Mark Hotze, a charter captain based out of Destin, Florida, never thought he would be where he is today – but he knew he would always look for adventure in his life.
“I grew up in Virginia, nowhere near the water, but my dad was a big snow skier and always had an adventure story to share with me during car trips,” said Mark. “When I was very young, I made myself a promise that I would take risks so that I never had to look back and wish I had tried something.”
Mark’s love for the water, however, came much later in life. He grew up playing hockey and skiing, two sports he continued through his college days at Virginia Tech and beyond. When injuries prevented him from pursuing hockey as a career, he decided to leverage his major and took a job in New York City as an engineer, playing hockey with minor league teams on the side. His career eventually led him to a military contract where he landed a job designing weapons for various branches as assigned. Within a few years, he visited 59 bases around the world. During one of his contracts, he lived in Japan where he developed a love for fishing and learned several Japanese techniques that stuck with him.
“Everywhere I went, I tried to do something fun. I’d go sky diving or charter a boat to get out and see learn more about my surroundings,” said Mark. “Japan has a huge fishing culture. I really didn’t know much about fishing at all, so I absorbed what I was exposed to quickly and liked the style of fishing.”
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The military sent Mark to Florida on a contract that ultimately changed his life. “When I came to Destin I, of course, chartered a boat and went fishing,” he said. “It was then I realized many of the anglers here were not fishing the way I liked to fish.”
During his time in Destin, Mark met his now fiancé and became attached to life on the water.
“I started thinking a lot about how I could fish for tuna with jigs in the area, and one day I just walked into a marine marina and told the owner I wanted to buy a boat.”
A short time later, Mark bought his first boat. A Sea Hunt Triton 210 with a big tower and a Yamaha F150 on the back.
“That was in 2017, and I had no idea what I was doing,” he laughed. “I had never driven a boat, and I didn’t know how to hook the boat up and trailer it to the marina. But it was one of those moments when I knew I wanted the adventure. I wanted to learn, and I was driven by a passion for fishing.”
Not only did Mark not know how to drive the boat, he also didn’t understand weather patterns or fishing patterns in the area. Undeterred, he forged ahead, researching everything he could about the fishing conditions around Destin.
“I jumped on my computer and learned that Okaloosa County has a really strong reef section. I downloaded a bunch of charts files and then uploaded them into the plotters on my boat. Pretty soon I had more than 500 fishing spots to try out,” Mark continued
Another contract came for an extended stay in Japan and Mark turned it down. After eight years on the road for the military, he resigned from his job.
“I resigned and decided to go out and fish all summer. I learned a ton from complete trial and error. In October of that year, I signed up for the Destin Fishing Rodeo, one of the biggest tournaments in the area, with the goal of weighing in just one fish,” he said. “During the captains’ meeting for the tournament, I got a lot of skeptical looks from the seasoned anglers around me. It was like ‘Who does this guy in the tiny boat with the light tackle approach think he is?’”
Fast forward to the end of the tournament and Mark walked away with winning most of the divisions and the coveted Captain of the Year award for the 2020 Destin Fishing Rodeo. Suddenly Mark’s life took a sharp right hand turn in a brand-new direction.
“I had no intention of ever running a charter business at all. But people wanted to know how I was fishing so successfully with a jig. I started teaching some seminars, taught myself how to service my boat, and continued to learn as much as I could about this new passion that had taken over my life.”
Mark put almost 2000 hours on his first Yamaha F150 and, though he no longer owns that boat, he still fishes the same tournament every year and has won 46 divisions within the last five years. When it was time to buy a new boat, Yamaha was a must when it came to power.
“I knew I had to keep a Yamaha on the back. It served me well on my first boat and I would never choose another motor. I now have an Everglades with a tower and a single F300.”
During his early years in Destin Mark earned his captains license and now runs a successful charter business year round. “I do this because I want to, and getting paid for what you choose to do is such a wonderful life change for me,” said Mark. “I try to book only four-to-five charters per week and many of my customers have become repeats. That equates to roughly 150 charters a year, which is a number I can manage and still enjoy. It’s never a grind for me.”
Mark has even continued his waypoint development and recently released an Active Captain companion app to help anglers efficiently manage their waypoints, regardless of the software on their boats. He’s even worked with NOAA helping to put on workshops covering the patterns of cobia in the area and how they corelate to weather patterns, particularly the snow in some of his favorite ski destinations.
I keep learning from this life I’ve chosen and the more I learn, the more opportunities open up for me to expand,” he said. “It’s a way of life, it’s not work. The enthusiasm I have for the water, for fishing, for the family I’ve built here - it’s all inspiring. I’m proud of the life I’ve built. I thought I would be in a cubicle forever, but that first boat really changed everything. It’s a great feeling to know that I took a risk, that I have wonderful adventure stories to tell and there are many more to come on the water here in Destin.”
