See photos - Hard to say if I would recommend overall or not.
I can recommend the equipment and first mate.
Capt I had too little interaction with to have much of an opinion. Said hello, asked what we wanted to fish for, gave no thoughts of his own on what was/wasnt biting or suggestions, etc. Outside of that didnt see or hear from him till he waived goodbye. No โHey that didnโt bite yesterday, letโs try for 2hrs but if nothing, switch tooโฆโ as I would expect from a Capt.
Not much room or anything for young kids to keep entertained.
The First mate was good, talked with us, offered beverages at several points, provided snacks, lunch was probably best Iโve had on a charter anywhere.
Morning started good, bringing in ~ 5 small Tuna we tossed them back, but now wish we had kept the bigger 2. Also caught 1 Dorado and lost 1 more. All that in ~ first 1.5hrs of fishing. After that, not a single bite, but from what first mate heard from Capt, other boats were reporting the same thing, another couple we saw before and after, said they didnโt have a bite all day.
Thatโs fishing for you, canโt blame first mate for it. Again sounded like it was a slow day, but Iโm a little surprised we didnโt pick up and go to a different location overall, or get a suggestion to try for a different fish if where we were wasnโt seeing bites. The ad also says they use live bait. If they use live bait, it was no where to be found, as the only bait I saw was dead and in a cooler. Maybe it was alive that morning though, no idea.
All that said, the communication with the management of La Patrona leading up to, and after fishing, was not effective and frustrating. Very unclear directions, on what they could or could not do to help in packaging up anything caught, how we would get to the boat, etc. Furthermore, they were not understanding of us being tourists, first time in Costa Rica, that this may be our first time planning a fishing trip like this, etc. When they decided they are done answering questions, they stop.
Also be prepared to pay $40+ for a 10min round trip car ride from Jaco to Herradura where the boat launch is. And if you want to go the 7 min from there to JimmyTโs to have your Fish Vacuum sealed and frozen or buy a cooler to put on ice to take with you, be prepared to pay another $20. It cost ~ $120 for the 1.5hr trip from airport to hotel, so if La Patrona scheduled your shuttle to airport, it would cost ~ $340!
Finally, the communication around our pickup the day of, left a lot to be desired. All we were told was that they would be here at 6:30am. No other instructions. They texted us saying someone was there, no mention of what kind of vehicle, that they would ask for us by name, nothing. At the time we were outside, a red taxi was there asked if we were going fishing, said to hop in. Thinking that was the ride mentioned in text, we got in and left.
The taxi was the wrong vehicle. So the taxi charged us $20, and La Patrona still charged us $40, blaming my brother and I for the mistake we had no way of knowing, didnโt offer a refund, and barely offered an apology. Simply stopped responding as mentioned.
So while I understand fishing can sometimes be slow no matter the capt/crew, the communication up to, before, and after, left a negative impression overall.
See photos - Hard to say if I would recommend overall or not.
I can recommend the equipment and first mate.
Capt...
Charter Operator replied
Hello Robert, you are absolutely correct, our crew should not be riding on top the entire trip. They usually ride on top the entire trip back to give clients space because almost always people like to sleep on the way home. Our report from your captain is that you hooked 3 sails, our crew handed them over and they were lost. Sails are strong fighters and if you are not experienced with fighting them and reeling it is very difficult to bring them in. We also reported that you did catch a 2 mahi... More