First Mate Marketing
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First Mate Marketing — Fill the boat 🎣 A fisherman, not a suit I'm one of you — not one of them

You've felt stuck — like there's no good option. Until now.

No wonder there are holes in the calendar — and the last thing you need is one more outsider flashing lights, pitching you with his pocketbook in mind. That's not me. I'm a fisherman — same docks, same water, same culture — who just happens to be damn good at marketing. I'm part of this community and I love it, so I'd rather help a captain thrive and expand than watch some suit who's never held a fish pick your pocket. I build it, I run it, I fill your boat.

Show me how — free 15-min call →

A 15-minute call. No pressure. I'll show you how others are taking advantage of you — and where there's a lot more room to book more trips.

catchcatchcatchcatchcatchcatch
Let me be upfront with you

Here's what I think I can do for you. The rest of this page is just how.

No "book a demo to find out." More of your budget goes into the ads — not an agency's pocket — so here's a deliberately conservative look at booked trips:

$500/mo in ads
5–10
booked trips a month
Double the ad budget
$1,000/mo in ads
12–20
booked trips a month

Estimated ranges with a strong site, video & 24/7 follow-up — not a guarantee. Your numbers depend on your market, season, boat & offer.

That's my honest estimate, posted right up front. Now scroll — the rest is exactly how I pull it off.

From one fisherman to another

I built this because the fishing community deserves better.

Real talk — two outfits have their hand in your pocket: booking sites that skim 10–30% of every trip, and money-grubbing marketers who've never smelled cut bait. Neither one actually cares about fishing.

I'm a fisherman — it's my peace. I keep my price low on purpose so a working captain can afford to win, and I treat your calendar like my own boat on the line. To hell with the guys bleeding this community. I'm in your corner.

— A fisherman who'd rather see you win than take a cut.

If you're a full-time captain, you know this list

Sound familiar?

✕

You miss calls while you're on the water — and that lead never calls back. They book the next guy who picks up.

✕

Feast or famine. Slammed one week, dead the next. Tuesdays are empty and the off-season is a ghost town.

✕

No website — or one nobody finds. You can't get booked at 11pm when a dad is planning his kid's first trip.

An empty seat isn't a slow day. It's money overboard.

Before you give away another trip

A lot of good captains are quietly bleeding money to pay-to-play booking sites.

Not every captain — but plenty. You bring the skill, the boat and the reviews, and a third-party booking site rents you your own customers. Here's what those marketplaces really cost you:

✕

They hide your name. The listing shows their brand, not yours. Customers can't look you up and book you directly — so they're funneled through the site every single time.

✕

They skim 10–30% off every trip. On a customer you earned with your reputation. That's your fuel, your crew and your profit — handed to a website.

✕

You get buried at the bottom. Pages of guides in your area, all fighting for the same anglers. If you don't already have them beat on reviews and booked trips, you don't rank — and even paying the full 30%, it only pops you to the top for a brief while. Plenty of captains on there scrape by on a trip or two a month.

✕

You don't own the customer. Their name, email and phone belong to the platform, not you. No book of business — nothing to rebook, upsell, or build referrals from.

✕

You can't follow up. No contact info means no "miss you" text, no slow-week filler, no off-season offer to past guests. The relationship isn't yours to use.

With your own site and system, the customer is yours — no cut, no middleman. You keep what you'd have handed the tax, put it back into better trips and offers for your anglers, and build a book of business that grows with every single trip.
Real captain — real makeover

Here's a Freeport charter's site — before, and the booking machine I built her.

Texas Legend Charters had the boat, the reviews and the skill — on a loud template site that couldn't take a booking. Same captain, two very different first impressions. Which one would you trust with a Saturday on the water?

