A Certified Damn Good Guide is someone who goes above and beyond to show you an incredible experience on your trip. Guides earn this badge through quality reviews, quick and responsive communication, and low cancellation rates.
Pete Rea
Certified Damn Good Guide
A Certified Damn Good Guide is someone who goes above and beyond to show you an incredible experience on your trip. Guides earn this badge through quality reviews, quick and responsive communication, and low cancellation rates.
Independent Guide32 years of exp.
Talkative
Laid-back
Instructional
Beginner Oriented
Comfortable
Quality
Our very own Captain Pete has been absolutely obsessed with fishing from a very young age. He is from West Monroe, La and has fished both freshwater and saltwater. Over 30 years of fishing and diving experience from south Texas to south Florida. He decided to move his boats to the keys sometime ago and has a passion for fishing and also helping put others on the fish. He loves to joke, have a good time, and make everyone around him happy! At the end of each day his favorite thing to say is that was "the best day ever"! He loves taking customers to snorkel at the local reefs and hangout at the sandbar. At the end of the day there is nothing like experiencing Islamorada's beautiful sunset on one of our sunset cruises. While he loves to entertain, his greatest passion is to see customer's faces light up as they spend the day catching fish!
About Your Guide
Pete Rea
Certified Damn Good Guide
Independent Guide32 years of exp.
Our very own Captain Pete has been absolutely obsessed with fishing from a very young age. He is from West Monroe, La and has fished both freshwater and saltwater. Over 30 years of fishing and diving experience from south Texas to south Florida. He decided to move his boats to the keys sometime ago and has a passion for fishing and also helping put others on the fish. He loves to joke, have a good time, and make everyone around him happy! At the end of each day his favorite thing to say is that was "the best day ever"! He loves taking customers to snorkel at the local reefs and hangout at the sandbar. At the end of the day there is nothing like experiencing Islamorada's beautiful sunset on one of our sunset cruises. While he loves to entertain, his greatest passion is to see customer's faces light up as they spend the day catching fish!
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Best Day Ever Charter Trips
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Damn Good
Certified Damn Good Guides offer 10/10 trips. Guides earn this badge through quality reviews, quick and responsive communication, and low cancellation rates.
Certified Damn Good Guides offer 10/10 trips. Guides earn this badge through quality reviews, quick and responsive communication, and low cancellation rates.
Certified Damn Good Guides offer 10/10 trips. Guides earn this badge through quality reviews, quick and responsive communication, and low cancellation rates.
Certified Damn Good Guides offer 10/10 trips. Guides earn this badge through quality reviews, quick and responsive communication, and low cancellation rates.
Certified Damn Good Guides offer 10/10 trips. Guides earn this badge through quality reviews, quick and responsive communication, and low cancellation rates.
I recently went on the “Best Day Ever” charter with Captain Pete and I’m not usually one to write a negative review, but we were totally let down by this day. He has a lovely boat and a lovely wife and the day started out with great weather and a promising cruise away from the shore. However, 3 hours into our 6 hour charter, none of us (4 people) had even put a hand on...
Kenneth
Verified Review
I recently went on the “Best Day Ever” charter with Captain Pete and I’m not usually one to write a negative review, but we were totally let down by this day. He has a lovely boat and a lovely wife and the day started out with great weather and a promising cruise away from the shore. However, 3 hours into our 6 hour charter, none of us (4 people) had even put a hand ona fishing pole at all. We drove and drove to chase birds that would hopefully lead us to the fishing spots, but as the hours wasted away we grew hopeless. Captain Pete, barely spoke to us for the first 5 hours and then as we were heading back to shore he simply said “I guess it’s not happening today folks.” We did catch 3 fish, but that’s not because we were actually fishing. Those three were caught because of the poles he had trailing behind the boat as we searched for a fishing spot literally all day. The best part of the day was watching Pete filleting the fish back at the dock and feeding the nurse sharks in the marina. I really feel like we were robbed of $1,500. We fully expected to at least get to cast some lines and actually try to fish, instead of taking the most expensive boat ride ever. We could have just rented a boat for the day and cruised around for a fraction of the price. I understand that you can’t guarantee to catch fish but there’s a lot that could have been done to compensate to try to make it fun. We chose this charter because he has several techniques listed on his profile and website and he only used 1 out of the 9 listed techniques he only offered us 1. (See image attached for listed techniques). He could have made an effort to teach us something about fishing, let us practice casting the rod, explain the kind of bait we’re supposed to use, talk to us, offer to have us just pay for the gas we used and try again another day, or offer a partial refund, or literally do anything besides leaving us to bake in the sun doing nothing on the back of the boat all day. Very disappointed.
