First…. It stormed all evening and into the morning.  Steven called us and kept us informed about the weather and notified us about the weather clearing later that day.  We were able to get on the water that afternoon.
Though the water was a bit choppy from the storm still hanging around and still moving on from this morning, Capt Drew got us to places where we could make some catches… and also went slow enough to keep our 7 year old from getting too upset about the trip.  Fishing wasn’t great- but Drew kept us moving around to find some fish and we made some great catches.  All in all- a great trip for the whole family.

Firstly, I would highly recommend Capt. Drew (bearded) as he was both extremely competent and engaging.  The bite wasn’t the best, but Drew certainly did his best to put us on fish. 

I will say that the ‘offshore’ nature of our trip wasn’t what I’d expected, in that we ended up just past the Skyway, still inside Tampa Bay proper.  I would have thought we would have gone 9 miles past Skyway, assuming Skyway bridge is considered the rim of the bay.  I do however appreciate that we went out 9 miles from Ruskin harbor, and so made a ‘run’ (toward) offshore.  I that it would be better to spell that out more clearly in any online trip advertisements/description, especially when suggesting that one might get into Mahi or Black Fin on such a venture (an unlikely feat so close to Skyway).  Capt. Drew did make it clear where we ‘could’ go before we left the harbor, so our expectations were sorted before departure. 

Once more, bite wasn’t great, but that was probably because of lunar phase and the presence of dolphins (at our first spot especially.) I’m sure the spots Drew took us to are usually stacked.  The fish finder was certainly lit up.

Overall, (as my ratings should suggest) I would highly recommend Poseidon charters and working with Capt. Drew in particular.  Boat ride was great, and time out on the water with old friends (and new) is always something worth doing.

The Poseidon Outfitters crew are the best group we have ever worked with. They are so detailed oriented and from the first greeting to our send off at the end of the day, we were blown away. We got on the fish fast and it never let up. 2 bulls and 50+ fish…. one hell of a haul. We would never consider anyone else.

Its was not a bad experience. Staff and captain were all very friendly. Captain did warn us if we hooked a Grouper to reel hard to avoid them going into the reef. The problem was the drag was set so loose the Grouper would just swim straight into the reef. We hooked what appeared to be 4 Grouper but every time they would go straight into the reef to get stuck. We tightened the drags and then they would just break the leader line. In the captains defense it was the first day of Grouper season I just don’t think he was tuned in yet. Bye the time we started to get a handle on it time was up. All in all great day with my son just no fish.

We traveled from Texas to Florida on vacation with two 5 year old boys.  We wanted them to experience off coast fishing and being out on the water.  We found the charter online and booked it. We received some disappointing news a day prior to our trip that the boat had broken down.  Rather than leave us high and dry, they went out of their way to make the trip happen.  Awesome trip!
We caught 4 sharks and Capt Drew was amazing with all age groups.  We look forward to scheduling next time we are in Florida. 

Captain Drew Rocks!