Captains always have backup plans, right? We trolled around for 4 hours dragging around a few dead ballyhoo and a few lures in one spot. The boat never stopped. We never got within 6 feet of a pole, never even moved on the boat. When I asked if we should try something different, the captain said he didn’t have any other bait and the other place was too far. Completely disappointed. Been on many fishing charters before and understand you can’t always predict fish. But, there has always been a backup plan—drop some cheap bait to the bottom and catch anything that bites it… Something. He said sorry, and that they were biting there in the morning… Also didn’t offer any discount which would have been nice. Oh and the trip back was a bit more scary. It was after dark the waves were crashing over the bow. We were soaked when we got dropped off. No navigation lights either. I am sure this captain has had some good fishing trips but this was not a professional tour and should be taken with caution.

I booked Snook Sport Fishing for my husband’s 50th birthday.  I told the company ahead of time that my husband gets sea sick if we go too far out but that he loves to fish. I was assured that this was no problem and that we would not be taken too far out.  I paid a $100 deposit weeks in advance and everything was set.

The day before the trip, I received a text message informing me that I must bring cash. We have never had to do that before and that should have been my first red flag. But it was my husband’s 50th birthday and I didn’t want to scramble around looking for another charter.

I won’t even go into the nightmare of trying to find them but that was an event. As soon as we (my husband, daughter, son and myself) boarded the boat, they wanted their money. Another red flag but no big deal at the time.

George and Elan I believe were the staff members but definitely not the Captain as advertised on Trip Advisor. George asked what we wanted to catch and we told him anything. We were just excited to be on a charter in Costa Rica which boasted to be the best sports fishing in the world. I made sure to repeat that this was in-shore fishing.

We started out driving 12 miles out. We stayed where we could still see the shore line but farther than I had anticipated. We finally came to a spot where George slowed down and Elan dropped the lines in the water. Within minutes there was a bite a Elan helped my son pull in a pretty nice sized Mai Mai. However, instead of staying still in the spot or at least close to it, George pulls away from the spot where we just caught a fish.

Now George starts taking us out farther and farther away from the shore.  I finally stood up and reminded him that we could not go too far out. He brought us back in closer to the spot where my son caught the first fish and now it was my husband’s turn but this is where it all started to go down hill. There was a bite; one bigger than the first. My husband starts to reel it in and Elan starts pulling on the line. First true sign that these guys really do not know what they were doing.  As the fish is coming up, Elan grabs the line so hard that the fish pops (a Mai Mai twice the size of the first one) right off the line. We knew it was an accident but boy were we disappointed and then furious when we realized that it would be the last bite of the day. This is also when we started to realized that there was no net to catch any fish we were reeling in and no live bait, chum, nothing. At this point both George and Elan were talking and playing music as if we were on a boat ride. George was just taking the boat in circles again and again and occasionally they would yell out, “Here fishy fishy,” as if the fish would jump into the boat with us.  Elan cut up some pineapple when he noticed our frustration and it was delicious. Unfortunately, that ended up being the highlight of our fishing excursion.

My husband was getting more Impatient by the second by the lack of concern for us to catch fish any longer. It was like they thought we were happy to catch one and be done. My husband just said to end the trip but we were only 2 hours and I paid money for this nonsense. I stood up and advised George that we have a boat of our own so a joy ride with some snacks is not what we are looking for, we came to fish!

George said we could go to another area to catch Spanish maceral. We agreed &  I silently prayed that this birthday present would get better. We head over to the new location and it does not get better.  George us just riding up and down the area and we are dragging lures up and down the drag. Other boats were anchored but when I asked George why couldn’t we do that he said it was impossible. Well is was impossible because there were no anchors on the boat.  We caught nothing else that day while other boats were reeling them in.

Neither guy realized or cared about our disappointment until we got off the boat & intentionally decided not to tip the $100 we had

Clear water , rough seas, we did catch 1 rooster. I would have down sized the line to allow for better bite in clear water. Guide did best he could with what had to work with.