The boat was great, really clean and well taken care of!  It had gps , depth and fish finder and plenty room.  I thought it smoothed out some really rough water rather well.

Captain Rodney and his first mate were very attentive too our needs, and very friendly.  They baited the hooks and removed the fish so our hands stayed clean.  Even pulled up and moved twice when the fishing was too slow, then got us on some fish. 

The boat, crew, price and hole experience was everything the description said it would be.  Can’t wait to go back!

Captain Rodney has all the skills. You felt he was in control of his boat and equipment at all times, making you feel safe. He was probably the most attentive guide I have ever had, no line went unbaited and he was ready to assist immediately on every tight line. He was also good fielding both our tourist questions as well as our fish questions. The real deal! I was also happy to support this small business owner.

We had an absolute blast fishing on Olivia J Charters. Our captain was well educated, funny, and very kind. He’s easy to be around and knows what he’s doing. We caught red fish, snappers, catfish, and a bonnethead on the boat. We saw jellyfish and dolphins as well. The ride in and out was smooth, although we did take motion sickness medicine ahead of time. This trip was a deep sea trip, on a Sunday morning for half a day. We will be doing this again and booking with Olivia J Charters. 🐟🐬

Had a great first time on the Gulf. Our shared charter carried three instead of the scheduled five due to no shows. I appreciated that we didn’t spend much time waiting to see if they would show up and we went ahead and started fishing. The Captain was easy to talk to and the mate, Ethan, was always handy to rebait my hook when we were bottom fishing.

We started out trolling for kingfish which was a great way to get some meat but they provided little fight between the heavy tackle and their tendency to swim towards the boat. They are still a very impressive fish to see pulled out of the water. Also, when I hooked a smaller kingfish bottom fishing with the lighter spinning tackle it put up a heck of a fight. I can see why you wouldn’t want a large kingfish on light gear.

After the three of us limited on Kings we switched to bottom fishing. Where as a boat we caught 2 legal red snapper, countless undersized red snapper, 1 kingfish, 2 small sharks, a Spanish mackerel, and a few baitfish. We definitely didn’t get bored.

I didn’t notice at the time but I am pretty sure we stayed out past our scheduled time, which I appreciated. As soon as we finished up the Captain was getting ready to head out again. However, we had had his undivided attention until we were ready to go, while Ethan got ready for the next group.

The fillet on the kingfish is a bit grey when it comes off the fish but as you can see from the picture I included it got nice and pretty after a few minutes in the cast iron pan.

In closing, here are a few things that I would find helpful if I was looking for a charter again.
The meat was filleted and the Captain allowed me to have input as far as skin on/off as well as if I would like it in steak chunks or as a whole side.
The boat rule is sharks over 4 ft. will be released. Which is reasonable, for a meat shark you wouldn’t want anything larger and it’s much more sustainable to keep smaller, fast reproducing sharks.
The ride from the dock to where we began trolling took just under an hour, a decent chunk of this time is spent leaving the marina and going out past the jetty where you can begin to pick up speed.

I would recommend going with Olivia J and if I find myself in the Houston area again I plan on taking a second trip!