We met a little before 8 and had a quick safety discussion and shoved off. We went out front and fished the reef for about 2 hours and DD chummed a huge ball of yellowtail’s to the stern and we brought in a nice string of tails before heading out back to target Mango’s. We got caught in a thunderstorm that built up right on top of us but Captain DD extended our time to ensure that we got our fishing in. We caught a nice mess of Mango’s before heading back in and he cleaned our fish and packaged them as we wanted. Really appreciate his interaction with our group and look forward to fishing with him again. I have fished many charters (at least 50) in Florida and he is tied for top spot with one other captain.

Man, what a day.  We arrived at the dock, and Captain Robert’s military influence was apparent.  We were given a quick tour of the boat, life vest locations and he clearly outlined the safety measures we would follow while fishing with him.

A quick and comfortable 25 minute ride in his air conditioned cabin aboard his 47 foot Sea Ray had us feeling like royalty.

We started with drift fishing for Yellowtail Snapper, and in less than 2 hours, the 3 of us had caught our limit.

Next, we hit the big water trolling for Mahi.  I knew it would be tough as the heat index for a solid 2 weeks had been above 105°.  The warm water forces the Mahi to hunt squid at night and just reserve energy during the hot day.  Regardless, the captain worked hard to get us on the fish, and we each had an opportunity to get at least 1 in the boat.

We finally hit “the wrecks” for Amberjack and that’s when the trip became epic.  On our very first attempt to bring one aboard, SOMETHING else grabbed onto our Amberjack.  Big grouper? Shark? Loch Ness?  Who knows.  We fought it for 45 minutes gaining some ground, while the beast then pulled line off.  Captain Robert backed the boat up numerous times attempting to help us bring it in.  But after 45 minutes, the rod finally snapped.  We all let out a moan of disappointment, and I was shocked to hear the Captain yell “Keep Going”!

Gotta tell ya…a shorter rod makes reeling in Moby Dick much harder and it was only a minute or 2 after the rod broke, that the line broke as well.

We LOVED our day on the water, and we will have a “one that got away” story to tell to family and friends FOREVER.  Just wish we could have got a peek at what this thing was.

Thank you so much Captain Robert.  You are a helluva Captain, and we hope to fish with you one day again soon!  Truly we thank you for a GREAT, great day!

My family of 4, including 2 teens, with some fishing knowledge and experience and my in-laws with no experience had the best time fishing with Captain Robert and mate Gabe. They were very professional and knowledgeable! Teaching us and guiding us to catch so many fish! We booked a 3/4 day trip and got to spend time bottom fishing and then switched gear and troll for Mahi. We finally hooked a fish and it broke off so Captain Robert rerigged the line and turned around to make sure we landed a Mahi to take home! It made everyone’s day! We hope to return and fish with them again!

Captain Robert and his crew worked with us to work around several days that were too windy to go out, which we were thankful for as we scheduled our trip around this fishing excursion. 

Once we got out there the crew was very helpful and patient with us, including two of us who are pretty inexperienced with fishing.  Both caught many fish and had a great time, and never felt stressed at all. 

We ended up with a good haul of fish despite being limited to the bay by the windy conditions.  All four of us were very happy with this outing and are likely to schedule another one with this crew in the future.

We caught just about every species we could catch even though the wind was making it a bit difficult. Captain was prudent and kept us on the reef and back to the bay for the afternoon, so we wouldn’t be in 6’ seas. Thanks Captain, for keeping us safe and putting us on the fish!

If you want to see what we caught, I have a quick couple minute video on YouTube of my daughter catching a Goliath grouper! She’s only 12 yrs old! Our channel is “Our Tribe Outside”

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