I want to start by saying that we had a good experience, not a bad experience, and not an excellent experience. Upshot: With a few minor changes, our trip could have been excellent.
The captain and deck hand were very kind, polite, and treated us with respect. The boat was clean and in excellent condition. It was more than we expected. The gear on board was in great condition. They were very prepared. We paid for 8 hours and we got the whole eight hours, even when the fish were not biting at all they did not try to shorten our trip.
Areas of improvement:
-The four of us were novice anglers and once we told them that it felt like the crew and captain did not do much to get us involved in the process. We would have loved to have learned a thing for two, but most of the fishing was them fishing and us doing half of the reeling in. So we were spectators for most of the time. The fish were not biting much that day, so I think there was a ton of opportunity to teach us a thing or two. We after all booked an 8 hour fishing trip, so we had interest in the sport and activity. I could not tell if we were treated different in this due to our lack of experience or if it is not something they do. Again, the captain and crew was very polite and respectful, just did not go out of their way to make it a full experience for us.
-The boat captain and crew’s English were only okay. They could communicate what they needed to and have basic conversations, but when we’d as more complex questions about fishing practices, fish behaviors/preferences, or other more complex topics, their English was inadequate. We think that might be part of the reason for the above observation. Being a $600 dollar charter for tourists, we would have hoped their English was better, but maybe my expectation were too high. Luckily we had someone who spoke pretty good spanish with us.
-Once the fish stopped biting, the deck hand kinda stopped trying. We only had minimal success trolling for marlin and mahi mahi. For the first few hours they would switch out the lures or bait fish, and trying new things to get them to bite. We spent 30-45 minutes fishing for bottom fish and caught three grouper fairly quickly. That was the only real success we had and instead of staying there and letting us drop lines into the deep and try to catch more, we left and went back to trolling. However, the last three hours or so of trolling, no lures were changed and we just cruised around. It was beautiful and was a nice pleasure cruise, but did feel like they gave up on the whole fishing thing.
-The three grouper we caught were not offered to us at the end of the trip. The advertisement said all fish could be kept by customers, but that was not the case for us. Now, to be clear, we had a flight that day and wouldn’t be able to take them, so the crew keeping them was genuinely what would have happened anyway, but it is the principle of it. If we were not flying out that day, we would have cooked them up that night and I feel it is not our responsibility to ask if we can have the fish we (they?) caught.
-Our deck hand was very nice, but only had a year and a half of fishing experience. When asked why he was choosing certain lures, he said because he liked their colors haha. Maybe that is why we had such little success. His experience on which lures actually worked for certain fish was basically zero. Now, I know you have to learn somewhere, but at least the captain who had more experience could have given some input.
-The all-inclusive drinks were great. The all-inclusive lunch and snacks were not. The two small burritos were very very good, but was not enough. They provided a bag of Lays potato chips, bag of Kirkland nuts, and granola bar for each person. They need to step up their lunch game for an 8 hour day on the water. Luckily we brought our own snacks.

If we’d caught lots of fish, maybe this review would be different, but it did allow us to be very objective about the whole trip.

We love to fish and go on guided trips and this has got to be one of the best crew there are! Hard working and so knowledgeable! Within the first hour both of us had mahi-mahi on at the same time! Within four hour we were limited and they kept going to let us catch and release for the rest of our time! Thank you Jose and Joel for making it a wonderful experience!

We had a wonderful time the fishing was not the best unfortunately a hurricane had just past and the water cold and fish were scattered.  We had a couple take downs but nothing stuck.  The crew made sure we had a good time though. From awsome photo ops of the Arch, and a show of feeding the sealion with the left over bait on the way in. Will definitely book again

One of the best fishing trips I’ve been on! The crew was awesome and knowledgeable. We trolled and caught a few small fish. I’ve been wanting to hook a marlin. We were able to hook one towards the end of our time, I fought it for a little while but it got away! Not my time to catch one, but like I said ….. The Blue Tail and it’s crew, one of the best!!!

Good experience considering the water conditions (continuous large swells). While we only got 1 (mahi mahi) on the trip, it wasn’t for a lack of effort. Crew (Captain Ishmael and Luis) gave max effort. Got a 15 minute dolphin show and saw a turtle. Offered to switch to bottom fishing but a party member was already sick, so we declined. Took great photos by the Arch and with “Pancho”.  Equipment and boat were clean and in good shape. Good fishing conditions permitting, I wouldn’t hesitate using this boat and crew again.