1. Firstly this Captain had COVID about 10 days before the trip and should not have been accepting charters at this time. He did not disclose this until about 3/4’s into the trip. My 15 YO son (on trip), 12 YO daughter, and wife are currently experiencing COVID symptoms, I am seeking a remedy from Fishing Booker. In hindsight I should have cancelled the trip at the time I became aware of the Captain’s illness. He did not report obtaining a negative result.
2. The trip was discussed extensively by phone and text on multiple occasions. Having come off a disappointing backcountry trip in which Snook and Juve tarpon were targeted in Everglades park up against and under mangroves the Captain promised a new and different experience. We did essentially the same thing for the majority of the trip. Casting into and under mangroves for Snook in very tight quarters. Not my idea of a fun, exciting trip especially when there was no bite for admittedly average to below average casters. Some excellent casts were made by my 15YO son and me went unrewarded. And there was more than our fair share of bad casts too but we were very clear about our skill limitations. But enough casts that should have been good enough were made. Even the Captain could not entice the fish out of hiding and with live bait I remind you. The required casting was mainly skips and flips under mangroves which would likely have led to a short battle anyway as the fish would have ran even deeper than the mangroves and broken off.
The fish were skittish and the Captain was very loud. Slamming live well and dry storage doors, jumping down onto the deck, etc. He also had a very noisy trolling motor and no pole was to be found on the boat. We were far from stealthy.
(I will credit the Captain in trying live bait.)
3. The Captain never ventured out of sight of US 1 and had a very clear standard route that he follows on his GPS. No remote less-pressured areas were explored.
4. Clear water fishing was promised but most locations were very dirty to absolutely muddy. The primary species targeted was Snook as in the previous BackCountry trip and there was no sand or grass flats fishing for species such as Bonefish, Tarpon or Permit as discussed and expected.
5. The most productive area we ventured to was a high boat traffic channel bridge under US 1 that included spectators from within 50 yards of our launch and even another boat anchored within 15’. it was not a private, pristine or serene setting. We often had to wait for boats to pass between casts. I would venture to say there was no area fished that we would have been unable to locate and fish had we rented a boat to explore the area on our own.
6. The captain was not properly outfitted to land large fish at the bridge nor did he have the gear rigged properly to land the very large fish near the bridge.
In one instance a trophy Cubera Snapper was brough boat side by me. Since the Captain’s net was in tatters (which he knew before the trip) he inexpertly grabbed the leader and broke the fish off.
In another case a large rod bending fish, likely a big Snook broke off within seconds as the terminal tackle was out of balance with the size/weight of the fish. The Captain was using 30 pound leader for an application that clearly required leader of 50- 80 pounds to manage the fish size, and snook gill plates. I also question the quality of the knots that were being tied throughout as some of the terminal tackle and bait losses seemed more to do with the knots that the line breaking point. 

I would say the Captain did not put much energy or effort and show a strong work ethic in the experience. And the Charter fee was among the highest for the Half-day PM charters available in similar boats.

The most positive thing to say was it was nighttime on the water in Keys for the conclusion of trip which was a new experience for me and my son. That’s about it.