We weren’t tied to a time, so when Captain Sam asked if we could push the start time back from 8:00 to 11:00 because of the tied we agreed. That gave him time to catch bait fish and boy did he. Pushing the trip back proved to be a great call by the captain. We meet him at the dock and I could immediately tell this guy was a pro. He told us his plan - head south, fish the mangroves for Snook and then head to another spot for Redfish and Trout.
His boat was clean and fast, and within 15 minutes of climbing aboard we had lines in the water.
Capt. Sam gave us good instructions and insisted on baiting our hooks, since we had sunscreen on our hands. We landed several decent Snook and even a Jack Cavell, which put up a great fight. The whole time Capt. Sam was great about explaining what to do, where to cast and made sure to let us get great photos. He told us to let him do the work. We were there to fish, he was there to make sure we had a good time. His attention was focused on us, which is very important when you’re paying hundreds of dollars to fish for a few hours.
We ended our 4-hour trip by pulling in a massive Redfish. The whole time Sam was great with the crazy stories about the skirmishes he occasionally gets into with other guides and some of the crazy customers he’s dealt with. He also shared some great fish stories. We managed to get the Tampa Slam - Snook, Trout and Redfish, all within about 4 hrs and 30 mins.
We’d fish with Captain Sam again.