✕ Before — off-the-shelf template
texaslegendcharters.com
The old off-the-shelf template site
  • No real booking. "Book Now" kicks you to a form — no live calendar, no deposit.
  • Phone buried, no tap-to-call. A hot lead has nothing to tap.
  • 5-star reviews nowhere in sight. 900+ great reviews and not one is shown.
  • Loud template look. Hard to read, and it looks like every other charter site.
↓
Redesigned + live widgets installed
✓ After — custom site with live widgets
🔒 texaslegendcharters.com
The redesigned site with live fishing widgets
  • Book in seconds. Live dates and a deposit right on the page — no back-and-forth.
  • Live widgets built in. Marine forecast, barometric pressure & an open-dates calendar.
  • 5.0 from 979 reviews, up front. Proof does the selling before you say a word.
  • One tap to call or text the captain. The lead never has to hunt for you.

A real website doesn't just look better — it sells your trips while you sleep.

Same boat. Same captain. A site that actually books trips.

It's not just a prettier site — it books trips while you fish.

When an angler lands on your new page, here's what happens — automatically:

1
They look — live conditions, 14-day tides & the best windows, right on your page.
2
They decide — they spot the perfect day. No phone tag, no waiting on a callback.
3
They book on the spot — lock the date and leave a deposit while they're still fired up.
4
They stay booked — instant receipt + trip info, then reminder & nurture texts/emails up to the trip. Fewer cancellations — and you can run a special to fill the rest of the boat.
5
They make you look good — after the trip, an automatic review request goes out, so your 5-stars stack up and the next angler finds you first.

A brochure makes them call you (and you're on the water). A booking machine closes them, keeps them, and grows your reputation — while you fish.

Real tools, live — right now

Turn browsers into booked trips — on the spot.

Picture your customer landing on your site and seeing the live conditions, tides and best days to fish — then booking the exact day that looks perfect, right there, before they ever leave the page. That's what these widgets do.

🌊 Nobody else in charter fishing is doing this — it's your unfair advantage.

You choose the mix. Tap any of the 10 below to see it run live — the exact tools I'd put on yours. Keep what you want, drop what you don't, add the premium ones (booking, calendar, reviews, AI, gallery). You own all of it — just tell me your lineup on the call.

👆 Click or tap to see each demo

Live widgets show sample Freeport, TX data — yours are set to your home waters. Premium add-ons (booking, calendar, reviews, AI, gallery) wire up to your accounts at setup.

Lights. Camera. Bookings.

A real video crew — for your boat.

Not stock footage with your logo slapped on. A cinematic ad, shot on YOUR water.

The single biggest thing that stops the scroll and fills slow weeks is great video. So I don't hand you a shaky phone clip — I bring a real production kit out and build a custom ad around your boat, your crew and your hook. Every frame is yours to keep.

🎥

Professional video production

Cinema-grade cameras and aerial drone shots of your boat working the bay — the footage anglers expect from a network fishing show.

🎤

Broadcast microphones

Real wireless mics, not the phone's tinny audio — your voice and the water come through crisp, clean and believable.

🎬

Custom to you

Scripted around your story, your trips and your offer — color-graded and edited to match your brand, not a recycled template.

Most charter “ads” are a shaky phone clip. Yours will look like a TV fishing show — and that's exactly what makes a stranger stop, trust you, and book the trip.

Your custom video is built right into your package — shot, edited, and yours to keep.

Me vs. the other guys

Every marketer swears they'll fill your boat. Here's who actually can.

Booking sites and money-motivated marketers have one thing in common — neither actually cares about fishing. One taxes your trips, the other chases your retainer. I'm not either. Here's how I stack up.

The Other Guys

More money, less boat
  • Hide their pricing behind a "book a demo" wall — so you can't even compare.
  • Charge $3,000–$5,000 a month — and hand you less than you get here.
  • Run your ads off a stock photo of a fish they pulled off Google — or a shaky clip you shot.
  • They'll film a video OR run ads — never both. The rest is on you.
  • Black box. No dashboard, no proof, just an invoice — and you own nothing when you walk.
  • Booking sites skim 20–30% of every trip, forever — and keep your customer.

