew. You are on a learning experience. You apply what you learn and produce a result. I have a system that works close to 100 percent of the time. If and when it does not work, I figure out how to make it better so it is easier going forward. SO, just make easy easy. Book a trip. Invest in your trip by reading the information on here and prepare. Prepare EVERYBODY in your group. Show up on time, be a good listener and figure out some basic stuff that I teach you. That is the basic basics that I’m shooting for from you. If you can be fun and interesting, take some good pictures to share with me and on your social media…….you would be in the dream customer category. All super easy stuff. If it is not mostly easy, then we are mostly doing it wrong.

Finally, smoked fish in 10-12 ounce (approximate) bags are available again. Sometimes fish dip too, as mentioned on my “Rates” page.

Comments are closed.