Although we were put on some fish the captain was 30 minutes late picking us up from the dock and then while in the middle of the trip he decided to cut the trip short to a 4 hr trip. He did reduce his cost but we were still catching fish and expected a 6 hr trip.
Thank you for your candid review as well as the recommendation.
The charter was for five hours from 1 oโclock to 6 oโclock on June 6, 2022. If you check the weather conditions they were terrible and unsafe. We were about 2 miles offshore and there was a terrible thunderstorm sitting right over Destin coming out to sea. We were on a 26 foot center console boats with nowhere to hide. We were hit with hail, 7 to 10 foot swells and frequent lightning strikes nearby. The wind gust were reported by the weather channel to be between 40 and 50 miles an hour. The captain would not call the trip. He told us he would stay out there as long as we were willing. The captain kept saying โI can do this all dayโ. With the pitch of the boat and getting hailed on thereโs no way we could land a fish safely. A couple of our party began getting nervous about the lightning strikes and told the captain they thought it was unsafe and wanted to go in. The captain immediately turned around and went back to the port. He said โyโall lasted about an hour longer than I thought you wouldโveโ. We were pretty much the last ones in. We were only out about 2 1/2 hours and there is only about an hour and a half of fishable conditions. He refused to give any discount stating, โyou were the ones that called it. I didnโt. I couldโve stayed out there all day.โ The guy obviously has poor judgment and cared more about getting his fees than the safety of the people he was in charge of. On their website it talks about the captain calling the trip off and you get a return of your fees. Apparently if itโs unsafe and the people finally freak out and wanna go back, you donโt get your money back. So we paid $800 for about an hour and a half of fishable conditions.
Iโve gone on at least 30 paid fishing trips out to sea. This is the first time a captain did not bother to help you unhook the fish. And the captain kept exclaiming that โthe tuna were running heavyโ in this area. When our first catch was being reeled in he started hooting and hollering about โwe got our first tunaโ. It was about a 12 inch bonito. All of us kind of looked at each other on a boat like what in the heck is he talking about. Then we caught our second and last fish of the trip which was another bonito and he still was saying we were catching tuna. It was like he was trying to use a Jedi mind trick convincing us that bait fish was tuna. I told him that the fish looked an awful lot like bonito. Then he said โwell itโs related to the tuna familyโ. Really bizarre. The captain kept going back-and-forth over the exact same area where our lures were clogged up with seaweed within moments of putting it in the water. He said โthatโs just how it isโ and that theyโve been affected by the seaweed all week. I asked if there is any other area we could go to, or other type of fishing where we could avoid the seaweed. He basically ignore the question. We had gone coastal fishing the day before with another captain. He was aware of the seaweed issue and went to an area where that was not a problem. I mentioned it to this captain and he ignored it saying โthat was yesterday.โ In my opinion the captain was lazy and greedy and probably would be only effective in perfect conditions where he could run his quarter mile up and down a small stretch and get back to you the Harbor within 20 minutes.
I have half a mind to report him to whatever the governing agency is for Fishing captains. It was that bad.
The charter was for five hours from 1 oโclock to 6 oโclock on June 6, 2022. If you check the weather conditions they were terrible and unsafe. We were about 2 miles offshore and there was a terrible thunderstorm sitting right over Destin coming out to sea. We were on a 26 foot center console boats with nowhere to hide. We were hit with hail, 7 to 10 foot swells and frequent lightning strikes nearby. The wind gust were reported by the weather channel to be between 40 and 50 miles an hour. The... More
I really want to apologize for the fishing trip not going as planned. Weather conditions unfortunately can change and if the weather is not bad when we leave then trip does not get called. Unfortunately some bad weather came upon you all and captain tried to get yall back in. The captain tries to joke and be entertaining while he is out on trips as well so I apologize if you did not like his joking and entertainment. Once again we are sorry.