About
Captain Shawn Safris, and a boat named after a joke
The first boat was a Grady-White. Shawn is a Grateful Dead fan. The name wrote itself, the lightning bolt went on the transom, and twenty-something years later it is still on the boat.
Who is Captain Shawn Safris?
Shawn Safris is the United States Coast Guard licensed captain and owner of Gradyful Fishing Charters in Pompano Beach, Florida, with more than twenty years fishing this stretch of the South Florida coast.
The captain
Twenty plus years fishing this stretch of coast
Shawn grew up fishing in New Jersey and moved south for the obvious reason. He has been running charters out of Pompano Beach long enough that he stopped needing the chartplotter to find the wrecks.
What guests write about most is not the fish. It is that he is enjoying the day too, and that he explains what he is doing instead of just handing you a bent rod. He is as happy putting a nine year old on their first kingfish as he is putting a serious angler on a sailfish.
He also answers his own phone. There is no office, no dispatcher and no booking department. When you call the number on this site, the person who picks up is the person driving the boat.
Licensed and inspected
United States Coast Guard licensed captain, state licensed vessel, and a saltwater fishing license that covers everyone on board.
Conservation minded
We keep what you will eat and release the rest properly. Descending devices on board and size limits respected, every trip.
The crew
The mate is half the reason the reviews read the way they do
Guests name the mate in their reviews more often than they name the fish. Rigging, untangling, gaffing, coaching a first-timer through a fight and keeping the deck safe while six people are moving around: that is the job, and doing it well is why nobody on board has to think about it.
If you are bringing kids, tell us when you book. The crew adjusts the whole plan around them, and it works. Guests mention that in review after review.
Where we fish
Pompano Beach, and everywhere within a short run of it
We run out of Pompano Beach, between Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton. We fish the reef line, the wrecks and the blue water from Lauderdale up through Deerfield, Boca and the rest of the Gold Coast.
- Pompano Beach
- Fort Lauderdale
- Deerfield Beach
- Boca Raton
- Lighthouse Point
- Hillsboro Beach
- Delray Beach
- Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Ready when you are
Captain Shawn answers his own phone
No booking engine, no call center, no back and forth with a receptionist. Tell him the date and how many people, and he will tell you straight whether the fishing is worth your money that week.
Prefer email? captainshawn311@yahoo.com