About Us

About Captain Matthew

Captain Matthew has a love of fishing that started at a young age, which has continued to grow over the years. After years of learning the craft of fishing and working his way up through the ranks, he was able to reach a lifelong goal and purchase Vengeance Charters. He is local and knows the Gulf waters extremely well. As a husband and
father of four, he loves having his family on board whenever he can.

Captain Matthew’s Story

My love of fishing started when I was a young boy, fishing the banks of Choctawhatchee Bay. At the age of 11, I talked my parents into buying my first boat, a 14-foot John Boat. It didn’t have a trailer or a motor, but that was okay because I had a boat. My friends and I built a trailer out of pine trees we cut down, and we used old bike tires for wheels. It was about a mile to the boat ramp, so it wasn’t very easy to get there. I must have paddled 100 miles or more around the Bay that summer. I knew then that I wanted to fish every day if I could.

Three years later, when I was 14, I landed my first job as a Second Mate on a charter boat on the Destin Harbor. Over the next 6 years, I worked my way up to First Mate and earned my 100 Ton Master’s Captain’s License. The summer I turned 20, something magical happened. I caught my first blue marlin. It was the most magnificent fish I had ever seen. At that very moment, I wanted to spend every day I was on the water, chasing these beautiful fish. I was able to get a job on a private yacht and spent the next 5 years traveling the world and fishing for blue marlin. I was lucky enough to fish places like Costa Rica, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Bermuda, as well as others. During this time, I met my wife, and we had our first son. Traveling and chasing blue marlin took a distant second to spending time with my new family, so I went back to Destin.

Once I was back home, I began taking the skills I learned on my journeys to blue marlin hot spots and putting them to good use here. I was able to accumulate $1.5 million in tournament winnings in the Gulf of Mexico. My biggest win was in 2009, breaking the Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic record with a 716-pound Blue Marlin. I continue to compete now, using my skills and enjoying every minute of the chase for big fish. Today, I continue to live the fisherman’s dream. I have three beautiful children, three boys and one girl, I have the boat of my dreams, and I have the pleasure of spreading my
love and passion for fishing with my children, along with children and adults from around the world.

I smile every time I remember that summer as a young boy when my friends and I would pull my boat over a mile to the water with our bikes on a homemade trailer. I never could have imagined what I would accomplish with my love and passion for fishing.

To this day, I’m still that young boy every time I’m on the water. I’m so blessed and Thankful for what the sport of fishing has given me.