First Mate Marketing

More boat, less money
  • $1,497/mo flat — about $50 a day, posted right here. No setup, no demo, no games.
  • $20,000 of work, built for you — and you don't pay a dime of it; it's all included.
  • Half what the agencies charge to manage — $1,497/mo, not $3,000–$5,000.
  • A real video crew on YOUR boat — cinema cameras, drones and broadcast mics.
  • I film it AND run it — the whole campaign, A to Z, as one accountable system.
  • Total transparency. Every lead, ad and dollar in your own dashboard — and you own all of it.
  • Zero commission. Every booking and every customer is yours to keep.
The premium agencies charge $3,000–$5,000 a month to run ads with footage you have to supply. I bring the crew, build the site, and run the whole machine — for less than that.

Anybody can run an ad. Almost nobody shows up to your boat, films you, and runs the campaign as one system.

Don't take my word for it

Captains who stopped leaving trips on the dock.

★★★★★

"[Placeholder — drop a real captain testimonial here once you've got your first founding result. Keep it about the OUTCOME: trips booked, calls answered, season filled.]"

— Capt. [Name], [Bay/Operation]

Be one of the first to run it — and be the proof.

The honest answer

How can one guy offer all this for so little?

Simple — it's not one guy. I've built a team: a network of pros who each handle the part they do best — the videographer who films your boat, the editor who cuts your ads, the web builder, the ad manager, and the system that answers your phone around the clock. You get agency-grade work from a whole crew, without the agency price tag. I'm not cutting corners. I'm cutting the overhead.

Most agencies charge $3,000–$5,000 a month just to run your ads — and you still pay the ad spend on top of that. I flipped it: my rate stays low on purpose, so more of your money goes where it actually books trips — into the ads, not my pocket. Same budget, more reach, more bookings.
One price. Out in the open.

$20,000 of work — for about $50 a day.

Everything you need for a great launch — and priced so low you can stop thinking about marketing and get back to what you love: putting excited anglers on fish and sending them home with a story to tell.

🔥 Just $1,497/mo — about $50 a day. Less than half what a deckhand costs you — and unlike a deckhand, it never clocks out. Booking trips while you fish and while you sleep.
✅ Everything below is INCLUDED. These numbers are what each piece is worth on the open market — what you'd pay anywhere else. It is NOT your price. You get all of it inside your $1,497/mo.

Website redesign + landing pages

$6,000 value

A fast, mobile-first site with built-in booking and tap-to-call — built for one job: turning lookers into booked trips.

Live booking widgets

$1,000 value

Live tides, conditions, best days & an instant quote-and-book — right on your page, nudging the prospect to lock the date.

Professional video production

$3,500 value

A pro comes to your boat and films you — the captain, the crew, the fight, the catch — edited into broadcast-quality footage you own forever.

Your secret weapon

Custom video ad + 3–5 hook variants

$1,500 value

That footage cut into 3–5 ad versions so we test which hook lands the most anglers — then pour the budget into the winner.

Starter clips & reels

$750 value

Extra short clips and reels from the same shoot — ready to post organically and keep your socials alive between trips.

Custom CRM

$1,500 value

You and your team manage every client and prospect in one place — inbox, calendar, deposits, pipeline. It's yours.

Email marketing campaign

$750 value

Built and launched for you — win-backs, off-season offers and "miss you" notes that pull past anglers back to the boat.

Text (SMS) marketing

$500 value

The fastest way to fill a slow week — one text to your list and the open dates start booking.

Reviews-boost campaign

$500 value

A backlog blast to your happy customers plus auto-requests after every trip — your 5-stars climb and new anglers find you first.

Facebook ad campaigns

$1,000 value

Built, targeted to anglers in your waters, and launched — carrying your owner-led video.

Instagram ad campaigns

$1,000 value

Reels and feed ads that put your boat in front of anglers scrolling Instagram.

YouTube ad campaigns

$1,000 value

Your video running before fishing and travel videos — watched, not skipped.

