First business then we work on making things easier. May is here. The game changes and more options are on the table. Please read through this because it is here to help you in every way. If you book a trip, please share Trip Tips with all members in your group.

Reef Fishing is the highlight this month. Winds are coming down. Water is warming. Fish are moving in to spawn on the reefs and everything is improving. This is the go to trip starting right now and going through mid July. Primary target is yellowtail snapper on the deep reef in the morning. Early is key. Grouper season just opened and they will be around for a few weeks until they leave as the water warms. Mutton snapper and mangrove snapper fill in the gaps and plenty of other rod benders are usually available trip to trip. It checks nearly all the boxes. Please, morning trips only. Book an afternoon trip if you are more into fishing and sweating and not catching. We can do that. I’ll have you pull this blog up and read it on your phone if you have any confusion as to why we are not catching reef fish on an afternoon half day trip. These are the guiding words that help you. I can’t make you do it or not do it. Fishing shuts down late morning. Adding snorkeling to your reef fishing trip is usually ideal. That is the best way to go for May, June and July.

Offshore fishing is a new animal. Why? Dolphin (MahiMahi for tourists) and electric deep drop season has opened. Here’s the program: Start at sunrise. Head 27 miles offshore and tuna fish until 10am. Transition into dolphin fishing and fish our way in. If that is slow and it’s relatively calm out and you can follow simple instructions, the deep drop rod comes out and we fish for grouper and tilefish in +600 feet of water. It’s pretty neat when it is done correctly. Not everybody will get this option. It’s case by case. Not everybody will qualify and not every trip will have the conditions that will make this successful. It’s also possible to fish the wrecks for mutton snapper. That typically peaks in mid June. Offshore fishing requires a bit more of your comprehension of what is going on and your skill sets. YouTube can empower everybody with knowledge if you don’t know this from that. The more you know, the more we can do.

In The Water Activities:

Snorkeling, sandbar and shelling are becoming seasonally easier. The water is warmer. As long as the wind isn’t up and we are not getting tons of rain, all should be good. If you have been watching the news about the seaweed blob, yes, it is real. There is more seaweed at times here right now and more is coming in theory. I don’t know how much and when, where or why. However, you can prepare for it. A long sleeve rash guard and a buff will keep you protected from the sun and anything that may be involved with the seaweed. No, it will not attack you. Yes, things like shrimp, crabs and small fish live in it. If you want to keep it off of you……..rash guard and a buff. This is the advice now through the rest of summer. Realistically, something everybody should have seaweed or not this time of year for in the water protection from the sun.

Ok, the customer side of business is where the issues have been prominent this year. Not reading any of my info is the first and biggest snag. Not sure why. I want you to have a comfortable trip and I’m saving you from being not awesome. We are working together for a common end goal. If I’m working with a boat full of tuned out people that really don’t care what happens, please put that in the booking notes. That’s actually an easier trip for me to fish. Arriving unprepared is instant fail number 2 before we leave the dock. If you show up with nothing in your hands, I know my trip has changed before you step foot on my boat. Thinking you can manage variables beyond your control is insanely silly. I have been doing this for long enough now to have no doubt of how to manage my business and I constantly refine the information I provide you to help you be awesome on your trip. Your trip with me is the test. It is 1 special day for your chosen group. Chances are you will be doing things you have never done before in an environment you have never been in before. Showing up unprepared with zero knowledge or preparation for what you will be doing is the start of the struggle. If you can’t be comfortable and normal on a boat and simple 2 step instructions are overwhelming, then the struggle is real real. I am not a pay for success experience. I am not like a movie or a dinner or a tour that you sit and watch. First, YOU ARE THE TEAM LEADER OF YOUR TRIP. If nobody knows this information and only you do, you have failed your team and we start collectively from zero. If some people know some things, we start from maybe a 3. If we have lots of human issues, subtract 3 and we are zero again. If you can all be cool on a boat without tons of human issues, add 1 and we become a 4 as a team. I’m trying to get you to finish as an 8 or a 10 for the best results. Everybody is different. The “NOTES” section allows you to tell me what additional needs you have or how you are different from normal. I can prepare for that or make a less than ambitions plan for your group if achieving a massive catch isn’t your end goal. I can adjust for any trip. Some groups regress. My goal is progress. It’s a learning trip. We build off of basic, learn and move up the fishing ladder. Lots of trips this year stuck on step one. That’s a tough trip.

ALL of my trips are custom. When you fill out your reservation, the “NOTES” section is the most important. I do the trip math based off of what you choose to tell me. The more I know, the more I prepare. Actually, I have done this enough I can decode the verbage in your notes to make sure I’m ready for you. I have done it thousands of times. Also, thousands of times customers have skipped the notes, skipped the check in phone call and skipped telling me anything meaningful. All your choice. Not my favorite trips and you missed the opportunity to make your trip the best it can be. If you are paying $800 to do something with me, invest in your time with me. Many people don’t care and I learned to accept that. It looks the same every time and I know quickly when I’m in trouble with your group. I know I can’t fix that, but we can improve the situation quite easily. Just read and prepare.

Owning a business is a lifestyle. I understand it completely. I’m trying to reduce the nonsense that intrudes into my free time away from running charters. That is a small space. My life revolves around this business. That’s fine. I need some respect and common sense to approaching me for information. Kindly worded, I am blocking many phone calls and eliminating more guests than I would ever think from being back on my boat in the future. I wrestle with that. I could work nearly every day if it were easy ish. Turning away business makes no sense to me. If you wish to completely derail my system, damage my equipment, damage my boat and break my brain in a few hours of simple fishing, I know how to fix that.

Final word; new policy change, coffee. Your coffee. It wakes you up. It makes you pee and poop. My customers are experts at spilling coffee everywhere on my boat, all over yourselves and needing to pee and poop shortly after leaving the dock. Final straw was a recent customer spilled their coffee from their personal insulated cup everywhere after I advised the reality that panned out as described. The cup was left forgotten on board with some remaining coffee in it. I removed the lid to dump the rest out and glass fell all over my hand and deck. DONE! That’s the end of 13 years of spilled coffee on my boat. So, please show up early enough to drink all of your coffee before boarding my boat. There are many alternatives to coffee that don’t involve sticky brown liquid that you spill everywhere on my boat and then abandon foam cups that fly everywhere spraying coffee then flying overboard every time I move from spot to spot. I’m over it for all reasons. It wouldn’t be an issue unless it was a constant issue. Issue resolved.

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