About P.R. Fishing Charters
I grew up on the Jersey Shore and have been fishing my entire life. I chased and caught everything from fluke to stripers to over-sized tuna in NJ. I also spent some time fishing freshwater bass tournaments. My childhood summers were spent in the Florida Keys fishing the bridges, flats, reefs, and trolling for dolphin. After a career on Wall Street for 20+ years an opportunity presented itself and I relocated to St. Petersburg. I am first a husband and father. I am also a veteran and am very active in CrossFit (we all mention that whenever we can). My absolute passion is fishing and the ocean.
For as long as I can remember friends and anyone I took fishing asked why did I not become a Charter Captain. They could all see how much I put into it and said I explained what we were trying to do in a way that helped them catch more fish. I decided to do it and am a fully licensed US Coast Guard Captain and offer guided trips to fish, or to just go out on the water and experience the bay.
Fish Information
The waters in and surrounding Tampa Bay are teaming with a variety of species, some are here year-round and others are seasonal. We generally target redfish, snook, seatrout, mangrove snapper, grouper, hogfish, tripletail, and TARPON!!!

Tarpon
My absolute favorite fish to catch. They grow to enormous proportions and are considered one of the top gamefish in the world. We have resident tarpon in Tampa Bay but the real show gets going mid-April through the end of the summer when the migratory fish arrive. They have large eyes and scales with an upturned mouth that a tarpon uses to quickly inhale their prey. Most fish are in the 60-120 pound class but we routinely deal with larger fish. The largest tarpon we have landed was approximately 175 pounds. We fish for tarpon on the beaches, in the passes, and around bridges. Tarpon eat pretty much anything they can catch and we try to have a variety of baits with us when targeting them. It amazes me that they are so big and are not eating every second of the day. We will have trips where we are surrounded by hundreds of tarpon and they refuse to eat any presentation, and other days absolute pandemonium ensues!! To me, all other fish are for practice until the tarpon get active.

Red Fish
One of the most sought-after fish in the bay! They are coppery red to bronze in color and usually have spots on their tails as a “fake” eyes. They school up at certain times of the year and when we find a school, it can be non-stop action with all rods in the water doubled over at the same time. We catch redfish by live-chumming, fishing dead baits, and with artificial lures. Redfish are mostly caught on the shallow grass flats and along mangrove shorelines.

Snook
Snook are among the most popular game fish in the bay. They are aggressive biters and once hooked they provide terrific fights complete with jumps, hard runs, and routinely head for cover trying to break you off. We catch snook by live-chumming, fishing dead baits and with artificial lures. Snook are caught on the shallow grass flats, along mangrove shorelines, along docks, bridges, and on the beach. For a very visual experience, try a night trip where we target the snook on dock lights, it is intense!

Grouper
Tampa Bay is also loaded with Gag Grouper. These are outstanding to eat, are extremely strong and when hooked head straight towards cover in an attempt to break off. You have to be quick and apply steady pressure to land this most sought-after fish. They can be very aggressive at times but also be very sluggish. Live bait tends to get the most action, but they will also hit cut bait. While we can catch them year-round but there are closed seasons for Gags and we mainly target them June through December.

Triple Tail
Another great fish for the table. This prehistoric looking fish is usually found around floating structure (crab pot buoys). When targeting tripletail, we run from the tower driving past all floating objects we can find, the fish usually “show” pretty well when they are hanging next to a crab pot buoy. Once we see one, we spin around and sight cast to the fish. It is great fun and they are usually very aggressive. They have oversized anal and caudal fins which look like 2 extra tails, thus the name tripletail!
Other Fish
Hogfish: Caught right on the bottom. These fish have very large mouths that they use to forage in the sand just offshore. We use live and dead shrimp and other crustaceans to target the hogfish. It is a very specialized technique to catch them and they pull straight down once hooked and do not give up until in the net. They are absolutely delicious with super clear/white filets.
Mangrove Snapper: Tampa Bay is loaded with mangrove snapper. They are outstanding to eat and are usually very aggressive feeders. They relate to structure and are hard fighters. We usually catch them on the bottom but under the right conditions we can chum them up behind the boat and it becomes a very fast paced and hectic bite! We have caught them up to 20” in the bay which is a quality one that goes right into the cooler!! They feed on live bait, shrimp, and cut bait.
Seatrout: Seatrout are frequently caught in the same areas as snook and redfish, but do tend to hang in the deeper sections of a flat. They can be aggressive and make jarring strikes of topwater lures and free-lined live bait. They will jump and thrash wildly when hooked. “Gator” trout are generally considered to be 22” or more and we frequently run into them. They are shiny gray to silver to copper in color with small spots and usually have two fang teeth that they use to grab their prey.

The Boat
I run a Ranger 2510 Bay Boat with a ¾ tower. The boat is powered by a Yamaha 300. It has twin 10’ power poles and a 105# Minn-Kota electric trolling motor. We have a 12” Garmin XSV in the console and a 9” version in the tower. It has two livewells totaling 80 gallons to keep our bait healthy and happy. The boat rides like a champ and can float in 15” of water when we want to get skinny.
Trips/Rates
4, 6 or 8 hour fishing charters for up to 4 anglers inside tampa bay is $100 per hour. All tackle, bait and fishing licenses are included. If we elect to roam outside of the immediate vicinity such as running the beaches in search of tripletail or trying for bottom fish inside of 9 miles, the rate is $125 per hour. During Tarpon season the rate is $125 per hour (if targeting tarpon).
Night Fishing Charters: ask me about various opportunities for this very exciting fishery. We can dock light fish locally for snook and redfish or we can hit the Skyway all lit up for many different species! Most of this fishing will be with artificial lures. The rate for night fishing is $125 per hour.
I can also create a trip to fit your needs such as teaching kids how to fish. We can also just go out to experience the bay, go searching for manatees, dolphin, seahorses in the grass, experience dock and dine at one of our great on the water restaurants, we can also pull up to a local sand-bar to swim. For this experience I can take up to 6 passengers. Speak to me about what you are looking for and I can customize a package and pricing.
Discounts available for First Responders/Military/Teachers