Google Search ad campaigns

$1,000 value

Catches anglers Googling for a charter right now — the ready-to-book searcher the others never see.

Total value — what it's worth$20,000
What you pay for that work$0 — all included
Your only cost$1,497/mo

$1,497/mo breaks down to about $50 a day — less than you'd pay a deckhand for a single trip, and less than half an average deckhand's monthly pay. But here's the real difference: this one never sleeps. It works 24/7 — while you're running a trip, while you're dead asleep — answering, booking and following up. The business still gets done without you.

You've felt stuck — and you weren't crazy.

Every "marketing guy" is a suit reading a script. Every booking site rents you back the customers you earned — like a clingy ex who won't quit billing you. For years there hasn't been one good option for a working captain. So if it felt rigged, that's because it was.

That ends today. This is my middle finger to the booking sites skimming 30% of your sweat and the money-grubbing marketers who couldn't tie an Albright knot if you spotted them the loop. They've bled this community for years — pocketbooks in mind, not one ounce of love for the water.

So here's my answer: I'm arming 10 captains with a $20,000 war chest for the price of a tank of bait and aiming them right at the guys who've been taxing them. Not to compete with those clowns — to run 'em clean off the map. They had their run. Tide's going out on 'em. 🌊

$1,497to start — same every month after. No setup, no surprises. Your full $20,000 system, built & running
$1,497 / month

Ads managed, phone answered 24/7, reviews rolling in, calendar filling.

That's about $50 a day — less than a deckhand makes on one trip, and under half his monthly pay ($3,700+). But the real kicker: it never clocks out. On the water or sound asleep, it's answering calls, booking trips and filling your calendar — 24/7.
$1,497 a month is less than you spend on fuel — and fuel just gets you to the fish. This gets you the customers who pay for it.
⚠️ Ad spend is NOT included. You set your own monthly ad budget and pay Meta & Google directly — you stay in full control. Most captains run about $500–$1,000/month in ad spend to start, but the amount is entirely up to you. The $1,497/mo is purely for me running everything for you, never the ad dollars.

No setup. No commissions. No contracts. This is it.

Book your free 15-min call →

Everything that's included — every month

  • Ad management across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube & Google Search — I write, launch, test and scale every one
  • Retargeting that chases every click, plus slow-week filler to fill your light weeks
  • 24/7 AI chat + voice agent that answers and books while you fish
  • All-in-one CRM command center — every lead, booking and dollar in one place
  • Text / email / voicemail automation — follow-ups and win-backs on autopilot
  • Review requests after every trip + Google Business Profile & local SEO, done for you
  • Live booking widgets — conditions, tides, quote & calendar, built into your site
  • Regular performance reports — you always see exactly what's working
  • Priority support + strategy check-ins

Try it 30 days — your website and video are yours to keep no matter what.

The next season starts now

Let's fill the boat.

One extra trip a month pays for the whole thing. The other empty seats are pure upside. Let's find your gaps — free, in 15 minutes.

Book your free call →
Or call/text [PHONE]
🎁 100% Free Download
📘

The Captain's Social Media Growth & Prospecting Playbook

A detailed, no-fluff plan to grow your following and prospect new customers every week — 100% organic. Zero ad spend, no middleman.

  • The content engine + a weekly calendar you'll actually keep
  • DM prospecting scripts that don't feel spammy
  • Work your past customers & local network
  • Turn followers into booked trips
Get the free playbook →

10 chapters + a 30-day plan. Yours free.

Free download — turn you & your crew into closers
📕

The Captain's Closing Playbook

A free sales course for you and whoever answers your phone, texts & DMs — so you book more of the trips that come your way.

  • Opening dialogue + the 5 discovery questions that sell for you
  • Sell the experience, then quote with confidence
  • Objection handling, word for word
  • Ask for the close — three ways that work
Download the free course →

10 chapters + a 7-day drill. Yours free.