Capt. Chris Wilkins

Captain Chris Wilkins is a Homosassa offshore guide with more than twenty years on the Nature Coast, over thirty-five years guiding in all, and a heavy commercial fishing background. Born into a Key West commercial fishing family, he was catching and selling fish as a kid. Known as "The Grouperman" from Addictive Fishing, he runs a 23-foot Contender and holds an offshore reef permit. His first In The Spread course covers offshore reef fishing for mangrove snapper, with grouper and amberjack courses on the way.

Instructor's videos

Chris Wilkins was born into fishing. Raised in Key West to a family of commercial fishermen, his father and grandfather both worked the water, and Chris was catching and selling fish as a kid. That commercial background runs deep, and it shows in how he fishes. He is not a hobbyist who learned the trade. He grew up in it, and the ocean has been his life since childhood.

Chris moved north to the Nature Coast as a young man and has guided out of Homosassa for more than twenty years, launching from MacRae's of Homosassa, with over thirty-five years of guiding experience all told when you count his years in Key West. He runs a 23-foot Contender and holds an offshore reef permit, and while he can put anglers on inshore trout, redfish, and snook when they want to stay on the flats, offshore is where his heart is. He built his reputation on the ledges and reefs off the Nature Coast, and it earned him a nickname. On Addictive Fishing with Capt. Blair Wiggins, Chris was featured as "The Grouperman."

The name fits. Chris specializes in the hard-bottom fishing that produces gag grouper, red snapper, cobia, kingfish, amberjack, hogfish, mangrove snapper, and more, along with sheepshead and the occasional shark on request. Bottom fishing off this coast is a game of finding productive structure, reading current, and getting a bait down to fish that live tight to the rocks and ledges, and Chris has spent decades learning exactly how those fish relate to the bottom through the seasons. Grouper are his signature, and few guides on the Nature Coast know them better.

What comes through most is how much he enjoys sharing it. Chris has worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to fulfill the fishing dreams of terminally ill children, and his patience with new anglers, especially kids, is part of who he is. He is also good friends with fellow Homosassa captain and In The Spread instructor William Toney, part of the same tight community of guides who have made this coast famous.

In his first In The Spread course, Chris teams with fellow Homosassa captain William Toney to break down offshore reef fishing for mangrove snapper, from finding productive hard bottom to getting these sharp, structure-loving fish to eat and keeping them out of the rocks. It is the first of several, with courses on grouper and amberjack already in the works. When a man who has fished since before he can remember shows you how it is done, you pay attention.

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