Great Crew, we only caught 2 fish because it was that time of year. We will try again in May!

all around good

We booked a 3/4 day offshore trip for 8 hours with the family.  We’re two adults, two teenage boys, and one 8 year old boy (5 total).  While the trip was advertised as appropriate for families, it was not family friendly for us for the reasons below.  I’ll start off by saying that the captain/boat was paid their full rate, and the first mate got his full 20% tip.

Online booking was easy.  This charter was rated very high and marked as “angler’s choice,” family friendly, with no negative reviews.  Since our last charter in Florida was 4 hours we booked this charter as 8 hours offshore instead of the full 11 hours offshore.  Communication by app was good and timely, the crew was able to answer questions for us as we were preparing for the trip.

The boat was easy to find, and at a good central location in Morehead City, with easy parking.  We were 15 minutes late but the crew was not fussed and we had good parking across the street.  We boarded the boat with our coolers and we were given instructions about use of the toilet and how sensitive the toilet system is on the boat.  We were also told the 8 year old had to wear a life vest—which we expected.  Other than that, we had to ask their names, and pry for information about how far out we were going, etc.. 

We were told sea conditions were very mild, and the best we could hope for in NC, with 2 foot waves. We were also told fishing conditions are excellent and we’re going to catch some good fish offshore.

The interior cabin was comfortable for our family of 5 but quickly became crowded because we all started throwing up.  This is not our first charter, so we’re not newbies on the water.  But this was the first time we all got sick!  The interior was super loud from the engine, the sleeping quarters below us had things banging around the whole time, and the bathroom (which was cramped) was unusable because of the hard swaying/rocking.  Our family described it as being in a dishwasher.  (Once we got to our fishing location offshore and we were trolling, it was hard to stand on deck without being thrown around.)

One the plus side, the boat moved fast and we got offshore in about 60 minutes.  We were then told that they prepared to target mackerel, and maybe mahi if we’re lucky, but no tuna and no bill fish because we’d have to go further for those fish.  It seems we were targeting the same fish offshore that we could have easily fished for inshore and not spent the time, money, and effort to go so far out into rough waters.  There was no benefit/reward for this longer trip! 

We ended up catching one barracuda and two false albacore—but the first mate didn’t tell us what we caught until we asked him repeatedly to tell us about the fish we caught.  He gaffed it into the boat cooler and moved on with rigging as if nothing happened.  I would think that with each fish, and the first few fish the first mate could have taken time to explain to us what we caught, let the kids take a picture, and help us celebrate.  None of that happened.

The first mate seemed very good at his craft and efficient.  But he was annoyed at one of the kids when he stopped reeling and told him that his lack of effort/reeling is what cause us to lose a fish. 

2.5 hours into the trip we told the first mate we would cut the trip short.  We did 30 more minutes of fishing and then headed back to the marina.  Overall, we were out 4 hours.  We asked if we could recover a bit at the marina and go out for inshore fishing since we have 4 hours left, but they said once the boat gets back to the marina it doesn’t leave again.  When we asked the captain and the first mate what they’re doing with the rest of their afternoon, they told us they’re going fishing.

I think we would have all benefitted from a longer conversation at the start of the trip to set expectations and adjust our approach.  And the captain/first mate could have been more accommodating.  A bigger boat may have also been a better choice for offshore.