Meet Our Team
Captain Dustin Moore
Owner
Captain Dustin Moore is the owner and operator of Hernando Beach Charters. He has a love of the ocean going back to his childhood in California learning to surf. Dustin is a professional fishing and spearfishing guide, PADI certified free diver, PADI certified open water diver, and USCG licensed master captain. He has a passion for sharing amazing experiences in the ocean with a focus on marine conservation and sustainable fishing and spearfishing practices.
Captain Josh Barnett
Captain
Captain Josh grew up in Spring Hill Florida and has been fishing since he was 10 years old. Starting out in his neighborhood ponds learning how to catch largemouth bass, spending every evening and weekend fishing any body of water within 5 miles. After his first 8lb bass, it was safe to say Captain Josh was hooked! (Pun-intended)
Fast forward a few years and hundreds of bass. Josh realized there was much more to offer with saltwater fishing. The excitement of having no idea what you could pull up was intriguing to say the least. With having no clue where to start, Josh starting fishing the local gulf fishing piers seeking knowledge and spectating the more experienced anglers. The piers were so much fun targeting snook in the mornings. And by evening the Mackeral were running along with sharks.
Captain Josh is a 50T Master Captain and also the proud owner of the Sailboat “Stormalong” that lives in the Florida Keys year round. She has seen many of fish on her deck including wahoo, mahi-mahi, mutton snapper, grouper, tuna, trolling the deep blue waters and barrier reefs from Key Largo to Key West.
“I am extremely grateful and excited to be a part of the Hernando Beach Charters family. It is a truly wonderful experience to share my passion for fishing with others. I get to pass that thrill onto others what it feels like to catch the big one.”
Captain Jordan Knoten
Captain
Captain Jordan has been a professional captain since 2019 when COVID 19 allowed him to pursue his dream of “Making a Living on the Water.”
Ending up on West Coast of Florida since his parents moved him down from Idaho in 1998, he instantly fell in love with the salt life. Graduating high school in Sarasota, he found a lot of his free time spent on boats with friends either fishing, wakeboarding, or sandbar hopping.
He has hisSailing Endorsement and has spent countless months sailing in the Florida Keys captaining live-aboard charters specializing in free-diving, snorkeling, sailing and fishing.
Captain J-Knot moved to Hernando Beach in 2021 and he and his family instantly fell in love with this fishing haven. He is a newer addition to the Hernando Beach Charters Captaining Team and cannot wait to be a part for your next charter.
Captain Sal Botarri
Captain
Captain Sal was born and raised in Florida and has been in and on the water since he was a young boy. Learning to fish and swim in the blue waters of South Florida and The Keys he now has been living his dreams on the Gulf Coast for the past 20 years. He is a USCG Licensed Master Captain and PADI certified free diver who loves pulling on fish almost as much shooting them.
Captain Liz Kim
Captain
Liz grew up in the waters and mountains of California, fishing, kayaking, and climbing. An avid outdoors(wo)man, she is passionate about sustainability and Earth conservation. She graduated from University of California, Davis with a degree in English and emphasis on teaching. Liz is a licensed USCG master captain and PADI certified free diver.
Brandon Stevens
Divemaster & Instructor
Brandon Stevens is the Divemaster for scuba charters here at Hernando Beach Charters, and is the owner and instructor at Hernando Beach Scuba. He has over 3500 logged dives in the ocean, springs, lakes and rivers. From drift dives to ship wrecks, spearfishing to sight seeing. He is an instructor in 17 categories with SDI and 13 with PADI.
Aside from Scuba diving, Brandon enjoys 1/4 mile drag boats and just all around high performance vehicles.
Captain Jerry Guerra
Spearfishing Guide
Jerry Guerra has an adventurous spirit and a passion for the ocean and outdoors. He is the owner of Neptonics. A Spearfishing free diving company that designs, manufactures, wholesales and retails, customized spearguns, speargun parts, diving accessories, apparel and more. He was raised minutes from the west coast beaches of Florida. Under the guidance of his father Jerry Sr., with whom he still dives with today, Jerry started free diving the open water by the age of five and was tank diving soon thereafter. His love for the ocean soon became an obsession. His passion for the ocean and outdoors began when he joined the Boy Scouts. There he learned wilderness survival, canoeing, pioneering, backpacking, orientation, and outdoor ethics.
While in the Boy Scouts of America he received the highest honor, Eagle Scout, by the age of 17. At age 18 he joined the United States Marine Corps, and became an instructor for Nuclear Chemical and Biological defense, Water Survival, and a combat dive Instructor. He confounded and impressed his associates with his remarkable diving skills, and soon became the lead dive instructor. Jerry completed his military S.C.U.B.A. training with re- breathers, enriched air Nitrox, and Tri-mix, taking him to depths below 280 feet.
Traveling the world as a civilian, Jerry has dove in California, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, West Virginia, Mexico, Costa Rica, The Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Peru, Belize, Australia, Tanzania, Tobago, Dominica, Columbia, UAE, and Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Jerry has conditioned himself to hold his breath for over a four-minute period of exertion and over six minutes motionless. This ability takes him to depths over 200 feet without a tank, which allows him to be exposed to larger fish. He considers his greatest achievement this far to be the massive 272-pound Yellow Fin Tuna speared off the coast of Costa Rica in November of 2004 With his aspirations set for world records he continues his quest for the “next big fish”. He uses what the ocean shows him to spawn ideas for new spearfishing gear.
Jerry also climbs, backpacks, mountaineers, canyoneers, adventure races, mountain bikes, and skydives. He has climbed in Zion National Park, Arches National Park, Canyon lands National Park, Yosemite National Park, Peru, Ecuador, Ireland, Mexico, Mt. Rainier, Norway, Iceland, Argentina, and Chile.
Years Spearfishing: 32
Favorite place to dive: Areas with Dogtooth Tuna
Favorite Species to Hunt: Dogtooth Tuna
Biggest Fish: 282 Yellow Fin Tuna
Favorite Book: The Old Man and the Sea
Go To Speargun: 55 Amero
Deepest Dive: 202ft
Jason Ledger
First Mate
Jason grew up on and in the waters of the Gulf. At a young age, he was diving, spearfishing and fishing while chasing those trophy catches and gaining a passion for the outdoors. He is a doctor by profession but an outdoorsman at heart and would rather be fishing, kayaking, snowboarding, or anything else outdoors. Jason loves to pass on his fishing knowledge and has outlandish stories.