Super Strike Charters is one of the more complete operations in Venice, a turnkey fish-and-stay outfit under owner Captain Damon McKnight with a deep roster of captains and lodging at Cypress Cove. It ranks fourth on the breadth of what it does well: yellowfin tuna and the full offshore spread, red snapper and the rigs, inshore redfish, even duck hunting in season, all bookable as a package with a place to stay. The reviews are strong and consistent. What holds it below the top tier is transparency, since it does not post its boat specifications or its rates.
The verdict and where it ranks
At 7.4 Super Strike Charters is a strong choice and the fourth ranked operation in Venice. The case for it is range and reputation. McKnight is a well known Venice captain, the roster behind him fishes offshore and inshore full time, and the reviews repeatedly describe immaculate boats, crews that get anglers on tuna quickly, and guides who target the specific fish a group asks for. The lodging makes it a genuine one stop trip, which suits a group flying in. It sits below the top three on two counts: it publishes neither its boat details nor a price, so it is harder to compare on paper, and its offshore reputation, while strong, is a notch below the billfish pedigree of MGFC and Paradise. Book it for an all-in Venice package or a well run tuna day.
The boats
This is the one place the operation is thin on public detail: it markets high-performance offshore boats and the captains’ results rather than a published fleet list with lengths and models, so we score the boat on what the reviews and the trips confirm, capable private offshore boats that reach the rigs and the floaters and fish up to 6 anglers, rather than on a spec sheet. The reviews do not flag the boats as a weak point, and several describe them as immaculate, which is why this factor is not marked down further. The absence of posted specifications is the reason it is not higher. The lodging side, by contrast, is well documented, with six properties at Cypress Cove.
The fishing and what you target
Yellowfin tuna is what the operation is known for, fished on the rigs and the deepwater floaters, and around it the boats run the full offshore card: wahoo and mahi mahi in season, swordfish on the deep drop, blue marlin in summer, and cobia, amberjack, and red snapper on the rigs. The inshore side targets redfish and speckled trout in the marsh, and the operation runs duck hunts in winter, which is part of what makes it a turnkey outfit. The boats carry the HMS permit that covers everyone aboard for tuna and billfish, and the yellowfin limit is 3 per person at a 27 inch minimum. The breadth means a mixed group can split an offshore day and an inshore day across the same trip.
Trips and prices
Super Strike sells the whole boat, private only, and books through its own online system rather than a posted price list, with many trips sold as fish-and-stay packages that bundle the charter with lodging. That is the operation’s strength and its drawback at once: the package model is convenient for a group flying into Venice, but it makes the bare charter rate harder to pin down and compare against a boat that posts a number. Confirm the rate, the trip length, what fuel arrangement applies, and what the lodging includes when you book. As a rough frame, Venice offshore tuna boats run in the low thousands for the boat per day plus fuel. Our cost guide explains how the package model changes the math.
The crew
Damon McKnight anchors the operation, and the roster, Will Bradford, Bobby Kenney, Scott King, Matt Leland, and Jordan Roque, fishes the boats year round. The reviews are where the operation is strongest: recurring praise for skilled, patient guides, clean boats, and a knack for putting anglers on exactly what they came for, whether that is a tuna limit, bull redfish, or a box of trout. As with any roster operation the captain you draw varies, so ask who is running your trip. The honest qualifier is the same transparency gap that affects the value score: with the boats and rates unpublished, more of the trust rests on the reviews than on verifiable specifications, so read the recent ones before you commit.
Booking and what to know
Book through the operator’s online system, and ask about the fish-and-stay packages if you want lodging at Cypress Cove. The boats leave from Cypress Cove Marina and Lodge at 235 Cypress Cove Road in Venice, about two hours south of New Orleans, and the offshore trips are long days, so pack food, drinks, foul weather gear, and motion sickness medication if you need it. The crew cleans your catch. The boats carry the HMS permit for tuna and billfish. For the boats that publish their specifications and rates, compare it against Tuna Town Fishing and Calcutta Gold.
How we scored it
Super Strike Charters scores 7.4, the fourth ranked operation in Venice. Trips and access is its strongest factor, carried by the full offshore and inshore range and the turnkey lodging, with the crew and the track record close behind on the strength of consistently strong reviews. It is held below the top three by value and transparency, since it posts neither its boat specifications nor its rates, which makes it harder to compare on paper. See how we scored this boat for the full rubric, and compare it against the rest of our Venice rankings.