This was my first visit to The Bahamas and my 12 yr old son’s first time out on the water. I always find it challenging to choose a charter in a destination that I’ve yet to visit especially in tourist trap towns such as Nassau. I researched many charters and my heart kept bringing me back to Hook Um Charters. I remember reading a review that read this was a family owned and operated charter and because I wanted to bond with my son it felt like the right choice. I went into the charter with tempered expectations. I only booked 4 hours because I anticipated my son would be tired by the end. The Captain and his Uncle/Mate Mitch were both very personable, knowledgeable, and encouraging to my son. Mitch will tell you he’s an elder statesman of these waters and he has a wealth of knowledge. In my experience booking half day charters, the first two hours are the best indicator of the type of day you’ll have. In our first hour we trolled and didn’t get a bite. We managed to pull up a baby barracuda which was so small we didn’t even realize it was on the line. There were sharks around and that was scaring away all the fish. Mitch changed the bait and rigs up multiple times. We were discussing whether or not we should sail towards the shore and do some bottom fishing but I wanted to stay the course a bit longer. As we got into our second hour we saw birds circling. We headed in that direction and within minutes we had fish on. We were getting fish on faster than my son and I could reel them in. My son caught his very first fish which was the reason for booking the charter. A shark nearly took it from him but he still managed to reel it in. Excluding the Barracuda, we caught 6 fish: Bonito and Skipjack. We lost 2-3 on the line. For a first time visit to Nassau and my son’s first experience on the water, I couldn’t have asked for a better day of fishing. When we returned Mitch filet and clean half the fish for me and I was able to take it to Margaritaville to have it cooked and served for lunch. The other half I left with Mitch because I had no place to store it at my resort. I plan to return to The Bahamas with my fishing buddies and when I do I will definitely book with Hook Um charters again.

We had a great morning fishing trip with Hook Um Fishing!  Very knowledgeable and they are committed to putting you on fish!  In their own words, “with your luck and our skill, we’ll catch fish!”  We got into a big school of Yellow Fin on our trip and had it not been for a feisty 10-12’ Bull shark, we’d probably still be pulling fish in!  We were able to land 4 on the boat, lost 3 more on the lines to the shark, and then the school to him.  Jamie and Mitchell are not only two genuinely great people to spend a morning or day with, they are absolutely top notch fishermen and the next time we’re in the Bahamas, we’re already planning our next fishing trip with them.  Book them with confidence that you will have a trip you won’t soon forget.

We had a great 1/2 day trip with Hook Um.  They were very responsive to communication, they were on time and ready to go.  We tried to find Wahoo, Mahi and Tuna but they weren’t biting.  We caught about a dozen Strawberry Grouper and 1/3 dozen Grunts. The crew was helpful and worked hard for us. Overall it was a great experience and I would go out with them again.

WOW! CAPTAIN JAIME & KELVIN ARE AN INCREDIBLE TEAM ON THE WATER!
THEY TRULY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!  WE KNEW IT THE SECOND CAPTAIN JAIME PULLED OUT HIS BINOCULARS & BY THE WAY KELVIN DROVE THE BOAT WHILE COMMUNICATING WITH JAIME WHILE THEY BOTH SEARCHED FOR ANY AND ALL SIGNS OF FISH OUT ON THE WATER.

WE HAD A LITTLE BIT OF A SLOW START BUT WE HAD NO COMPLAINTS AS THEY ARE GREAT COMPANY PLUS THE MUSIC & VIEW COULDN’T HAVE BEEN BETTER. BUT THEY WERE DETERMINED TO TRY EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO HELP FULFILL OUR SOON TO BE 13 YEAR OLDS BIRTHDAY WISH OF CATCHING AN EPIC FISH! CAPTAIN JAIME MUST’VE CHANGED LURES AND RIGS 15 TIMES UNTIL HE FOUND THE RIGHT COMBINATION FOR THE CATCH. HE DID NOT STOP MOVING THE WHOLE TIME.

THEY ARE NOT ONLY INCREDIBLY KNOWLEDGABLE TO THE FISHING GAME IN THE BAHAMAS BUT ALSO EXTREMELY WARM, KIND-HEARTED, FUNNY & ENTHUSIASTIC GUYS THAT WANT NOTHING BUT THE BEST FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS.

THANKS TO CAPTAIN JAIME & KELVIN, THE BIRTHDAY BOY WAS ABLE TO CATCH A WAHOO & MAHI MAHI AND HIS 8 YEAR OLD LITTLE BROTHER CAUGHT A BARRACUDA.

CAPTAIN JAIME CLEANED AND FILLETED THE FISH PERFECTLY! WE GAVE THEM THE MAJORITY OF THE FISH TO SHARE WITH THEIR FAMILIES FOR EASTER DINNER BUT HAD PLENTY LEFT OVER FOR LUNCH & EVEN ENOUGH TAKE HOME TOO! CAPTAIN JAIME & KELVIN SENT US OVER TO JIMMY BUFFETS MARGARITAVILLE (LITERALLY RIGHT BEHIND THEIR BOAT) FOR THEM TO COOK UP SOME OF THE FISH FOR OUR LUNCH.  OUR BOYS LOVED CAPT’N JAIME & KELVIN SO MUCH THEY RAN BACK OVER AND INVITED THEM TO COME FINISH EATING THE FISH WITH US. CAPTAIN JAIME & KELVIN HAPPILY OBLIGED AND JOINED US WITH SMILES.

OUR HOTEL FROZE THE FISH FOR US AND I JUST COOKED IT FOR OUR FIRST DINNER HOME. WE MISSED SHARING IT WITH CAPTAIN JAIME & KELVIN BUT IT WAS STILL AMAZING!

WE WILL 100000% BE BOOKING TRIPS WITH THEM EVERY YEAR WE VISIT THE BAHAMAS! THANK YOU BOTH FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE EASTER DAY!

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

YOUR FRIENDS, THE ZOMBRO’S

There’s never any guarantee that you’ll catch fish, but you want a crew that will do their best to get fish-on.  Coming off a week of storms, hard to say what will happen, fishing tends to be more unpredictable….but Hook Um’ hustled the who time.  They kept the boat moving, didn’t waste time in dead areas, switched from trolling to reef and back to trolling.  We managed to avoid a skunked day, catching a few small reef fish and one shallow water marlin before heading back to port.

Jamie and team are top notch, super friendly and accommodating, boat is clean, gear good….they put in a hard day’s effort doing everything in their power to make sure we were happy.

If you are down in Nassau, don’t hesitate to book with Jamie and Hook Um’.