Charter Operator
Fairwater II Charters LLC

Member since January 2015 Orange Beach, United States
Background
Meet your Captain Tom Ard, a true Orange Beach native and a 5 boat owner at Zekes landing Marina, with over 40 years of offshore fishing experience. The love for fishing started at a very young age for Tom, fishing farm ponds and rivers around his house for bass and bream, or catching speckled trout and red fish off the family dock on Wolf Bay. This all transitioned to offshore fishing when his father, Captain Gloyice Ard had a custom built charter boat, a Buskins, completed 1980, the “Bollweevil” which is still in service here at Zekes. Tom grew up deck handing on the Bollweevil and ran his first real charter at 18 years old. He inherited the vessel after his dad passed away. After graduating from UWF with a degree in criminal justice, Tom married his love of his life Kim, in 1997. They purchased the Fairwater II in 1998. Since then he’s charter fished, raised a family ( son Garrett is working on his Masters degree at Mississippi State) and cared for the boat, trying to make her a better boat each and every year. Along the way they purchased the Water Dog, a 34 ft crusader, continued fishing on the Bollweevil. In 2019 he and business partner Captain Brett Russell added the SouthWind and the TradeWinds in 2022. Captain Brett started his fishing career at just 16 years old working with us during the summer. Training young men into captains has been one of Tom’s strengths, along with having a fishing team that feels like a family. We all work together and help each other with the boats and in fishing which gives the whole fleet an advantage. One of Tom’s passions has been finding older boats and making them look new again with a strong knowledge about engines, generators, and very importantly electronics that keep you safe and help catch fish. This has been his hobby inside his fishing career. In his 50s now, Tom still has a passion for hunting,and fishing, going on adventures with his family (which includes his two Labrador retrievers) and boats. Tom also runs a 64 ft Viking sports fisher for his lifelong friend, fishing marlin tournaments, traveling on vacations just to hunt and fish, and still loves a good boat ride on an impressive craft. And lastly he really loves to watch the joy and excitement catching fish brings to his clients and friends who still come back to fish year after year.

Hey, we're Fairwater II Charters LLC

Orange Beach, United States
Background
Meet your Captain Tom Ard, a true Orange Beach native and a 5 boat owner at Zekes landing Marina, with over 40 years of offshore fishing experience. The love for fishing started at a very young age for Tom, fishing farm ponds and rivers around his house for bass and bream, or catching speckled trout and red fish off the family dock on Wolf Bay. This all transitioned to offshore fishing when his father, Captain Gloyice Ard had a custom built charter boat, a Buskins, completed 1980, the “Bollweevil” which is still in service here at Zekes. Tom grew up deck handing on the Bollweevil and ran his first real charter at 18 years old. He inherited the vessel after his dad passed away. After graduating from UWF with a degree in criminal justice, Tom married his love of his life Kim, in 1997. They purchased the Fairwater II in 1998. Since then he’s charter fished, raised a family ( son Garrett is working on his Masters degree at Mississippi State) and cared for the boat, trying to make her a better boat each and every year. Along the way they purchased the Water Dog, a 34 ft crusader, continued fishing on the Bollweevil. In 2019 he and business partner Captain Brett Russell added the SouthWind and the TradeWinds in 2022. Captain Brett started his fishing career at just 16 years old working with us during the summer. Training young men into captains has been one of Tom’s strengths, along with having a fishing team that feels like a family. We all work together and help each other with the boats and in fishing which gives the whole fleet an advantage. One of Tom’s passions has been finding older boats and making them look new again with a strong knowledge about engines, generators, and very importantly electronics that keep you safe and help catch fish. This has been his hobby inside his fishing career. In his 50s now, Tom still has a passion for hunting,and fishing, going on adventures with his family (which includes his two Labrador retrievers) and boats. Tom also runs a 64 ft Viking sports fisher for his lifelong friend, fishing marlin tournaments, traveling on vacations just to hunt and fish, and still loves a good boat ride on an impressive craft. And lastly he really loves to watch the joy and excitement catching fish brings to his clients and friends who still come back to fish year after year.
Anglers Choice
Verified
Our Team
Tom A.
Captain

My Charter Listings

Excellent
4.9 / 5
(106 reviews)
Angler's choice
Orange Beach
 4 bookings in the past week.
Trips from US $1,000
Excellent
4.6 / 5
(33 reviews)
Angler's choice
Orange Beach
 Last booking: 6 days ago
Trips from US $850
Excellent
4.9 / 5
(93 reviews)
Angler's choice
Orange Beach
Trips from US $1,200
Excellent
4.8 / 5
(56 reviews)
Angler's choice
Orange Beach
Trips from US $850
Excellent
5.0 / 5
(67 reviews)
Angler's choice
Orange Beach
 Last booking: 9 hours ago
Trips from US $1,200

Customer reviews

Rating summary
Excellent
4.9 / 5
out of 5 stars from 355 reviews
Boat
Excellent
4.8 / 5
Crew
Excellent
4.9 / 5
Experience
Excellent
4.9 / 5
Photos & videos by reviewers (317)
Awesome Captain and Crew!
Awesome Captain and Crew!
Fishing with Tom
+314
Angler rating
319
26
3
3
0
Anglers claimed
Good experience
96%
Friendly captain
99%
Recommend this charter
97%
Appropriate for children
96%
Satisfied with the boat
98%
Caught fish
96%
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Featured  
Showing:
5 of 355 reviews
Terry S.
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Experience:
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Boat
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Crew
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Overall

Captain Bryan Watts was Fantastic!

VERIFIED   NEW  6 Hour โ€“ Troll / Bottom Fish (AM) on May 7, 2025
We had a group of six adults from all over the country visiting Orange Beach for a sales meeting and weโ€™re looking for a...
Terry S. recommends Water Dog Charters
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Terry S. recommends Water Dog Charters
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Amber R.
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Experience:
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Boat
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Crew
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Overall
This was the best part of our vacation and we will definitely be back with this crew! They know what they are doing and you...
Amber R. recommends TradeWinds
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Amber R. recommends TradeWinds
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Aaron O.
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Experience:
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Boat
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Crew
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Overall

Great fishing trip!

VERIFIED   4 Hour Trip โ€“ Intro (PM) on June 12, 2024
Captain Brent and first mate Harrison are great people for a first time out with family.ย  We did a four hour afternoon trip,...
Aaron O. recommends Southwind
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1 person finds this review helpful
You and 1 other person found this review helpful
Aaron O. recommends Southwind
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1 person finds this review helpful
You and 1 other person found this review helpful

Shawn C.
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Experience:
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Boat
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Crew
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Overall

Awesome Captain and Crew!

VERIFIED   NEW  5 hour trip PM on May 2, 2025
Purchased a chartered trip with these guys for my sonโ€™s 19th bday. They went above and beyond to provide a great experience...
Shawn C. recommends TradeWinds
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Shawn C. recommends TradeWinds
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Paul E.
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Experience:
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Boat
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Crew
Excellent
5.0 / 5
Overall

Perfect day!

VERIFIED   6 Hour Trip (AM) on June 7, 2024
This is the only boat to charter with. We had a group of 8. Half had never fished.ย  Capt Tom found plenty of great spots to...
Paul E. recommends Fairwater II
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Paul E. recommends Fairwater II
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