Dirty Boats, Clean Fish Boxes: The Story Behind DirtyBoat Charters

Why people search “dirty boats” and end up here

Every so often I see the search logs and there it is: somebody typing “dirty boats” into Google and landing on us. Sometimes they mean charter boats in the Keys generally. Sometimes they are looking for a specific boat they heard about at the bar in Islamorada. Sometimes they misheard the name and are trying to piece it back together.

Either way, if you are here, you probably want to know two things. What is a DirtyBoat, and can you get on one. This post covers both.

The origin. The real one.

The name is not a marketing gag. It came from an actual dirty boat.

The first DirtyBoat was a 1995 32 foot Blackfin Combi Express. Joe Sabe bought her, and she was, in the plain sense of the word, dirty. Joe had every intention of scrubbing her down and renaming her something respectable. That was the plan.

Then he ran a few charters. Clients started calling and asking for “the dirty boat.” Word got around. The name stuck before the paint did. He never bothered to change it, and by the time the hull was clean the name was permanent.

That is the whole story. No clever backronym, no branding session, no focus group. A dirty 32 Blackfin, a captain who did not get around to renaming her, and a bunch of anglers who kept using the working nickname until it became the real one.

DirtyBoat 2.0 is what we run today. She is a 42 foot Custom Liberty Express, full tournament rigged, twin diesels, tower, kite rigged, tuna tubes, live well, air-conditioned cabin, all the electronics you would expect on a boat that fishes tournaments up and down the Keys. The name carried over. The dirt did not.

What DirtyBoat Charters actually does

We are an offshore charter. That is the whole business. Reef, edge, Gulf Stream, the Humps. If it swims out there, we chase it.

Here is the honest breakdown of what we fish and when:

• Winter is sailfish season. Kite fishing with live bait on the edge, mostly in 120 to 250 feet. December through March is prime.
• Summer is mahi. Weedlines, floaters, frigate birds. Long runs sometimes, short runs when the current cooperates.
• Wahoo runs year-round with high-speed trolling and live bait pitches.
• Blackfin tuna hold on the Humps most of the year. The Islamorada Hump is 22 miles SSE of Robbie’s. The Marathon Hump is 37 miles south.
• Swordfish is its own program. Deep drops in 1,600 to 1,800 feet. That is the 10 hour trip.
• Reef fish (yellowtail, mutton, mangrove snapper, grouper) fill the box on shorter days and mixed trips.

What we do not do: backcountry, bay, bridges, flats, bonefish, permit on the flats. If you want to pole a skiff at tailing fish in six inches of water, I know good guides for that but it is not us. We are an offshore boat.

Charter boats in the Keys, and how to pick one

Islamorada has more charter boats per capita than just about anywhere else in the country. That is a real thing, not a marketing line. Walk Robbie’s, Bud N’ Mary’s, Whale Harbor, and you will see a hundred boats you could hire. Most of them are good. Some of them are great. A few are neither.

When you are picking a boat, the questions I would ask are these. What do you actually target on my trip. What does the price include. Who is running the boat, and how long have they been doing it. Do you fish tournaments or just charters. Where do I meet you and when.

For us, the answers are: offshore only, everything included except food and drinks, Captain Kit Carson has been running this program out of Robbie’s for over a decade, we fish the Sailfish Challenge and Cheeca Presidential and Gold Cup circuit every year, and you meet me at Robbie’s Marina at Mile Marker 77.5.

If a boat cannot answer those five questions in one sentence each, keep shopping.

What a day on DirtyBoat looks like

Meet at the dock at Robbie’s a few minutes before your call time. Hungry Tarpon is right there if you want breakfast first, and I recommend it. Feed the tarpon at the dock with a bucket of fish from the marina staff while you wait. That never gets old.

We run the reef first on most trips. Yellowtail chumming while the mate rigs baits for the offshore push. Then we head to the edge or the Hump depending on what has been biting. On an 8 hour we usually get back to the dock by mid afternoon with a mix of reef fish and something offshore, mahi, wahoo, tuna, kingfish, depending on season.

Rates as of this writing:

• 6 hour offshore: $2,000
• 8 hour offshore: $2,400
• 10 hour swordfish: $3,200

Tackle, ice, bait, fuel included. You bring food, drinks, sunscreen, and a cooler if you want to take fish home. The mate cleans your catch at the dock.

Book it

If you found this page by searching “dirty boats” or “dirty boat charters islamorada,” you found the right one. There is one DirtyBoat, she lives at Robbie’s Marina, Mile Marker 77.5 in Islamorada, and I run her.

Call or text (305) 209-5594. Check open dates on the rates and schedule page. Read up on the main charter page if you want the full rundown. Splits are on the split charters page if you have two anglers instead of six.

The boat is clean now. The name is not going anywhere.