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“I grew up in Virginia, nowhere near the water, but my dad was a big snow skier and always had an adventure story to share with me during car trips,” said Mark. “When I was very young, I made myself a promise that I would take risks so that I never had to look back and wish I had tried something.”
Mark’s love for the water, however, came much later in life. He grew up playing hockey and skiing, two sports he continued through his college days at Virginia Tech and beyond. When injuries prevented him from pursuing hockey as a career, he decided to leverage his major and took a job in New York City as an engineer, playing hockey with minor league teams on the side. His career eventually led him to a military contract where he landed a job designing weapons for various branches as assigned. Within a few years, he visited 59 bases around the world. During one of his contracts, he lived in Japan where he developed a love for fishing and learned several Japanese techniques that stuck with him.
“Everywhere I went, I tried to do something fun. I’d go sky diving or charter a boat to get out and see learn more about my surroundings,” said Mark. “Japan has a huge fishing culture. I really didn’t know much about fishing at all, so I absorbed what I was exposed to quickly and liked the style of fishing.”
The military sent Mark to Florida on a contract that ultimately changed his life. “When I came to Destin I, of course, chartered a boat and went fishing,” he said. “It was then I realized many of the anglers here were not fishing the way I liked to fish.”
During his time in Destin, Mark met his now fiancé and became attached to life on the water.
“I started thinking a lot about how I could fish for tuna with jigs in the area, and one day I just walked into a marine marina and told the owner I wanted to buy a boat.”
A short time later, Mark bought his first boat. A Sea Hunt Triton 210 with a big tower and a Yamaha F150 on the back.
“That was in 2017, and I had no idea what I was doing,” he laughed. “I had never driven a boat, and I didn’t know how to hook the boat up and trailer it to the marina. But it was one of those moments when I knew I wanted the adventure. I wanted to learn, and I was driven by a passion for fishing.”
Not only did Mark not know how to drive the boat, he also didn’t understand weather patterns or fishing patterns in the area. Undeterred, he forged ahead, researching everything he could about the fishing conditions around Destin.
“I jumped on my computer and learned that Okaloosa County has a really strong reef section. I downloaded a bunch of charts files and then uploaded them into the plotters on my boat. Pretty soon I had more than 500 fishing spots to try out,” Mark continued
Another contract came for an extended stay in Japan and Mark turned it down. After eight years on the road for the military, he resigned from his job.
“I resigned and decided to go out and fish all summer. I learned a ton from complete trial and error. In October of that year, I signed up for the Destin Fishing Rodeo, one of the biggest tournaments in the area, with the goal of weighing in just one fish,” he said. “During the captains’ meeting for the tournament, I got a lot of skeptical looks from the seasoned anglers around me. It was like ‘Who does this guy in the tiny boat with the light tackle approach think he is?’”
Fast forward to the end of the tournament and Mark walked away with winning most of the divisions and the coveted Captain of the Year award for the 2020 Destin Fishing Rodeo. Suddenly Mark’s life took a sharp right hand turn in a brand-new direction.
“I had no intention of ever running a charter business at all. But people wanted to know how I was fishing so successfully with a jig. I started teaching some seminars, taught myself how to service my boat, and continued to learn as much as I could about this new passion that had taken over my life.”
Mark put almost 2000 hours on his first Yamaha F150 and, though he no longer owns that boat, he still fishes the same tournament every year and has won 46 divisions within the last five years. When it was time to buy a new boat, Yamaha was a must when it came to power.
“I knew I had to keep a Yamaha on the back. It served me well on my first boat and I would never choose another motor. I now have an Everglades with a tower and a single F300.”
During his early years in Destin Mark earned his captains license and now runs a successful charter business year round. “I do this because I want to, and getting paid for what you choose to do is such a wonderful life change for me,” said Mark. “I try to book only four-to-five charters per week and many of my customers have become repeats. That equates to roughly 150 charters a year, which is a number I can manage and still enjoy. It’s never a grind for me.”
Mark has even continued his waypoint development and recently released an Active Captain companion app to help anglers efficiently manage their waypoints, regardless of the software on their boats. He’s even worked with NOAA helping to put on workshops covering the patterns of cobia in the area and how they corelate to weather patterns, particularly the snow in some of his favorite ski destinations.
I keep learning from this life I’ve chosen and the more I learn, the more opportunities open up for me to expand,” he said. “It’s a way of life, it’s not work. The enthusiasm I have for the water, for fishing, for the family I’ve built here - it’s all inspiring. I’m proud of the life I’ve built. I thought I would be in a cubicle forever, but that first boat really changed everything. It’s a great feeling to know that I took a risk, that I have wonderful adventure stories to tell and there are many more to come on the water here in Destin.”
Back to Blue Tales