Ace Captain Mark the Shark

This guy is an unethical consumer bully and predator. I was recently asked about his charter service by a coworker who is going to Miami next week. This is what I told him about my charter which took place about 10yrs ago… I went on what was described as a full day charter that wound up being a half day charter in December 2004. We paid a deposit and booked the trip for 8 people on the boat the day prior. We said we were looking to catch a sailfish or something to eat. The next morning, Mark was an hour late to the boat and then had to fuel it up which took another 30+ minutes. When it comes time to leave he tells us he can only take 6 of us due to regulations so we had to put two of the girls with us in a cab and send them back home.
We leave the dock and then have to go fish for bait for another 30minutes with sabki rigs. The mate has us helping and gets angry when one of us tangles the rig. We finally get fishing about two hours after our scheduled departure time and we were only about two — four miles from the marina where we departed. We end up catching a 8 – 10 foot lemon shark. Everyone on the boat states that they don’t want to bring the fish on boat and that there is no reason to kill it. The fish is then brought on the boat and beat with a small baseball bat by the mate. At that point the fishing was shut down and we are told that our trip is over because he has another group waiting. We pay by credit card for the cost of the trip and are then held hostage for a «customary» 20% tip.
The disaster comes to a close as the shark brings us to a different marina from where we departed (keep in mind our cars are at the other marina) dumps us off on the dock with this fish that no one wanted killed in the first place and business card for a friend who is a taxidermist ($ 1200 mount). He quickly loads the other group and takes off while we have to fork out cab money to get to our cars. Unfortunately the fate of that fish was to be left behind on the dock.
I have been on a number of fishing and hunting charters who have provided a first class service and this is not how it is supposed to work. I highly recommend that anyone looking to go charter fishing in the Miami area find another captain. From the looks of these other posts he is continuing his shenanigans today.

We fished a half day charter starting at 4pm. Mark and Ryan are great guys. Fun guys to hang with and know a ton about the ocean there off of Miami. While one reviewer yapped about Mark saying the real fishing was years ago… That’s true I got the same speech when I asked about catching a shark. But in reality after learning more you don’t catch a shark every day and Mark is trying to set the expectations that your fishing not always catching. I did hook into a very large sail fish and fought it to about 50 feet of the boat but line snapped and we lost it. That was the only fish hooked into that day. I spoke with others on the dock and they all say mark the shark is the only guy to trust in Miami if you want to fish. He’s a big fish fisherman. Not going after a day dropping line to get snapper so don’t be fooled. Your chartering him for the chance to catch real fish.
Give it a shot.
He even invited me the following day to join for free since I caught nothing. But I was busy with work.

My partner and I booked the charter the day before and shared the trip with another mystery couple. Mark and the crew were all accommodating and experienced. First stop we all dropped lines to catch some live bait for fishing for the bigger species. Then we headed further out and trolled for sharks. We ended up catching two large sharks. The first shark we were able to take a lot of photos with and then released and the second shark was more precious so only a couple photos and then released. Did not witness any littering and had a great day overall. Charter even ran a little overtime at no extra cost.

I just returned from a corporate event where I fished on Striker 1. The trip was ok, but they dropped us off hurriedly and took off w a nice grouper I had caught. I was really looking forward to eating it. It would have been more customer focused if they had filet it, which is part of their job anyway.

