I’ve been asked to write an article for a magazine about the Top 5 reasons to hire a licensed and insured fishing guide for a private charter who lives and guides in the area you want to fish and here is the short version pre-publication: 1. You are guaranteed the captain guiding your trip is knowledgeable about safety and emergency procedures and trained to handle any emergency. 2. Your family/fishing group will be the top priority of the guide for the duration of the trip. 3. You can rest assured your guide knows the area-the best spots to fish in that specific area because they are there every single day fishing. 4. Your fishing guide is an integral part of the community-they want to ensure proper conservation of our natural resources for future generations while also making sure you enjoy your trip. 5. You will enjoy your trip and know that this licensed captain will be here for years to come to take your group on more amazing adventures year after year. When choosing a fishing guide, do your research, ask questions, check out their social media pages, check their website (is it up to date?) look to the local chamber of commerce(is this guide a member). Before you spend hundreds of dollars on a trip, or go with a cheap deal that is too good to be true, compare all the local guides prices and trip options and really look into who you choose to be your fishing guide to make sure you have the safest and best time on the water. **hidden content** #majekboats #seatecoutfitters #wetsoundsaudio #portachamberofcommerce #portaransastourism

This week has been great-although the storms have relatively driven us crazy canceling, delaying or rescheduling trips, that’s just May at the coast. The good news is, the fishing has been AMAZING and having the new boat to get into water I wasn’t able to get to in the other boat is a total game changer when finding fish. I only have three open dates this month and I plan on spending those days searching out more new water, and if I happen to get a trip scheduled one of those days, might just take my customers exploring to see what we can find.

April **hidden content** Fishing report: Fishing has been great over the last 7 days, but totally different this year than previous years. Usually by now the sheepshead have started moving out and the reds are gettin full-on hungry and bitin, but we are still catching some sheeps as of yesterday along with more keeper reds, some trout, flounder and even some bull reds every day as water temps warm up. Wind has been pretty brutal, and tides have been pulling hard, so jetty fishing is hard this time of year, but we are seeing some bull reds move in to the jetty along with jack crevalle. The flats have been hit or miss and you just have to really know fish patterns to stay on top of finding them. There are bull reds bitin in spots I haven’t seen before, and the trout seem to be much more active, but we are catchin lots of shorts. It’s not hard to find fish, but it is fun this time of year to figure out what the fish are bitin on and when they are the hungriest. They might love some soft plastics one day, then hate them the next and want some live bait. That might even be the same scenario from morning to afternoon and since I am on the water almost every day, I see the changes. Yesterday was a slam of a great morning with my two customers, but by my afternoon trip with only one customer on the boat, even though we caught 8 different species of fish, all but two were short of being keepers. We did come home with fish for him to take home for dinner, but we fought hard for it!