FishingBooker, an online platform connecting anglers and fishing guides worldwide, awards its best captains with the Angler’s Choice Award. The exclusive award honors the top captains on the platform for their efforts in providing the best possible fishing experience for their customers. To account for the very seasonal nature of the fishing business, captains can earn the award every three months.

Once a year, however, the top captains of the platform are honored with special recognition. These captains, working hard to provide the best possible fishing experience for their guests year-round, earned the exclusive reward three times in a row.

Out of 7,242 captains on Fishing-Booker only 576, or 8%, received this extra-special recognition.

Thirty-three of the winners are from Southwest Florida. The captains operate in the counties of Charlotte, Lee and Collier. Lee County captains did especially well, with 22 winners operating charters here, 11 of them in Fort Myers. A total of 47 captains in Fort Myers are registered on FishingBooker, meaning that over 23% of them won the award. A win rate way above the average.

With 11 captains, Fort Myers also ranks in third place on the global list of locations with the most winners alongside St. Petersburg.

Eight captains from Cape Coral are on the list: Brian David, Joey Shogren, John Reid, Joseph Sagi, Miguel Espinal, Paul Stiso, Scott Williams and Skip Johnson.

Captains from Pine Island/Matlacha included Billy Williams, Gerald Hernandez, Trevor Grant, Mike Moran and Todd Beck.

Charles Cooper also made the list. His home base is Sanibel.

Several of the captains’ names appear more than once on the list because they charter out of several different communities or marinas.

To be eligible for the award, the charter operators had to meet the following criteria:

• 4.8+ out of 5-star review score from 10+ verified reviews

• 98% reliability score or higher

• 98% response rate or higher

• Full business verification

Find additional details about the Angler’s Choice Award at https://fishing booker.com/blog/anglers-choice-2023/