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, Contender boats, Yamaha Outboards, Shimano, Accurate, Penn, Diawa tackle, Simrad Electronics, FLIR thermal imaging for night trips, Global Star satellite phones, EPIRB, 6 Man life raft, Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and other associated Safety Gear. Since Capt. Long is a former Military and Commercial 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!
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. He attended college at the University of South Florida in Tampa Florida and graduated in 2003. Paul then attended military flight school for the United States Army at Fort Rucker Alabama. He graduated from flight school in 2003 in the AH-64D Apache. From 2004 to 2006 he was stationed in South Korea in 3/6 Cav Squadron. From 2006-2009 he was stationed at Fort Campbell Kentucky at the 101st Airborne 1st of the 101st Attack battalion where he spent a good majority of the time in Afghanistan as a Company commander. He was C company flight commander and D company aircraft maintenance commander within the battalion. He left the Army in 2009 and began flying EMS helicopters for Air Methods Corporation back home in Florida. In 2021 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.