Captain was great but obviously fishing booker doesnโt relay anything other than automated messages when your supposedly talking to the captain of the boat. Sent a message a week before the trip saying which species we were looking to go after. The automated response was โlooking forward to itโ Showed up and it was obvious that info never went to the captain. 3 poles set up for right hand and 2 for left..( we were all right handed) 1 pole rigged for grouper ( that was one of the 3 species I requested that we target)
Boat was not equipped to accommodate 5 people fishing. Boat not equipped to stay over fishing spot for more than 1 drop and by then you have drifted .2 miles away and you have to reset. Spent a grand and brought home not a thing.
Again the captain was very accommodating but over very unsatisfied with the experience.
Captain was great but obviously fishing booker doesnโt relay anything other than automated messages when your supposedly talking to the captain of the boat. Sent a message a week before the trip saying which species we were looking to go after. The automated response was โlooking forward to itโ Showed up and it was obvious that info never went to the captain. 3 poles set up for right hand and 2 for left..( we were all right handed) 1 pole rigged for grouper ( that... More
Hey Shane. So I want to address all of your complaints in turn here.
First off, we take a lot of people fishing on our boats and Iโm very sorry if your specific requests via the messenger feature on this app for Mahi, grouper, and snapper were not relayed to your captain. I do recommend next time just telling your captain what you would like to catch when you arrive.
So Mahi is a pelagic species (meaning highly migratory) and are very hard to target as they are never (and I mean never) in the same spot since they are constantly moving. We definitely do not โtargetโ mahi on a 4hr trip. Grouper just came into season, and they are a ton of fun to catch! But again, on a 4hr trip it is way more luck than anything to get into a nice grouper to take home. Red snapper are not yet in season so we cannot target them.
On our 4hr trips we try to make sure we get yโall the best opportunity to have some fun and catch fish. I never recommend the 4hr trip for those wanting to โfill the freezerโ. Our captains know that the best opportunity you have to bring home fish to eat is targeting king mackerel, mingo snapper, and white snapper so we try our best to allow you to fish for multiple species. There are a lot of variables out of our control.
Now to address โstaying over the fishing spotโ. Drift fishing is a very common technique for fishing, and is used by quite literally every charter boat in Destin. Iโm not sure if this was yโallโs first experience fishing in the gulf or not, but we have to drift around the reef to be able to target certain species. As people catch fish, we have to help yโall with the fish (remove the hook from its mouth, take photos of yโall holding the fish, releasing the fish or icing it down). This sometimes allows for the boat to drift off of the reef and we reset over the reef and begin fishing again.
Iโm very sorry yโall didnโt have a good time, and I apologize myself for not helping set the expectations better. I hope the next charter company you fish with can meet your expectations better.
-Capt. Payton
Hey Shane. So I want to address all of your complaints in turn here. First off, we take a lot of people fishing on our boats and Iโm very sorry if your specific requests via the messenger feature on this app for Mahi, grouper, and snapper were not relayed to your captain. I do recommend next time just telling your captain what you would like to catch when you arrive. So Mahi is a pelagic species (meaning highly migratory) and are very hard to target as they are never (and I... More
We got to the Dock Early and waited for who was supposed to be Captain Payton because thatโs what we were told. We ended up with a different Captain. The boat wasnโt ready to launch. None of the fishing gear was ready to go. The live well was full of rotting squid and had to be cleaned out on our dime. Had to fill the boat up with fuel and then he had to go buy the bait and ice. Opened up the ice well and it was full of rotting squid and had to be cleaned out on our dime. Couldnโt find a good hose to spray it out at the pumps so we had to back the boat out and move it to another area to clean it out once again on our dime. Then we thought we were ready to go and someone yelled for our captain ย He docked the boat and went over and talked to the other gentleman for awhile then came back to the boat. He asked us what we wanted to fish for and I said we would like to catch some amberjacks. We were told by Captain Payton that he would get us on some Amberjack. The other Captain said we wouldnโt catch any keepers and that we should go catch some Mengos and some triggers. We caught our limit of Mengos which weโre about the size of a bait fish when we were told we get on some bigger fish. A shark grab our smaller fish and snapped off one of our rigs. There were no rigs setup ready to go so we had to wait a good while for our captain to get one ready. Finally he suggested we go try to get on some better fish. We trolled for a little while and jigged some. Then we came back to the dock. Between being unprepared , the boat not being ready and the endless story telling by our captain. I would say we got to fish about an hour and a half out of our five hour trip. I have been on a lot of charters and this by far was the worse one.As a Former Marine I usually donโt speak negative about anyone but when you spend 1125 dollars plus a 225 dollar tip you expect better. I know you donโt always catch fish but when your not prepared to take your party out it puts the odds against you. I apologize for this negative review but the only thing that would have made this trip better is a full refund. I even left a 20 percent tip against my better judgement.
We got to the Dock Early and waited for who was supposed to be Captain Payton because thatโs what we were told. We ended up with a different Captain. The boat wasnโt ready to launch. None of the fishing gear was ready to go. The live well was full of rotting squid and had to be cleaned out on our dime. Had to fill the boat up with fuel and then he had to go buy the bait and ice. Opened up the ice well and it was full of rotting squid and had to be cleaned out on our dime. Couldnโt find a... More
Fred Iโm going to address this the best I can.
1. I (Captain Payton) never once promised you amberjack, nor would I ever. This isnโt a meat market, you donโt get to pick out the species you want and then catch it. I told you amberjack was not much of a chance and you insisted on it, and I told you exactly the type of fish we could catch and keep. A limit of vermillion snapper is also not an easy thing to catch.
2. Capt. Magnum would never use your paid for time for anything other than driving and fishing. I know for a fact he also gave you extra time after the trip should have ended to let yโall fish more. Also, If a rig wasnโt ready for you for shark fishing, itโs because you never even told me yโall wanted to catch a shark, as well as catching a limit of vermillion snapper. Rigs have to be tied when you want to change up the fishing. Itโs part of fishing.
3. I recommend you go on more charters if you think a limit of fish is the worst charter youโve ever been on. Best of luck with your next charter.
For those reading this review, please see the limit of snapper they caught in the picture below.
Fred Iโm going to address this the best I can. 1. I (Captain Payton) never once promised you amberjack, nor would I ever. This isnโt a meat market, you donโt get to pick out the species you want and then catch it. I told you amberjack was not much of a chance and you insisted on it, and I told you exactly the type of fish we could catch and keep. A limit of vermillion snapper is also not an easy thing to catch. 2. Capt. Magnum would never use your paid for time for anything... More