Long Shot Charter Fishing with Captain Experiences

Recent Reviews of Long Shot Charter Fishing

4.0

based on 4 reviews

Jason

Verified Review

This was a HS Sr graduation fishing trip. They caught 6 fish on a 6 hr trip. This was an extremely disappointing booking. I would not recommend.

Crew was polite but for the money this was not something I’d be proud of as a Captain. “They couldn’t get away from the Dolphins for 6 hours” was the reason we were given for the meager returns.

Our feeling is the crew just didn’t want to deal...

Jason

Verified Review

Scroll for more

Response from Kelia:

As the owners we want to respond to the innate amount of the inaccuracies of this review. First, those boys caught over a dozen fish as the picture you posted proves. 2nd, when you first booked with us you tried to book the 4 hour trolling trip which Captain Experiences working directly with us, advised you we could not offer as they are not productive this time of year. Which is why we switched you to a 6 hour bottom fishing trip as we wanted to ensure these kids the most opportunity to catch fish.

3rd, as the reviewer you were not aboard the boat and the ones aboard advised the crew to stop bottom fishing for snapper and wanted to "big game fish." Despite the advice we gave you at booking, before the rest of them left the dock that morning you pushed the crew to King Fish, to which they advised you that King Mackerel had not shown up yet and their best bet was to bottom fish.

During the bottom fishing the dolphins, which are a protected Marine Mammal were not allowing many fish to be harvested as they were taking them right off the hooks. The Captain made a 5 mile run to get away from them in attempt to harvest more fish. Unfortunately, they followed. (They do have tails and swim fast.) The Crew gave them the option to spend the last hour and a half attempting to troll and the group agreed, this was after the Crew reminded them that King Fishing was not productive but since that's what they wanted to do they would switch styles and give it a go. They did catch two Bonita during that time (the silver fish in your picture.)

The Crew absolutely did not dismiss or not want "to deal with" these kids, that is not how we run our business. On the contrary, they wanted them to have the best option at catching fish and tried to dissuade them from switching to a style that they knew would be unproductive. If they would have of allowed the Crew to continue bottom fishing they could have of mitigated some of the dolphin loss, which is a protected Marine Mammal and we have no control over.

Also--sir you booked this trip a month ago not a year. You booked our shortest bottom fishing trip and were advised multiple times that all this trip allowed time for was to bottom fish for snapper and that King Mackerel, Red Grouper and Cobia were not options on this trip. You also booked a lower rate as it shows in the review title it was at our Spring rate, but we honored it and ran for a lower price than we normally would have of. We hope next time you book with any operator, you heed the information they give you at booking and what is possible rather than holding them to impossible standards especially when you weren't even aboard the boat yourself. It's somewhat insulting to make an assumption about how the Crew handled things when you weren't there to witness it. We always strive to produce the most fish possible as well as the best experience possible for all of our guests, but we also always listen to them even when it's against our better judgement. Unfortunately, that can sometimes cause the "meager returns" as you stated. Which resulted in a ZERO gratuity for the Crew which you advised was "polite and nice," unfortunate for them they took the direction of the guests and it cost them part of their wages for the day.

Also I want to be super clear that I as the Owner was on the dock when this trip backed in and heard your wife and YOURSELF when you were picking the boys up, both say things to the sentiment of "great catch," "what a haul," "you guys look like you had fun," etc. If there had been any breath of negativity I would have of intervened and spoken to you directly however everyone was all smiles and taking pictures and yet you chose to slam us on the internet. I wish you would have of expressed any issues so that you could have of spoken to the Crew directly which would have of allowed you to have the Crew's actual actions rather than taking one side of the story to base an inaccurate 1 star review on when you weren't there to witness it.

Scroll for more

Response from Captain Experiences:

Hey Jason - thanks for your feedback, and I’m sorry to hear that the trip did not live up to your expectations, especially since the team worked with you personally over the last few weeks to get this trip scheduled (and gave you a few hundred dollars off the rate). Dealing with dolphins is always tough, but from your photo, it does look like they caught a dozen or so fish, so I’m glad the boys didn’t come home empty handed. We’ve worked with Kelia and her team for over two years because of their pristine reputation for hospitable, productive, and fun charters; hearing this feedback was certainly a shock. We have offered you a discount towards any of our other 3,000+ trips around the world and hope you will take us up on the offer and get back on the water.

Scroll for more

William

Verified Review

Captain was great ,deckhand was even better! Weather was not with us still caught a few fish a lot of time looking, boat needs maintenance

William

Verified Review

Captain was great ,deckhand was even better! Weather was not with us still caught a few fish a lot of time looking, boat needs maintenance

Scroll for more

Joshua

Verified Review

My brother and I had a great time with Captain Joe and his first mate, Dusty. They were a lot of fun, knowledgeable, and it was a great experience. Thanks for the good time; oh, and we caught so many fish, around 20 Bonita, 4 Spanish, and even one mahi! We took the Spanish and Mahi to J Michael’s after and that was also delicious; thanks for the recommendation Joe and Dusty!

Joshua

Verified Review

Scroll for more

Dylan

Verified Review

Had an amazing trip. AJ was the man and kept everyone baited and entertained. Captain Joe also did an amazing job keeping us on fish. Did the 6 hr morning bottom trip and caught bonito, red snapper, vermillion. Even added a bonus spanish from the bottom. Caught 7 different species, overall great trip and definitely recommend.

Dylan

Verified Review

Scroll for more

Potential Target Species

Color-coded seasonality below is based on .

	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Amberjack	Good	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good
Bonito	Good	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good	Good
False Albacore	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Good	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good	Not Ideal	Not Ideal
Gag Grouper	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Not Ideal
Jack Crevalle	Good	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good	Great	Good	Good
Kingfish	Good	Good	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Good	Good
Lane Snapper	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good
Mahi Mahi	Great	Great	Great	Great	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great
Mangrove Snapper	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Not Ideal
Pink Snapper	Good	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good	Good
Red Grouper	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good	Good	Great	Good	Good
Red Snapper	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good	Good	Great	Good	Good
Spanish Mackerel	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Good	Good	Great	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Not Ideal
Vermillion Snapper	Good	Good	Good	Great	Great	Great	Great	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good
Wahoo	Great	Great	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Good	Not Ideal	Not Ideal	Good	Great