I’ve never written a review before but I had such a great experience with Gold Coast Fishing Company I feel the need to share. Captain Todd Brill gave me the best birthday.

Within an hour of being on the river my husband and I had doubles on. Because he has been fishing Lake Michigan and the St. Joseph river his whole life he has a vast knowledge and experience with local fishing holes.

We have also done fishing on the big lake and a family fun fishing trip which all went just as well. If you are looking for a fishing charter in south west Michigan you won’t go wrong with Gold Coast.

After having taken a 25 year absence from steelhead fishing on the St. Joseph River I scheduled a trip with Capt. Todd. I wanted to introduce my 10 year old son to this exciting experience and knew our best chances would come with a guide.

Two days after my son’s 10th birthday on April 4th we were ready to board with Capt. Todd. The conditions were less than favorable with high murky water and moderate winds.

The Captains dialogue was professional and honest and we enjoyed learning of some of his river experiences while motoring to our first location. The river boat was clean, organized and comfortable.

After relocating once or twice the Capt. hooked and my son landed our first fish, a keeper brown trout. The second fish was a keeper steelhead landed by my son’s neighborhood friend. Two nice fish and boys, guide and dad were very happy. Thanks Capt. looking forward to scheduling again soon.

Twice we’ve had the opportunity to fish with Gold Coast, once on Lake Michigan and once on the St. Joe River. Both were great experiences. In the past we had a bad experience with another charter, down in Florida, so we were a little nervous to take the kids out on a charter again.

Capt. Todd provided a family friendly fishing experience, the kids had an awesome time and learned a lot throughout the day. We’ll be booking a lake trip again with Gold Coast again this summer.

I have gone fishing with Capt. Todd Brill several times. He is extremely friendly, professional and knowledgeable. This last trip at the end of April, I brought my 82-year old mother-in-law, my 11-year old daughter, and 3 other middle-aged adults.

We all landed fish … including my mother-in-law and my 11-year old! The catch included a record sized Coho Salmon, a monster King Salmon (it fought for approximately 5 minutes!) a Steelhead that was easily 11 lbs, and a large number of smaller Coho. A great time was had by all.

Even though it was extremely windy (wind around 25 mph!) Capt. Todd knew where on the lake to go to minimize the effect of waves – nobody got sea-sick! He also has a great network of friends and professionals on the lake so he was quickly able to locate where the fish were biting – and as importantly, where they were not. Not really surprising given his warm and friendly nature.

Together with his professionalism, his safety-first attitude and his dedication to make sure we had a good time, I was confident that my family was going to enjoy ourselves. I was not mistaken and my expectations were exceeded. I highly recommend Capt. Todd and the Gold Coast Fishing Company.