This was the first time my wife and I fished for Walleye, or anything in on of the Great Lakes.  We are Gulf Coast saltwater fishers.  Captain Jamie Respecki put us on the fish in short order.  There was a little chop to the water and a it was a little bumpy on the way out, but trolling back with the waves was pretty smooth. The boat was set up for this kind of fishing with planer boards, downriggers, and Dipsy-Diver rigs. We caught three limits well withing the time for our half-day evening trip.  Captain Jamie has fished these waters all his life and it shows. 
Since we are from Houston, Texas, the only challenge we had was getting the fillets home.  Captain Jamie was kind enough to freeze the fish overnight for us, which we picked up in the morning on our way out of town. We found a place in Cleveland (our next destination on our trip) that packed them in dry ice in a heavy styrofoam shipping container.  We were going to overnight them home with FedEx, but since it was Saturday on Labor Day weekend, they would get home until Tuesday.  We ended up keeping them frozen with ice on top and buying a small soft-side cooler with a hard insert and a air-tight, leak proof lid (Titan by Arctic Zone) and some reusable ice packs.  The hotel froze our ice packs for us the night before we flew home from Indianapolis, and we just checked the cooler as a piece of luggage.  They made it home just fine with no hassles from the airport. 
Overall, a near perfect trip.

We had a fantastic trip.  Captain Respecki and his son James (our mate), we’re courteous, efficient and extremely effective in allowing us to catch our limit of Walleye in a remarkably short period of time.  Both the Captain and his son were great with my 8 year old grandson. The boat was clean and well maintained.  The Captain made contact with me the day before our trip and we decided to leave the departure area earlier than planned.  We had a beautiful sunrise on the water and were on the way to catching our limit of Walleye as the sun rose.  They knew where the fish were and I couldn’t have asked for a better fishing experience.

Jamie definitely knows the lake as we caught plenty of walleye on this trip.  He knew exactly where to go and what to use to get fish in the boat immediately.  His well outfitted boat accommodated the 5 of us nicely,  A friendly and personable captain such as he makes it all the more enjoyable.  His expertise continued even after the trip as he cleaned and filleted all our fish quickly.  I highly recommend Riptide for both seasoned anglers as well as novices.

Riptide with Captain Jamie was a great experience!  Can’t imagine a better day.  Jamie and his son James are amazing and made everything easy and enjoyable for our family.  They are incredibly knowledgeable and patient and made it awesome for our kids.  Can’t say enough about what a great job Jamie did.  We caught over 20 fish and had a blast even though we had never been on a fishing boat and were clueless at first.  Jamie and his first mate James took care of EVERYTHING and made us feel comfortable the entire way.  My son and daughter had never fished and they had the time of their lives.  What a day to remember.  The pictures of them holding the Walleye they caught and beaming with pride are what it’s all about.  Thank you so much, Jamie, for treating us as friends. We will be back with you next summer.