Shallow Point Charters

Captain David Beede has been running Shallow Point Charters out of Tampa Bay since 1998, which puts him well past the two-decade mark of guiding anglers across the bay’s roughly 450 square miles of flats, channels, and passes. Based out of Oakellar Avenue in Tampa, it is a one-boat, one-captain operation, the kind of charter business that runs on reputation built trip by trip rather than marketing. That longevity means Beede has spent close to thirty years learning how this particular stretch of water changes with the seasons, the tides, and the weather, knowledge that is hard to shortcut in a business built around finding fish.

The boat is a 26-foot Gause-built vessel rigged for the kind of fishing Tampa Bay is known for, with twin PowerPole anchors for holding position on the flats and a 14-foot tower for spotting fish in skinny water. Trips target snook, redfish, tarpon, trout, snapper, grouper, and sharks depending on the season, and Beede runs everything from light-tackle inshore trips to nearshore and deep-sea outings for anglers who want to chase something bigger offshore. Fly fishing and sight-casting on the flats are part of the regular rotation too, which is a specialty not every general charter captain in the area offers. For anglers who want something different from a standard rod-and-reel trip, Shallow Point also runs bowfishing charters, adding another way to spend a day on the water beyond conventional casting.

Beyond the standard charter, Shallow Point runs kids fishing camps and takes on corporate and group bookings for anglers who want a guided day on the water as a team outing rather than a solo trip. Beede has also competed in local fishing tournaments with a handful of first-place finishes over the years, which tends to come up when clients ask about his read on where the fish are running that week. The boat holds up to six anglers, so groups can book the whole charter rather than share a spot with strangers, which makes it a practical option for families or coworkers who want to fish together instead of splitting up across multiple boats.

Bookings run directly through the captain, and trips are scheduled around tides and weather rather than a fixed daily slot, so it is worth calling ahead to lock in a date, particularly during peak tarpon season in late spring and early summer when demand for guided trips on the bay climbs. As a mid-to-upper-range charter, the pricing reflects a full-day, one-on-one experience with a captain rather than a shared or budget outing. For visitors who want an honest, small-operation fishing charter rather than a large multi-boat outfit, Shallow Point is a long-running option with a captain who has fished these waters for close to thirty years and built his business almost entirely on repeat clients and referrals.