Video overview: As a third-generation, Florida native, fishing runs deep in HMY Yacht Sales Professional Mark Mitchell’s upbringing in the Sunshine state. Mitchell worked his way from the Louis...
As a third-generation, Florida native, fishing runs deep in HMY Yacht Sales Professional Mark Mitchell’s upbringing in the Sunshine state. Mitchell worked his way from the Louisiana Gulf Coast to the scattered islands in the Bahamas, mating and captaining a variety of vessels. Later to join sportfishing operations that traveled to fishing destinations that may bare stories equivalent to the tales of Ernest Hemmingway. Mark Mitchell found himself at the helm and working as a full-time captain when he decided to make the transition to a yacht broker. Learn more about Mark Mitchell and his fishing travels and industry experience in this video interview.
Transcript
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Hi, I'm Katie Flannigan with HMY Yachts, and today we're welcoming HMY Yacht Sales professional, Mark Mitchell. Mark, thanks for taking the time to join us today. So let's jump in. What's your story? Where'd you come from and how'd you end up at HMY? Thanks, Katie, for having me. It's an honor to be here with you. Basically, my dad would bring me and my brother fishing every single weekend. It didn't matter if it was inshore, offshore, out of Canaveral, Fort Pierce, Indian River, Mosquito Lagoon. We grew up on a lake. We fished every morning there. So it was just in the blood. We grew up on a smaller boat, 16, 18 footers. As you get older, you look at these big sport fishing boats and man, wonder if I can get on one of those someday. So eventually I got my captain's license and started running the charters and doing operations out of Louisiana to the Bahamas and transitioned into bigger boats and bigger boats and was mating on big sport fishing boats, traveling and stepped up to the helm. You know, we never actually say when you're younger, I'm going to be a yacht broker. I didn't even know what that was. I didn't think of, you know, boat salesmen for a center console or whatever, but yacht broker, I think that our breed just falls into it because we step off the helm and it's time to do something else when you have a family and you can't travel as much. And the next best thing is, uh, is working for a company like HMI. What led me to HMI was back in 2007, I was working for a smaller brokerage firm and it was just a tough time to sell a boat with the economy, the way it was. And a handful of people that I knew that were brokers that transitioned to different companies, a couple at HMI and they basically put in a good word for me with Steve and we got a hold of each other and that was late 2009. The rest is history. I've been with HMI ever since. You mentioned Louisiana. How is the fishery in Louisiana? Unbelievable. We started off in the early 2000s with a good friend of mine that he just wanted to start fishing there and had a 30 foot center console and we got going and we'd go out and you start basically 60 miles fishing the rigs, live baiting, trawling at first. There's no one out there back then, you know, there's more people now, but back then there was, it was a crowd if you saw two boats on an overnight trip. So back then we didn't really know what we were doing and how to fish it. And we learned it pretty quick because it's so fish abundant there. But the tuna fishing, the marlin fishing, wahoo fishing was unreal. And then we on the way back in, catch all the grouper and snapper you wanted and be stopping on a fish box on the way home. You started your career as a mate in the Bahamas and Louisiana, moved on to get your captain's license, transitioned into a full-time captain, traveled the world to various fishing destinations, and then transitioned into a broker. Where did you get to travel? Some of the places we've been fortunate enough to visit, Central America, Costa Rica, Panama, fish pretty heavily. Done some fishing out in Hawaii, Australia, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, and all through the Bahamas. How does your experience help when connecting with clients now? Traveling the different destinations that I have in the background gives me an opportunity to talk to different sport fish guys about those locations and the fishing. And also, I got a lot of cruising customers and being able to talk to them about the destinations and what to expect and where to go and kind of the neat places to hit. Mark, you mentioned you just got back from the Bahamas. How was fishing over there? You know, it was pretty good overall, I would say. We had a good group of guys, including my dad, on the boat. We did two tournaments. We fished the Walker's Cay Invitational, and then we went to the Abaco Blue Marlin Classic. It was slow for us during Walker's, but we made it up in the Abacos and caught some blue marlin and ended up in second place release category. I'd say one of the most memorable parts of the trip, we had a great crew. The captain's great. We had a good mate and the rest of the guys on the boat that were anglers were just phenomenal. Having my dad on the boat and what was special for me was the first blue marlin that we caught on the boat. He was the angler and I got to wire it in for him. So it was pretty special for everyone on the boat. You mentioned Walker's Cay. Can you tell us about your experience? Yeah, Walker's is really coming along. We fished the first tournament last year. This year was the second invitational and we got invited back. So that's good. Carl and Gigi Allen doing a phenomenal job with it. The docks are amazing. The breakwater is great. There's plenty of deep water coming in for big boats. They had several large motor yachts in there and the rest of the structures are coming for the housing and the restaurants. So I think it's going to be one of our hotspots that we visit quite a bit. It sounds like you've built some great relationships with clients over the years and shared some unbelievable fishing trips. You know, as a mate and a captain, being able to call the right people over the years, you develop relationships and can make calls to subcontractors and vendors that you know are going to do a good job for the client, know you're going to do a good job on time and in the right price. And you know, going back to one of the stories for a good client of mine that was stuck in Chub Cay with no steering on a 64 Viking, needed a new steering ram. I was able to make a call and get it on a plane for him the next day so he didn't miss much fishing. And going back to the relationship side of things, I love putting people together that I know get along together. And I've put so many people and clients of mine with other clients and it's neat to watch them kind of combine their fishing trips and fish with each other. And we've even been to Australia a few times with one client that met a handful of my friends over here. And same thing, we get invited to Australia and do a big trip over there. So it's been pretty rewarding for me in that fact. All right, Mark, I have to ask, what does Mr. LTD stand for? Mr. LTD stands for Mr. Living the Dream, which Tom Beckmeyer is certainly doing that. He was dubbed that by his wife, Allison, and her business partner because he lives the dream. You've traveled the world. You've fished a variety of world-class fishing destinations. If you could just pick one, where would it be? That's a tough question. My mom used to say if there was fish in a bathtub, I'd be fishing in there. So fishing all over the place has been pretty neat. Every destination is a little bit different. But over your career, you start to focus on big billfish. And I think Australia is probably one of the better spots that I've been to to do that. All right, Mark, last question. If you could relive one fishing trip with any crew, where would it be and who would it be with? Immediately, Australia. And I'll tell you why. 2018, we did a big trip down to Australia. Our goal was to fish the Great Barrier Reef and the Lizard Island tournament on a 52 Viking called Blacklisted that I sold to the gentleman. And we shipped over there. So we got to bring in the wives. There was three of us, my dad, my good buddy, Tom Beckmeyer, and myself. And we brought the wives for the first week. And they got to catch all the bait, which is big elephant tuna, scalies, and slimies. And then they flew out and we did 17 days on the Great Barrier Reef with seven guys. And there was three New Zealand kiwis, two Australians, and three Americans. 17 days straight without touching land. And we had a blast spear fishing, diving, and then, you know, catching big marlin in the middle of the day, coming back, anchoring out, cooking up. Best trip. And that's going to be hard to top. Mark, thanks for joining us today. If someone has any questions in regards to fishing or boating, how can they contact you? Hey, Katie, thanks for having me. It was a real honor to be here. You can reach me at my cell phone at 407-435-6982. Or my email address is mmitchell at HMY.com. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time.