Captain Matt took my family and I out on a great trip into the Gulf!

We started out the day catching some small bait fish after seeing a beautiful sunrise on the water. After securing the bait, we went fishing for some Vermillion Snapper. While this is what we were primarily aiming to catch throughout the day, we also caught some Trigger fish and Squirrelfish while fishing for them. When Captain Matt saw some gulls diving and fish jumping, he rigged another rod to use some of the live bait to catch Amberjack. With his help, we were able to bring a couple of these into the boat with one being about a 30-pounder and the other having been bit by a shark on the way in (which was certainly a cool experience)! We unfortunately had to throw them back because they were out of season, but they offered a great fight.

Captain Matt was very attentive to everyone throughout the day, constantly keeping everyone’s hooks baited, pulling fish off the hooks for everyone, and genuinely just making sure everyone was having a good time. He was quick to move to a new spot when the fish weren’t biting, and he was ready to listen and adjust his plan to what we all wanted to do.

Overall, we caught 42 Vermillion Snapper we could keep, and I’d estimate we probably caught over 60 fish throughout our time on the boat! Matt filleted them all when we got back to shore, and even recommended a restaurant (Brotula’s) that would cook the fish for us! We ended up with around 6.5 pounds of fillets and it felt immensely satisfying that the 5 of us who went out to fish were able to feed our full party of 10 with no issues. It was a fantastic experience, and I’ll definitely be passing on Matt’s information to anyone I know looking to do some fishing here in Destin!

Captian Matt was amazing! Weather started out bad, but he kept us out and put us on some fish! We trolled a bit and caught a Spanish Mackerel, so he decided to do some bottom fishing and put us on a lot of Amberjack, which unfortunately is not in season, but still fun to catch! We also caught some Red Snapper, Red Grouper and Scamp Grouper! We will be chartering with him again in the future, when Amberjack season comes in! Highly recommend!!

We originally booked an intercostal trip Captain Matt suggested a short trip out in the Gulf as Trigger season had just opened up , we limited on keeper sized triggers and a great mixed bag of other fish , enough for a few great meals , Aloha Captain Matt.

Captain Matt made sure we had a great trip. He listened to us and what we wanted to fish for he made sure we caught some very nice fish. It was a great trip out of the three trips we’ve been on this was the best ever.

Captain Matt kicked off the tour by netting us dozens of baitfish in one quick throw. We then scooted around the bay to a few spots. All in all we had a couple dozen bites and caught several bluefish, Spanish mackerel and a cat among others. In addition, we had seceral very close interactions with a number of dolphins (within a few feet), which the kids were really into.