Overall an awesome trip. Wind was blowing and the seas were less than serene but Capt Brad and Mick got us into three sailfish within the first hour. Things got slow after that and eventually, we rolled up onto the reef where we caught some fish to eat. Nothing huge but the kids needed to catch something after a few hours of nothing. On the positive, Capt Brad and Mick are super experienced and know what the hell they are doing. Both are friendly and helpful. My only recommendations is to provide inexperienced anglers a little leeway in how they are reeling their fish in. At times both Capt and Mate showed some frustration with how the kids were not reeling in correctly. I know they deal with hundreds of newbies every year and seeing people lose fish because they are struggling with the equipment can be frustrating when its your job to land fish. I would suggest a more tempered coaching style for newbies and a more hands off approach to customers who are not new to fishing and know how to bring a fish in. I would recommend this Captain however. Boat was super clean, roomy and setup perfect for Keys fishing. I look forward to getting back out with him later this year.

Captain Brad and Mick were first class.  The boat and equipment were impeccably kept.  Their attention to detail was noticed and appreciated.  Mick was the hardest working mate I’ve ever been around.  We did two trips with them.  The first was a 4-Hour reef trip where I brought my three sons and two of their girlfriends for the afternoon.  We caught a nice variety of fish and everyone had a great time.  The second trip was an 8-hour offshore on Saturday for me and my three sons.  We had a great day.  We again caught a nice amount of Mahi, Tuna and my youngest son even caught a Sailfish!  It was a day I will never forget as a father and when I get back to Key West, The Southpaw will be our boat!

My wife, daughter and son and I went on a fabulous fishing trip out of Key West in mid-February with Captain Brad Simonds and his first mate Mick with Southpaw Fishing.  We caught a plethora of fish (8-different and memorable species—Porgy is a great name) and thoroughly enjoyed eating a number of them.  Our request was to catch dinner for one-night and then have a great time fishing as my daughter and bride had not been ocean fishing.  Capt. Simonds and Mick were there making sure we had a great time while engaging us with their experiences and an upcoming tournament they were going to be in.  If you get the opportunity to have Captain Brad and Mick as your Captain and First Mate you won’t be sorry and say hello from Doc Brown yelling “Marty”!!

The boat was immaculate! Ryan, the first mate, worked tirelessly getting rods set and helping us reel in our catches. Captain Brad did his best to get us to the best catches. The highlight of the trip was catching two sailfish. Also, we will dine on the dolphin (mahi) we landed.

My son and I are complete novices, yet with the skillful skippering from Brad and expert guidance from Basha we managed to hook an incredible 21 fish…landed 20, let one tiddler go, and brought 19 to the quay. What an incredible 4hrs. Thank you, Brad and Basha!!