- October 15, 2026
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Perhaps you’ve spotted one of the giant boats at Fort Myers’ Southwest Florida International Airport and wondered why it’s there. If so, you’ve fallen exactly into Fish Tale Boats’ plan.
That boat, ostensibly a symbol of the Sunshine State, is also a symbol of Fort Myers-based family business Fish Tale Boats — that is, it’s a rotating display sponsored by the boat retailer since 2013. They now have a total of three set up in the busy airport.
“People come from somewhere dark and gray, come down to Fort Myers and have blue skies and sunshine and boats right in front of you,” says Travis Fricke, vice president of operations and second-generation to help run the business.
His brother, vice president Justin Fricke, chimes in: “Millions of people go through that terminal.”
It’s a massive marketing opportunity for the Frickes — the first generation, Bruce and Diane Fricke, purchased Fort Myers’ Fish Tale Boats in 1996. Bruce Fricke, who died in 2010, started in the boat business, working as a forklift driver. He eventually moved to Fish Tale Marina as a boat rigger, mechanic and fiber glass repairman before eventually moving into sales. When the opportunity arose to take over the ownership, he jumped at the chance. The Frickes would not disclose how much they paid to acquire the retailer.
“When you first do that jump, you worry, you have a young family and you’re purchasing that and it just was a lot,” says Diane Fricke in an interview. “But you always look ahead.”
From the start, the goal was to grow the business and keep things in the family, if all went well. And things have gone pretty well, even amid a topsy-turvy boating sector, high inflation, high interest rates and more obstacles. In the last decade, the firm has posted a threefold growth in revenue, to around $50 million a year today.
In the boating business, of course, both successful family transitions and sustained growth periods aren’t a given, says Phil Purcell, CEO and president of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida. Passing from first to second generation often has a success rate of only 50%, a number that goes down to 20% when transferring from second to third. (Those generational business translation challenges mirror other industries, according to numerous reports and studies.)
Still, if any place is the place to do it, it’s Florida — the number No. 1 state for boating, Purcell says.
“You’ve got more shoreline, more access, so when you think Southwest Florida, it’s fantastic — you have all the little islands, it’s a little shallower than the Atlantic,” Purcell says. “Your prevailing winds are lighter for the most part, and so it really lends to a lot of great boating, a lot of great exploring.”
Despite how predisposed to the boating business Florida may be, the Fricke brothers — Travis is 41, Justin is 39 — weren’t always convinced that this was the industry for them. They were never pushed in that direction. Sure, they spent their young adulthood washing boats and answering the phones. But it took time to become a sure thing.
“It started to get fun,” says Travis. “You started to see the boating lifestyle and what you could do, and you realize, Hey, this is a great industry. You’re out on the water as much as you want to try to be and it’s a lot of connection to local roots.”
The Frickes see the business of buying and selling boats as inherently personal and inherently connection-based. The vast majority of their customers come from around the area — boat shows form a big part of their marketing strategy. Their staff has longevity, with many averaging at least 15 years at the company. And they maintain one of the largest boat service centers on the west coast of Florida, according to Fricke, which even includes boat pick-ups.
“We keep it positive and we don’t do other tactics and close the door and lock them in,” says Travis. “That’s not how Fish Tale runs. It’s not how a family business would run things. So we treat them like we treat family.”
While sales take up the largest percentage of revenue, service plays a role as well. The company has around 50 employees, which include technicians and support staff. And the customer care makes a difference to potential buyers. Boat prices at Fish Tale Boats range from $50,000 to about $1 million, so long-term service is inevitable.
The Frickes have also seen some major transitions, both in the external market and in their internal world. In 2016, after 20 years at their Fort Myers Beach location, they decided to up the ante, moving to their current Tamiami Trail spot. Fortunately, lessons learned at their first location helped them quickly make a mark in their new hub.
“When we were out on Fort Myers Beach, you either advertised or the only way was word of mouth when you’re there — it’s just a real niche market,” says Travis. “We feel like it was not the school of hard knocks, but real good interpersonal relationships with the community. I think it helped when we hit Fort Myers right on 41, because we kept that mentality.”
In the first few years after moving to U.S. 41, the Frickes were stunned by just how much business arrived from mere proximity. People would drive by, wondering about the new boat dealership. Some would even come in and ask what had happened to the former Acura dealership that had been there. Shortly after the opening of their new location in Fort Myers, the Frickes also decided to open two smaller stores in Naples and Bonita. Within a few years, the dealership was starting to see “explosive growth,” says Travis.
Some of that is consistent with what was already happening in the maritime industry, according to Purcell. Shortly before the pandemic, boat dealerships were already starting to see an upturn. But in the wake of 2020, marine businesses went up 35%. Yet that sudden jump has also had a negative long-term impact.
“That’s an untenable thing to maintain, so now it’s coming back down to earth,” Purcell says.
As consumer credit has surged, the costs of boats have increased and people are less likely to spend big. That has perhaps also led more independent boat dealers to sell — even industry leaders. In August, for example, Blackstone’s Safe Harbor Marinas bought Oldsmar-based boat chain MarineMax for $1.5 billion in a cash deal. Several activist investors had made moves to push toward a sale of MarineMax, which has more than 120 locations worldwide.
But as some boat sellers seek external investors, the independent owners can earn a bigger share of the market by offering something different, Purcell says. “When you see those things happen, that’s more consolidation, but that gives the independent operator an advantage,” Purcell says.
For their part, the Frickes’ business is personal. One of their greatest challenges came around the 2008-2009 recession, when the economic market took a steep downturn and their father, the family patriarch, died.
“Practically no boats were created for that model year from manufacturers,” says Travis. “I look at the charts now and I just can’t believe it happened. It was tough times, just trying to stay afloat. Many marine businesses didn’t make that transition.”
The loss of their father meant that the two Fricke brothers stepped up, leading the company with their mother at the helm. Travis and Justin Fricke were only 25 and 23 years old, respectively. But that period led to some of their bigger decisions, namely moving to the U.S. 41 location and expanding their space.
Now, the goal is simple: keep growing the business and, to some extent, keep having fun. The Frickes aren’t overly worried about the pressure to sell, because they know they want to keep Fish Tale Boats in the family. And they think their customers value that as well.
“As long as we have a succession plan for the future, there’s no reason to [sell],” says Justin. “We feel that we have a process in place where we’re going to take care of the customer and we provide a value to them that (others) don’t provide. They just sell the boat and say, ‘Have fun. Good luck.’”
