Captain Matt Ercoli
A flats fishing national champion with five world records and well over 10,000 tarpon hookups, fishing the Gulf coast nearly every day of the year.
On the water nearly every day
Matt Ercoli started running charters right out of high school, and it has been his first and only job. He fishes full time out of Holmes Beach, more than 4,000 days on the water and counting, and he lives a few hundred yards from some of the best tarpon water on the coast.
Over his career his boat has released better than 45,000 snook on hook and line, along with at least as many redfish and trout, and he has hooked more than 10,000 mature tarpon. He believes fish feed every day, so they can be caught every day. It is his job to find them, read the conditions, and make the changes it takes to get you bit.
Plenty of his clients have fished with him for fifteen years and still book two or three trips a season. He fishes just as hard for a first-timer or a kid’s first fish as he does for a tournament angler.
- 10,000+
- Tarpon hooked
- 5
- World records
- 4,000+
- Days on the water
- 6
- Anglers per trip
The 1999 national title
After 22 qualifying events held around the country, the top-ranked anglers met to compete in the 1999 Saltwater National Championship. A strong cold front moved in and made the fishing extremely difficult.
Matt was one of only two teams in the tournament to double-slam with legal fish on both days. He edged out second place with a larger slam of snook, redfish and trout to take the title.
Five world records
- Snook 1
- Trout 2
- Grouper 1
- Sheepshead 1
One snook, two trout, one grouper and one sheepshead.
24-foot custom Sheaffer
Matt fishes a 24-foot custom Sheaffer built to run shallow and deep on the same day. It is foam-injected and unsinkable, quiet enough to ease up on a school of tarpon, and rigged to fish the flats in the morning and the open Gulf in the afternoon.
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Seven-foot tuna tower
A full tuna tower puts Matt’s eyes about 13 feet off the water for spotting tarpon and redfish, with shade and ten rod holders up top.
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225 Suzuki four-stroke
A Formula One porta-bracket lets the boat run in less than 12 inches of water, so no flat is off limits.
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Thousand-pilchard bait well
A 50-gallon-plus livewell with raw seawater pumping through it keeps a thousand pilchards alive and lively all day for chumming and bait.
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Bow casting platform
Eight and a half feet of beam and a large bow casting platform give fly and light-tackle anglers room to work.
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Built like a tank
At 6,800 pounds and fully foam-injected, the hull is solid, dry and completely unsinkable. Twin trolling motors and six batteries chase fish all day on quiet power.
“I find the challenging days the most fulfilling. I live for the days that separate the best from the very best.”
He still gets the biggest kick out of watching a kid reel in a fish and hold one for the first time. Whether it is your first trip or your fiftieth, you get the same captain who knows where the fish are holding that week.