Captain Krage Gardiner grew up in Greenville, North Carolina, 2.5 hours from Nags Head. As a young boy he went fishing every chance he got. Fishing mostly ponds, small lakes and the Tar River.

His first offshore trip was out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center at the age of seven. From that summer on, Captain Krage knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. During the summer breaks from high school, he took advantage of opportunities to mate on private boats. The day after graduating high school, he moved to the Outer Banks and landed a job as a mate on a charter boat.

Four years later he began fishing out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center aboard the Outlaw with Captain Mike Spencer. The following year he teamed with Captain Nevin Wescott aboard the Wildfire. They had 3 great seasons together filling the box with big tuna.

The next year Krage joined Captain Steve Daniels aboard the Temptation. Marlin were Steve's specialty. Krage finished his mating career fishing 12 seasons with Captain Buddy Cannady aboard the Captain BC.

During Krage's 20 years as a mate, he fished several tournaments. He came in first place in the Hatteras Marlin Tournament, first place in the Oregon Inlet Billfish Tournament, two second place finishes in the Hatteras Harbor Marlin Tournament and a second place finish in the Wrightsville Beach Marlin Tournament

In 1991, Krage was voted "Mate of the Year" by his peers. Krage has been a licensed captain since 1986. In 2000, he purchased the Fin Galley and began his charter business out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center.

Captain Krage makes his home in Manteo, North Carolina with his wife, Heather, who works as a registered nurse and two very busy sons, Chase and Taylor.