From the start communication was very minimal. Information on what was expected and needed of us was not given. I was initially expecting to have to sign a waiver or at least have a safety discussion before proceeding to get in the boat since it was a SHARK fishing trip. But that didn’t happen. So we rolled with it and headed out. We wouldn’t have even known where the life jackets were at if we hadn’t of asked.

Fishing is fishing, we all know it takes patience and you’re are not guaranteed to catch anything. We had three bites in the first three hours. Two were tarpon (which he was fixated on) and one was a shark, we landed it at 4.5ft, it was fun but short lasted. And that was definitely the highlight of the day. I’m not a fisherman if I was I wouldn’t pay a charter to catch fish. That being said I feel like in three hours you would have more than a couple of bites. I know on other charters I have experienced just that, lots of “fishing”. The way the captain boasted about the amount of sharks he could catch and the size gave us hope that the trip would get better. It did not.

After moving spots twice earlier we were at the 3.5 hour mark. We asked to move back inland where Brandon said we would have a better chance at quantity. Small big it didn’t matter to us, we were just bored and wanted to catch something like anyone else would. So we reeled the rods in a prepared to move.

11:48am CLICK CLICK the boat doesn’t start. I’m a mechanic and knew what was wrong with the boat immediately. I offered my knowledge and it wasn’t taken at first. After some panicking/cussing ensued on his end I offered to help. This is where it got really unprofessional with a phone call to his father about different things wrong with the boat how this was f’ed up and that was rigged etc.

I figured he had a back up plan. Which was his buddy who was at the gym and had other plans. So we were stuck floating with a storm headed for us. That’s where I took over, I ended up swapping some of the trolly motor batteries out for the engines batteries. I put three batteries in parallel to get it to crank. Not only were multiple battery cables improperly crimped with non-marine eyelets, but at least one bad battery.

Come to find out this had been a persistent issue they have had as the captain stated “the boats been making this clicking noise but it usually starts after a few tries” . I also found out the boat had been previously sunk and rewired hence the homemade battery cables.

At 12:56 I had the boat running I even put the engine cover back on for him. He offered to continue fishing (our time ended at 2pm) which I declined not wanting to get stranded. So we headed back to the marina. On the way in he said we would “get a little discount” I figured he was going to do us right for the botched trip.
At about 1:20 we were back on dry land. In quote “well since the trip was cut short and you saved my ass by being my mechanic I’m going to give you 65 dollars off the total trip.”

It was 550 dollar trip total. An hourly price would be 91 an hour. We missed out on two hours of fishing and I fixed the boat for him. We paid in total of 480 dollars. A mechanic fee to come save us would’ve been well over 150 an hour not to mention a mobile marine mechanic probably charges more.

The mechanic bill, tow bill and wasted time would far exceed the the cost of the entire trip and this review.  I was fully expecting to not be charged just in the fact that I had to save us.

All in all we caught one shark in three hours, we wasted the other three hours. And got charged for nearly the whole trip all while playing the mechanic. A captain should be able to work on his boat, troubleshoot basic issues, and have a set of tools that at least work.

I’m not a Karen but I figured a good detailed review was needed. I Would NOT recommend, spend your money else where on a more professional outfit. Don’t waste your time like we did.

Brandon put us on the fish really quick. Loves what he does and has a great attitude. 5 Star