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Response from Captain Experiences:
Hey Kenneth - thank you again for taking the time to give us this feedback and for hopping on the phone with the team. We were very sorry to hear that this trip did not live up to your expectations. We've sent over a coupon for your next trip in hopes that you have a better experience.
Response from Captain Experiences:
Hey Kenneth - thank you again for taking the time to give us this feedback and for hopping on the phone with the team. We were very sorry to hear that this trip did not live up to your expectations. We've sent over a coupon for your next trip in hopes that you have a better experience.
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Andrew
Verified Review
Pete and Kristy were absolutely awesome! We had an excellent time with the Louisiana/Texas combo ;) Captain Pete was patient about explaining the estuary of the Keys and species. We caught 6 different species and 3 sharks! Great time- see ya’ll next year🦈🎣😃
Andrew
Verified Review
Pete and Kristy were absolutely awesome! We had an excellent time with the Louisiana/Texas combo ;) Captain Pete was patient about explaining the estuary of the Keys and species. We caught 6 different species and 3 sharks! Great time- see ya’ll next year🦈🎣😃
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Kipp
Verified Review
We had a terrific day with Pete!
Kipp
Verified Review
We had a terrific day with Pete!
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ROY
Verified Review
What an amazing day of fishing and boating. Captain Pete and his mate Christy were great with my three boys. They really made the experience "The Best Day Ever!"
ROY
Verified Review
What an amazing day of fishing and boating. Captain Pete and his mate Christy were great with my three boys. They really made the experience "The Best Day Ever!"
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Kelly
Verified Review
An excellent day on the beautiful keys water. Started with overcast but the sun did come out as well as the fish. All three of us had a wonderful time thanks to Captain Pete and Christy. They were kind, helpful and great fun to be around. We would definitely come back and go with Captain Pete again! Thank you for a wonderful day!
Kelly
Verified Review
An excellent day on the beautiful keys water. Started with overcast but the sun did come out as well as the fish. All three of us had a wonderful time thanks to Captain Pete and Christy. They were kind, helpful and great fun to be around. We would definitely come back and go with Captain Pete again! Thank you for a wonderful day!
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Jason
Verified Review
Had a great time. I will definatly go again with capt. Pete next time I'm here
Jason
Verified Review
Had a great time. I will definatly go again with capt. Pete next time I'm here
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Ian
Verified Review
Captain and crew were great. All around amazing experience. 10/10 would recommend.
Ian
Verified Review
Captain and crew were great. All around amazing experience. 10/10 would recommend.
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Jason
Verified Review
Pete and his wife could not have been any nicer and their boat was perfect. Pete kept us on the water longer than our trip was scheduled for trying to put some fish in the boat (we caught 1 tile fish and 3 vermillion that were just over 12 inches) I know the captain cannot control the bite as I have been on 100’s of charters however we fished with one rod the entire day!...
Jason
Verified Review
Pete and his wife could not have been any nicer and their boat was perfect. Pete kept us on the water longer than our trip was scheduled for trying to put some fish in the boat (we caught 1 tile fish and 3 vermillion that were just over 12 inches) I know the captain cannot control the bite as I have been on 100’s of charters however we fished with one rod the entire day!It was an electric reel since we were fishing in 600 plus feet of water. I spent almost the entire day watching my girlfriend dropping her line down and flipping the switch to bring it back up. That certainly is not what we had in mind when we booked the trip. We should have had two rods to fish with and moved into the reefs for some snapper, yellow tail or something but to deep drop the entire with one rig and zero activity was really disappointing.