I went fishing with Mark the Shark about 3 years ago off of Miami Beach. I was there for a friend’s bachelor party and we were all pretty excited to go shark fishing. I am originally from Florida and have been out with numerous fishing guides both inshore and offshore. Never before have I had an experience like I had with Mark the Shark. First I’ll cover the fishing aspect, which I realize this is somewhat out of his control. We specifically said we wanted to target sharks and I was under the impression most of the time chum is involved. Both other times when I went shark fishing chum was involved. He stated that wasn’t the case. I’m no expert, so I went with the flow. We did not end up catching a shark but did catch a large amberjack, which was all we caught for the whole day. I have been on boats before and have not caught anything, so just based on pure fishing I would rate this is slightly below average. I have a feeling he tries much harder for his celebrity clientele that you see featured on his website.
But what was completely ridiculous was Mark and his firstmate’s blatant disregard for the ocean and I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as an environmentalist. After leaving the marina and being about half a mile from shore we are sitting on the upper deck of the boat drinking beer. We ask Mark where the garbage can was and he told us to give him our beer cans. We oblige and he takes them and throws them overboard. We were in shock. Throughout the rest of the trip Mark and his mate used the ocean as their personal garbage can. Old fishing line, lead weights and hooks all were disposed of by throwing them overboard.
Next comes to the fish, while one of us was fighting the fish, I ask what kind of fish he thought it was, his response was dreadful…“Whatever it is, we’re going to kill it” We told him that we didn’t want to keep any fish because we were not planning on doing any cooking during the bachelor party. Didn’t matter to them. When the fish came up the mate brings out his kill gaff and unnecessarily gaffs the fish in the back. We didn’t really say anything at that point because what was done was done. I asked him if they were planning on eating the fish and they said no, and that amberjacks of this size have worms in them and you don’t want to eat them. If we had no plans to eat the fish and they didn’t either they were needlessly killing a fish.
Most fishing guides I have been out with realize that that every fish they kill means one less fish they can catch in the future, but Mark was oblivious to this point. He also thought that using his workplace (the ocean) as his personal garbage can was a good idea as well. I have told this story to some guides I have been out with since then and they were just as shocked as I initially was. I highly recommend looking elsewhere for a guide.

Mark the shark aka monster fishing aka Striker 1 aka ace fishing.
Mark as cool as you and your staff were, the sad truth is you are operating just a huge dead tourist trap. If you look at the website/​broacher they give you, you’ll see pictures of a really young mark, a few celebrities he once fished with, a few large sharks he once caught… Reality is, and he even admitted it to us, is that all that was 20 – 30 years ago
Our full day charter was scheduled for 8am. Mark arrived at 9:40am and blamed traffic… Whatever no big deal. We set sail, and spent the first 2 hours going to a little spot and I just sat back and watched his crew catch bait. (Personally I think
They should of had already had bait, it shouldn’t cut into our fishing time). By about 12:30−1pm we were finally going out a few miles to try to get a big catch. We were out there by for only about an hour, with no bites mark decided it was a bad fishing day and wanted to head back. We got approx 1 hour of deep sea fishing on our «full day charter». When asked about the chances of
Catching a shark, he pretty much laughed and literally told us «stop watching shark week», all shark fishing was 20 – 30 years ago, the chances of catching one are almost slim.
I was more entertained listening to all the stories of how great fishing was 20 – 30 years ago then fishing for hopes and dreams. We spent $ 900 with tip. If your someone with high expectations your going to be in for a disappointment. You have A LOT more chances of going to the hard rock and sitting on a slot machine and hitting a jackpot then catching a big fish on this charter.
If you don’t mind blowing a grand to be on a boat sight seeing with «mark the shark», then you might like this. If you want to fish, go down to the keys.

This guy was terrible! We scheduled a 5-​hour afternoon fishing trip for 600. We were late (our fault) so we ended up leaving 1.5 hours late. After we left they told us that this was not their normal boat and that it was a bad day for fishing so we might as well go sightseeing instead. For $ 600?! We went fishing anyway and caught around 15 fish that were about 1 ft long each. Pretty good… Or so we thought. They brought us back an hour early without asking us first. On the way back my friend asked if all the fish were edible and the answer was «not really» and they informed us that they were too oily and bloody and were better for shark bait. They didn’t even give us the option of keeping the fish.
It turns out the reason we didn’t go fishing for sharks was that the boat for that was in the shop getting a new motor and this one was not properly equipped. We used colorful lures and when I asked if those were better they laughed and said no. I asked why we weren’t using live bait and they said it was because this was a friends boat so we couldn’t. Seriously?!
They also told us that we didn’t have enough beer, prompting us to buy more at the marina store then they bullied us into leaving it on the boat.
Basically, we paid for Mark’s gas and caught shark bait for him to use on a future trip. After tax and tip it was $ 760 and we left with nothing. The only positive thing I can say is that they were nice, I didn’t see Mark litter, and they were honest (a little too much so).
My advice is to book a sightseeing trip because that is BEAUTIFUL and very worth it. If you want to fish for fun and don’t care about a picture next to a 6 foot shark then go to Bill Braggs in Key Biscayne with your own fishing pole. If you want a shark then use someone else!

