We caught so many fish and had a fantastic time!

I took my mother on a half day trip with Captain Jim. He was an excellent guide, as good as any I have been fishing with (and I have been on guided trips from the northern end of British Columbia to Ixtapa Guatemala). He was professional, knowledgeable, friendly, and above all knows where to find fish. You would be hard pressed to find any better guide in the Keys. He even shared his recipe for blackened snapper with me and stuck around for cocktails at the tiki bar.

Whether you are an experienced fly fisherman or a novice looking to have fund you will get you money’s worth with Captain Jim.

P.S. He is the preferred guide for Texans visiting Key West.

The ONLY reason I gave 4 stars for experience was because the fishing was awful as far as what Cpt Jim says he usually catches with people. We DID catch a lot of fish, but 1 keeper Snapper and that was all. Everything else too small. You can’t control where the good fish are! It was a fun trip and we learned a few different fishing setups we can use in the future. Cpt Jim is very knowledgeable and didn’t mess around if we stopped at a new spot and weren’t catching a lot; he would tell us to reel in and we would move again. Overall, would definitely recommend to anyone, and will book with him again if we go to Marathon in the future.

Jim is a great captain who really knows the area and has some amazing knowledge when it comes to fishing. He was very informative from the start of the charter all the way until the end. We filled the cooler fast and had a blast doing it, we will be eating good for days. If your visiting the keys and want to do some fishing I would definitely recommend Capt Jim. Great experience throughout the whole trip, I’ll be booking him again during the next tarpon migration!

Captain Jim was a great teacher.

Our goal was to understand back-country fishing tips and tricks relative to kayak.
Jim understood our goals much better than previous guides who used “big-boat” power and mobility. Jim’s smaller boat had a shallow draft and worked well in waters appropriate for our kayak fishing.

Jim concentrated on helping us understand how how to fish local waters effectively and safely from a kayak. Jim started with the basics specifically bottom fishing and drift fishing. This was great because we could easily do these methods in shallow waters and channels. We hooked fish almost immediately and caught fish all day. My son logged into something in the 40 lb range.

Jim focused on methods practical to a kayak - including how to catch fish not having to have a live-well to keep shrimp alive. He explained the best practice about fishing the tides. He was really good at helping us break fresh-water fishing habits which led to hooking failure.

Jim’s boat is very quiet. We start fishing in about 1/2 hour. Prior guided experiences began with an hour journey with the loud roar of a big engine. As kayakers - we like quiet - it was nice to have instant gratification to start fishing.

Take-homes:
* How to avoid fresh-water fishing techniques that cause you to lose fish
* How to time the tide
* When to use and How to tie a spider hitch
* How to fish the channels with bait that travels by kayak

Pictures:
1) Basics of bottom rig
2) Shark rig using an amber-jack