Born to Be on the Water

For DJ, the water has always felt like home. He grew up on the beaches of Southwest Florida, spending his life around the Gulf and developing a love for fishing and being on the water from an early age.

Then Hurricane Ian changed everything.

The storm devastated Fort Myers Beach and took with it the job DJ had held for 14 years. Like so many Southwest Florida locals, he suddenly found himself facing an entirely different future.

In the days after the storm, DJ joined his friend Dalton and other volunteers traveling by boat to bring food and supplies to people on Fort Myers Beach while access to the island was extremely limited.

That supply run was documented by The Washington Post, capturing a small piece of the way locals came together to help their community after Ian. DJ can be seen in the footage as part of that effort.

When it came time to figure out what was next, the answer kept bringing DJ back to the water. He started working wherever he could — boat by boat and trip by trip. Every opportunity put him behind the helm of a different vessel, alongside different captains and anglers, learning more about the waters he had grown up around and the charter industry itself.

What began as a way to move forward after Hurricane Ian slowly became something much bigger.

Eventually, the opportunity came for us to take everything DJ had learned and build something of our own. Together, we started Gulfshore Fishing Company — turning one of the hardest chapters of our lives into a business and a future we could build together.

Today, DJ gets to share the same waters he grew up on with families, first-time anglers, and lifelong fishermen. For him, being a captain is about more than putting fish in the boat. It's about giving people the kind of day they'll still be talking about long after they're back on shore.