20 Years of Experience
Here at Top Contender fishing charters we strive on providing you with an exceptional fishing and customer experience. We utilize only the best equipment including, Fountain boats, Mercury Outboards, Shimano, Accurate, Penn, Diawa tackle, Simrad Electronics, FLIR thermal imaging for night trips, Starlink, EPIRB, 6 Man life raft, Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and other associated Safety Gear. Since Capt. Long is a former Military and current Commercial Airline pilot, he takes weather very seriously. If for some reason the weather forecast looks unfavorable for a comfortable and safe trip your full deposit will be refunded. As we used to say in aviation “take offs are optional, landings are mandatory.” Capt. Paul looks at marine operations in the same way, “departures from the dock are optional, returning is mandatory.” The safety of customers and crew is always the number one priority and we want your experience to be an epic adventure!
The Boat
Here at Top Contender Fishing Charters we strive to offer the best equipment available to make your experience an enjoyable one. We have the fastest charter boat on the West Coast of Florida in our 2023 38' Fountain TE offshore center console equipped with Mercury Racing 450r's and the latest electronics and safety gear.
Our Fishing Destinations
We offer numerous fishing opportunities within the gulf of mexico. From near shore to 100+ miles offshore we can catch you the fish of a lifetime!
Our Professional Captain
Captain Paul Long
Capt. Paul Long was born and raised in Seminole Florida. He has been fishing the Gulf of Mexico offshore for the last 20 years specializing in fishing for Grouper and Snapper and Slow Pitch Jigging. He attended college at the University of South Florida in Tampa Florida and graduated in 2003 and them attended Military flight training. After leaving the military he was hired by a major airline where he now flys the Boeing 737 Max. Paul then decided to turn his passion for offshore fishing into a career and Top Contender Fishing Charters was born. He holds a USCG Masters Captains License and both a Federal Reef Permit and Federal Pelagic permit and associated insurance.