Captain's Corner
Captain's Corner
Ron Dickson grew up in St. Pete and started fishing the local waterways as a young boy. His entire childhood and young adult life was spent fishing all around the gulf coast of Florida. During the summer months, he would work and run fishing charters. Ronnie would sometimes go on commercial fishing trips with his buddies who owned commercial vessels. Ronnie went to dive school and spent 20 years travelling the world sat diving and specializing in underwater welding. Ronnie is a highly skilled angler and has caught 30+ swordfish (largest 376 lbs.), 20+ Blue Marlin, and hundreds of yellowfin tuna and wahoo (largest 96 lbs.). He is still hunting that triple digit wahoo and nickel swordfish (500+ lbs.)!!
Ronnie and his wife Sally have taken their passion for fishing and now run charters off the east coast of Florida. They specialize in fishing for yellowfin tuna (running and gunning chasing birds which lead us to the yellowfin), swordfish, and wahoo. They do swordfish trips year-round and do both high-speed trolling and live baiting for wahoo from October to March. They also fish for mahi when they run across weed lines and when the conditions are right.
Q: Where do you spend most of your time fishing?
A: Central FL, North FL, and the Bahamas
Q: What type of fishing do you practice?
A: We strictly do offshore fishing and like to target swordfish, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, and Blue Marlin. We joke that everything else is a by-catch.
Q: How long have you been fishing for?
A: My whole life since I was 6 years old. (48 years!)
Q: How did you get started fishing?
A: My first memory was fishing with a cane pole in the lakes of FL with my grandpa back in 1976! That progressed to snook fishing in the canals in St. Petersburg, FL where I grew up. I then transitioned into offshore trips catching grouper and mangrove snapper. Every summer in high school, I would spend a lot of time fishing on commercial boats. I got my captain’s license at 22 years old and started running charter trips out of John’s Pass, FL.
Q: Why do you partner with Blackfin?
A: I can honestly say the product has never let me down! The quality, the service, and the people are top notch! Plus, they are made in the U.S.A. and are located in Florida!
Blackfin Rods has been producing high-quality American fishing rods in Florida since 1997. We pride ourselves on providing fishermen with the best fishing tools possible. Engineered to give the finest performance, Blackfin Rods makes handcrafted, American-made fishing rods in the Blackfin facility in Hobe Sound, Florida, using a process that is rooted in quality, craftsmanship, and innovation. Blackfin Rods strive to be the most durable fishing rods on the water.
Q: How can we reach you?
A: nrfishing@yahoo.com; www.nrfishing.com
Feel free to contact me anytime about Blackfin products or different fishing techniques.