Anglers Choice Sport Fishing is the best equipped private boat in Key Largo, a 40 foot flybridge sportfisher that runs the reef and the Gulf Stream out of Holiday Inn Marina at mile marker 100. It carries the deepest booking record in the port, a near perfect rating across more than 150 trips, and a cabin and electronics package, air conditioning, a thermal imaging camera, and full Garmin sounders, that few six pack boats here match. It sits at the top of our Key Largo field on the strength of the boat and a steady, satisfied review trail, with one honest gap: that trail lives almost entirely on the booking platform, where reviews come only from completed bookings.
The verdict and where it ranks
At 8.0 Anglers Choice is a strong choice and the first ranked boat in Key Largo. It earns the spot on the boat and the crew, the two factors that decide most days, backed by the largest run of positive reviews in the port. The caveat is the shape of that record rather than anything on the water: with the booking platform supplying nearly all of it, the spotless rating is lightly tested, since the open review sites fold the private boat in with the family’s party boat and give it little separate footprint. Book it for a full day offshore when you want the most capable private hull in the port. If the budget is the point, the family’s own Sailors Choice party boat sells a seat for a fraction of the price, and Lock It Up runs a cheaper private half day on a smaller boat.
The boat
The Anglers Choice is a 40 foot custom flybridge sportfisher, built in 2017 and rebuilt in 2021, powered by twin Caterpillar diesels that push it to around 35 knots. It is the best appointed private boat we rank in Key Largo: an air conditioned cabin with a head, a refrigerator, a livewell, outriggers, full Garmin electronics, and a FLIR thermal imaging camera for low light running. That package is what makes the 8 hour run to the bluewater comfortable rather than a slog, and it is the clearest reason the boat sits where it does. It carries up to 6 anglers, the Coast Guard limit on a six pack boat.
The fishing and what you target
Anglers Choice fishes the full Key Largo spread across the reef and the Gulf Stream. Sailfish are the winter prize from December into March, mahi mahi take over from spring into fall on the troll past the reef edge, and blackfin tuna and wahoo run through the year. On the longer offshore runs blue marlin and swordfish come into reach, and the boat also runs a dedicated evening shark and tarpon trip. On the reef and the wrecks it drops for snapper, grouper, and amberjack. The crew fishes the trip the season favors, bottom fishing, kite fishing, jigging, or trolling, rather than promising the same box of fish year round, which is what you want from a boat at this end of the port.
Trips and prices
Anglers Choice sells by the whole boat for up to 6 anglers, private only. The posted rates are $1,150 for a 4 hour half day, $1,450 for a 6 hour three quarter day, and $1,750 for an 8 hour full day, with the evening shark and tarpon trip at $1,150. The fishing license, rods and reels, tackle and lures, live bait, and catch cleaning are included, and there is no shared seat, so the boat is best value when your own group fills the deck. The price sits at the upper end of the Key Largo private fleet, which the boat and its electronics justify. Our cost guide sets those private numbers against a shared seat, and the party boat versus private charter guide weighs booking the whole boat against the family’s head boat next door.
The crew
The recent reviews name Captain Ryan running the boat, with a hard working mate, and the recurring themes are professionalism, energy, and patience with kids and first timers. The booking platform record, 5.0 across more than 150 reviews, is the deepest in the port. The honest qualifier is that the operation runs with more than one captain across its boats, the family’s Captain Joe also appears in the record, so the skipper you draw can vary, and the near total absence of any critical review is partly a feature of a platform that only collects feedback from completed trips. Read the recent reviews yourself, and ask who is running your trip when you book.
Booking and what to know
Book through the operator’s site or its FishingBooker listing, which lists free cancellation with a day’s notice. The boat leaves from Holiday Inn Marina at 99701 Overseas Highway, mile marker 100 on the ocean side, the same dock as the family’s Sailors Choice party boat. No fishing license is needed, since the boat covers it, and the crew cleans your catch at the dock. Bring food, drinks, sunscreen, and motion sickness medication if the offshore chop is a question for you, though the air conditioned cabin gives you somewhere to settle on the run out.
How we scored it
Anglers Choice scores 8.0: the best equipped private boat in Key Largo and the largest positive review base in the port, marked down only because that record rests on the booking platform and the boat runs a rotating captain roster rather than a single named owner. Boat and equipment is its strongest factor, with captain and crew close behind. See how we scored this boat for the full rubric and weighting, and compare it against the rest of our Key Largo rankings.