Went out in the bay with Capt. Sam.  It was my first trip into the shallow flats and mangroves of the Bay.  From a die hard fresh water fisher, who spent most of their lives fishing some of the best fresh water in the Country I had high expectations.  Capt. Sam did not disappoint in any aspect.  It was a holiday weekend and the waters were filled with boats and recreational vessels of all kinds.  With slack tides, hot temps and high pressure fish he still managed to put me onto a great day of fishing.  Hit the Tampa Bay grandslam with a couple killer reds a few snook and a nice trout to compliment the trio. We finished off the day catching 5 specious in less than an hour.  His knowledge of the water and willingness to not settle on anything less than what was asked makes him a Capt. I would not hesitate to call on to be a go to anytime I want to go out and know I’m going to bend the rods!!  He changed my view on going in shore salt water vs. Sticking to my freshwater roots.  Thanks Capt. Sam!!!

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.

Feel extremely fortunate to have had Captain Sam guiding us on our first charter fishing trip.  He is a seasoned guy, fun, informative and bent on making sure we had an awesome experience, which we did.  His knowledge of the bay, the fish, the bait, technique was impressive.  Learned a great deal from him during the delightful four hours we spent with him.  It’s clear he loves what he does and most of all he cares that those who go out with him on the waters are totally satisfied with the experience.  A great, great day.

Captain Sam was awesome for our last minute booking.  Did all he could do and we loved it!

A great experience with Captain Sam! We will definitely be back!!