I have been on approximately ten fishing charters in several different states. Mark the Shark is hands down the worst.
From the beginning this experience was horrible. He was late, took almost two hours to actually start fishing, and was dismissive and rude to myself and everyone in our boat. His boat staff is similarly rude. Our charter time was not even close to that promised and the price was outrageous for the experience.
Do not be fooled by Mark the Shark’s «wacky», «non-​PC» demeanor. He is rude, aloof, and appears to have had better days. If you look closely his website is misleading; many pictures are clearly old and from a «better time». His boat is filthy, has minimal space for multiple people to talk and relax, and is simply not comfortable. Also, Mark INTENTIONALLY littered in the ocean on multiple occasions during the trip!
Bottom line: Stay away, there are too many charters in Miami to waste your time and money with this one! You will be disappointed.

Occasionally I come across a business so brutally offensive that it ruins my entire day and the only solution is to tell the world about it in hopes that others may be spared from the same tragic experience. Our fishing charter with Mark the Shark today was a perfect example of such an operation.
We booked a half day (5 hour) morning charter with Mark hoping to catch a good variety of fish for fun and good eating (not really into catching/​killing things for trophy purposes). When we got to the Marriott Marina where Mark docks his Stinker-​1 boat (seriously, this thing is falling apart and ended up rattling and leaking oil and fumes into the water all day), it was pouring rain. Mark assured us that it was no problem and that we’d get out on time and still have a good day. However, we did not get on time… nor did we have a good day.
Our scheduled 7:30 departure was pushed back until around 8:15 am. On top of this, Mark stopped the boat along the way to pick up a «friend» who proceeded to sit around the rest of the trip with the expectation of reeling in some fish. I’m not sure whether this person was actually a friend or an extra client that Mark was milking but the act of adding an unannounced passenger on a private charter, spending paid time picking that person up, and allowing that person to take part in our fishing, is completely unprofessional and rude. Mark then guided the boat to a place to catch bait sardines that he was planning to use for his afternoon charter. When we finally dropped lines to fish, it was 9:15am. We trolled around for a while and had unremarkable catches of bonito and king mackerel while Mark and the crew refused to rig up the chair for a shot at a bigger catch. Their reasoning? The current isn’t strong enough for bigger fish to be around so it’s not worth it. Are you kidding me? It’s not worth it? Pardon me if I was spoiled by being raised in a place where customer service exists, but I was baffled that the crew would say such a thing to paying customers. When we joked about how we wanted to catch some nice dinner tonight, one of the crew members said under his breath «Go to Publix.» And so the attitude and condescension continued until, after only 1 HOUR and 45 MINS of fishing, Mark’s crew packed up the rods without saying anything and began to head back.
At the conclusion of the trip, when we approached Mark about how disappointed we were about only getting 1hr45mins of fishing after paying for a 5 hour trip, he scoffed at us and said «That’s the way it is.» He then proceeded to whine about how expensive gas is these days and, while were still standing there, beamed to his afternoon guests about how lucky they were that they didn’t go in the morning because of «how shi**ty the water was.» Guess what, Mark? Maybe the water wouldn’t be so shi**y if you didn’t sidearm your sandwich wrappers and plastic cups into the ocean. I will NEVER be using Mark the Shark for charter fishing again and would like to send a loud-​and-​clear warning to any of my fellow Unilocalers considering his services.