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William
Verified Review
Pete and Chisty were great. Although we did not catch any keepers, we had a great time trying
William
Verified Review
Pete and Chisty were great. Although we did not catch any keepers, we had a great time trying
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Greg
Verified Review
Captain Pete and his deck mate Christie had a beautiful boat and despite the hot weather kept us in shade and cool! Fishing was admittedly slow today, but that didn’t keep Captain Pete from putting onto Mahi! Thanks for a great day with my boys that I will always treasure
Greg
Greg
Verified Review
Captain Pete and his deck mate Christie had a beautiful boat and despite the hot weather kept us in shade and cool! Fishing was admittedly slow today, but that didn’t keep Captain Pete from putting onto Mahi! Thanks for a great day with my boys that I will always treasure
Greg
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Charity
Verified Review
We had a great day fishing with Capt. Pete and Christy! Our teenager got his first deep sea fishing experience and reeled in a couple huge tilefish, which made for a great dinner that evening and we had plenty more to take home. We would definitely take another trip with Capt. Pete and Christy on our next trip to the area and I'll recommend them to others.
Charity
Verified Review
We had a great day fishing with Capt. Pete and Christy! Our teenager got his first deep sea fishing experience and reeled in a couple huge tilefish, which made for a great dinner that evening and we had plenty more to take home. We would definitely take another trip with Capt. Pete and Christy on our next trip to the area and I'll recommend them to others.
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Michael
Verified Review
Great time! Captain Pete and his wife were a great time! We will come back for sure!
Michael
Verified Review
Great time! Captain Pete and his wife were a great time! We will come back for sure!
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Kristi
Verified Review
We had a blast! Captain Pete made sure we caught some great reef fish. We caught 2 Spanish mackerel, a yellow trail, a barracuda (large and mean), and a few others. It was so much fun! My 16 year old that loves to fish in Nebraska has the best time!
Kristi
Verified Review
We had a blast! Captain Pete made sure we caught some great reef fish. We caught 2 Spanish mackerel, a yellow trail, a barracuda (large and mean), and a few others. It was so much fun! My 16 year old that loves to fish in Nebraska has the best time!
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Dylan
Verified Review
Our group had the Best Day Ever! with Captain Pete and First Mate Christie. No shortage of action with these folks! Will fish with them again.
Dylan
Verified Review
Our group had the Best Day Ever! with Captain Pete and First Mate Christie. No shortage of action with these folks! Will fish with them again.
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Thomas
Verified Review
Pete and his 1st mate, his wife were great. They’re an enjoyable couple. When I booked I understood they had more experience then they actually had. We seemed to wonder a bit till we found the fish.
Thomas
Verified Review
Pete and his 1st mate, his wife were great. They’re an enjoyable couple. When I booked I understood they had more experience then they actually had. We seemed to wonder a bit till we found the fish.
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Justin
Verified Review
Captian Pete and Christy were AWESOME. We had a great time as a family and it was definitely one of the best days ever. Everyone tried something new and had fun. I would definitely recommend looking into these guys for a good time out on the water.
Justin
Verified Review
Captian Pete and Christy were AWESOME. We had a great time as a family and it was definitely one of the best days ever. Everyone tried something new and had fun. I would definitely recommend looking into these guys for a good time out on the water.
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Potential Target Species
Color-coded seasonality below is based on the current month (January).
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Black Grouper
Good
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Blackfin Tuna
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Bonnethead Shark
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Bull Shark
Good
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Good
Cero Mackerel
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Cobia
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Hammerhead Shark
Good
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Great
Good
Good
Kingfish
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Great
Lemon Shark
Good
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Mahi Mahi
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Mangrove Snapper
Not Ideal
Not Ideal
Not Ideal
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Not Ideal
Mutton Snapper
Great
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Nurse Shark
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Great
Good
Good
Red Grouper
Good
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Spanish Mackerel
Not Ideal
Not Ideal
Not Ideal
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Not Ideal
Triggerfish
Not Ideal
Not Ideal
Good
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Great
Good
Not Ideal
Vermillion Snapper
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Wahoo
Great
Great
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Yellowtail Snapper
Good
Good
Good
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Great
Good
Good
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Black Grouper
Blackfin Tuna
Bonnethead Shark
Bull Shark
Cero Mackerel
Cobia
Hammerhead Shark
Kingfish
Lemon Shark
Mahi Mahi
Mangrove Snapper
Mutton Snapper
Nurse Shark
Red Grouper
Spanish Mackerel
Triggerfish
Vermillion Snapper
Wahoo
Yellowtail Snapper
Get it while it's HOT!
This species is in play.
You might get lucky (as long as things are in-season).