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Top 5 Fishing Marketing Tips for 2026

(What Matters Now — Not What Used to) Fishing marketing in 2026 looks different than it did even a year or two ago. AI is changing search. Customers expect instant responses. And competition online keeps tightening. Here are the five things that actually matter right now if you want to stay visible and booked. 1.
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Is AI Hurting Your Charter Business? Here’s How to Fix It

AI is everywhere right now — but here’s the truth most charter captains are learning the hard way: Bad AI equals lost bookings. And it only takes one bad AI experience for a customer to click away and book with somebody else.   Image Credit: AgilityPr.com We’re seeing it more and more: captains grab ChatGPT,
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2026 Planning Workshop

How Charter Captains Should Be Preparing for 2026 (And the Simple System That Makes It Easier) If you run a charter, guide, or tour operation, you already know something most people never think about: Your next season isn’t built in-season. It’s built right now. The captains who show up at the top of Google next
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Building a Charter Business From Scratch with Capt. Harris Scruggs

Most captains learn on the water. Capt. Harris Scruggs of Triple B Charters built a business on it. He started fishing creeks and bays around Panama City Beach after school. By 20, he was deckhanding. At 25, he had his captain’s license — and he’s been running boats ever since. Today, he runs a 42’
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How Charter Captains Can Fish Year-Round

For many captains and guides, the end of summer feels like the end of the season. Labor Day passes, the tourists head home, and the docks start to look quiet. A lot of captains pack it in, pick up side work, or take the winter off. But here’s the thing: in almost every market, there
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Finding the Right Mix of Direct Bookings with OTAs – with Zach from WaveRez

San Diego Charter Fishing Captain-Turned-Tech Leader on Marine Tourism Growth Zach Eischen’s journey from washing boats to leading sales at WaveRez is exactly the kind of story we love to tell on Chartering Growth. In this episode, we talk shop on why booking platforms are the front door to your business — and how smarter
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Direct Bookings vs. Booking Sites: What Every Charter Captain Needs to Know

Every charter captain dreams of a full calendar made up of direct, full-fare bookings. No middleman. No commissions. Just you, the customer, and the trip. But let’s get real: booking sites aren’t going away. Whether you love them or hate them, OTAs (online travel agencies) like TripShock and others play a massive role in how
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Offshore Fishing in Small-Town Texas: One Captain’s Journey from Firefighter to Charter Guide

When you think of offshore fishing charters, you probably picture Galveston, Corpus, Destin, or Key West. Big ports. Big marinas. Big competition. But sometimes the best charter businesses are built in places off the grid. That’s exactly what Jacob Bailey, firefighter and owner of Texas Offshore Outfitters, has done in Sergeant, Texas — a small
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Thank God He Didn’t Quit RIGHT BEFORE Getting Booked Solid

As much as I’d love to tell you magic happens right away for every client, I’d be lying. That’s just not reality. Sure, some clients see results right away. We recently had one client book a trip within an hour of launching their ads. Others take a while. But boy it’s worth the wait. Like
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Thanks to Us, He Needed More Staff. And a Bigger Boat.

Capt. Jerry might be the most likeable guy you’ll ever meet. He runs a dive charter business out of Venice, Florida — the kind of local operator who’s built real trust on the docks, not just online. But when we first connected, his marketing was holding him back. He was spending time and money trying
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6x Increase: Going From 8 to 46 Calls Without Spending a Penny More on Ads

Getting 8 calls in one month from Google Ads would be considered a “win” for many charter operators, especially given that many of you tell me you see no results / ROI from your campaigns. But in this case, 8 calls didn’t cut it. Not for a charter fishing operation with 3 boats, and needing
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Breaking Through: From 8 to 31 Trips Booked in One Month

Do you ever feel like your business is “stuck” at a certain level? If you’re chartering or guiding, maybe that’s a certain number of trips each month that you can’t seem to break past. For one boat tour client of ours, that number was 8. They had a few months of doing 8 charters but
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