Scott Fawcett

Captain Scott Fawcett owns Off the Chain Fishing Charters in Stuart, Florida, the Sailfish Capital of the World, and was named Florida Captain of the Year in 2016. With close to four decades on the Treasure Coast, he is one of the top light tackle captains around, known for sailfishing, kite and dredge fishing, and chasing giant permit. In his In The Spread video, Fawcett teaches how to fish for giant permit in Florida, from locating the fish to the presentation that earns a bite.

Instructor's videos

Stuart, Florida bills itself as the Sailfish Capital of the World, and Scott Fawcett is one of the captains who earns the town that title. Fawcett owns and runs Off the Chain Fishing Charters out of Stuart, he was named Florida Captain of the Year in 2016, and he has built a reputation as one of the top light tackle sailfish captains on the Treasure Coast. For anyone tired of watching the same names win every sailfish tournament, Fawcett is the one who quietly keeps beating them.

He has earned it over a lifetime on this water. Fawcett moved to Stuart as a kid in the early 1980s and has fished the Treasure Coast for close to four decades. He started mating for his father at fourteen, ran his first boat as captain in 2001, and spent years chasing sailfish and marlin in tournaments from Mexico to the Bahamas to the Outer Banks before settling into his own program at home. What clients notice first is his knack for finding fish and then staying on them, all delivered with a humble, easygoing manner on the dock and a sharp, focused approach the moment lines go in.

Fawcett's specialty is the light tackle sailfish game that Stuart is famous for, and he fishes it at a high level. He is an expert at live bait kite fishing, deploying kites and live baits along the current rips and color changes where sailfish push in on a winter front. He is also one of the sharper dredge fishermen around, slow trolling teaser dredges rigged with artificial baits to pull sailfish into the spread when the drift bite is slow. Beyond the sails, the same water gives up mahi, wahoo, kingfish, blackfin tuna, and a mixed bag of snapper and grouper on the bottom.

Through all of it, Fawcett simply works for the fish, and it shows in his results.

In his In The Spread videos, Fawcett shares the Treasure Coast sailfish tactics that have made him a tournament winner, from live bait kite fishing to dredge presentations and reading the conditions that turn the bite on. If you want to catch sailfish where they are caught best, learn from a Captain of the Year.

Beyond the offshore game, Fawcett is also deadly on one of the flats' most maddening targets. In his In The Spread video on catching giant permit in Florida, he breaks down how to find and feed these notoriously spooky fish, from reading the water they hold on to the presentation it takes to get one to eat. If you want to learn permit, or the Treasure Coast sailfish game that made his name, learn from a Captain of the Year.