Long review, and feel free to read on, but if not, just know that I absolutely recommend Capt Joe and Atlantic Sportfishing for a trip near Topsail, NC…  #takeakidfishing #makingmemories

Booked an 8-hour trip with Capt Joe and we had an absolute blast.  Me, two of my boys (15yo and 8yo) and my dad teamed up and we caught them all day long.  Spent a little time trolling, then moved to the bottom bite to keep the kiddo’s busy.  We then pretty much caught fish all day long and we were fortunate enough to also be around some hungry amberjack and king’s.  Both of my boys had the thrill of landing a couple sizeable ambers on light tackle, and then I had the incredible opportunity to boat a ‘smoker’ of a king mackeral.  We even got it weighed and certified as a citation.  My dad landed a small shark to go with everything else, and I’d say we caught probably 10 different species throughout the day.  Seriously one of the best trips I’ve ever paid for and well worth the $$$‘s.  Capt. Joe rocked it all day, doing all he could to put us on fish, keeping us entertained and engaged.  His mate, Tyler, rocked it all day too.  Keeping bait on hooks, helping us unhook fish, and his positive youthful attitude was a joy to have on the boat.  He’s a great kid (also 15yo) which was really cool for my boys in that he worked hard, but was also very relatable with regard to the conversations of the day.  Finally, that Contender is straight TOP SHELF.  If you know anything about boats, you know that Contender’s are the absolute shizzle of saltwater fishing boats.  One day…one day…maybe I’ll have my own.  Until then, I’ll just rebook with Capt Joe.

My family and I had a great time. Very Nice boat with plenty of room for the six of us. It only took 45 minutes to get us out around 35 miles with the two 300 hp motors. We started of trolling and caught a few fish but we switched to bottom fishing and quickly started reeling then in. The captain put us right on top of them and we brought home 36 fish. We’ll definitely be booking again with them next year.

Starting out, i was pleased with overall professionalism with both Captain and first Mate. To my liking, they addressed safety and how things will work once underway very thoroughly. This gave me the confidence Crew was equipped, trained, and prepared for adventure. This was the most important requirement for me.
My family didn’t do well with Sea sickness but Captain and First Mate worked hard to still make trip fruitful. we had some action and Captian was putting boat in position for catching some big fish. unfortunately, at no fault to crew, we had get my sea sick family back to port.
i will definitely be booking another trip next year in search of the “Big One that got away”

It was our first deep sea fishing trip, and we loved fishing with Captain Joe and his first mate Randy!  The boat was awesome, and they were great at coaching us on what to expect, and what to do on the boat.  I would definitely go on another trip with them!