DOWN2FISH CHARTERS,

Captain Richard was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. He grew up on flat bottomed shrimp boats and Jon boats. His school bus would pick him up in front of his house which was attached to a bait shop. His charter company was born out of the nostalgic experiences growing up on Tampa Bay.

Scrapping barnacles off of boat bottoms, bailing the Jon boats out, and cleaning props were regular chores during grade school. By the age of 8, he was picking shrimp as a deckhand. He also would help his mother sell bait at Rita’s Bait & Tackle. Some weekends he’d be selling oranges and prawns just outside of the 7-Eleven on Tierra Verde’s Pinellas Bayway. At the age of 12, he was the youngest in his scuba class to receive an open water PADI certification. At the age of 15, he built his very own 28′ Shrimp trawler.

He ran the boat solo or with his younger brother or best friends through out high school.