Crystal J.
Yelp
My boyfriend and I went on a "party boat" for my birthday to experience some deep sea fishing. I had never been, and he had gone when he was muuuuuch younger and so we didn't really know what to expect.
The way a party boat works is this: You call, and ask to go on a certain date. If they meet their minimum requirement of 15-20 people (or more), they will leave that morning. We had to wait another day because the day we wanted to go, they had not met their minimum requirement.
In any case, we arrived about 20 minutes earlier than what was asked for us. We paid, (it was about $85+tax per person). This includes your bait, license, and trip to and back. This does NOT include the tip for the deckhands, or the $.30/lb cleaning fee for all that you have caught.
Our party boat had less than 20 people, so it wasn't too crowded. There was a young kid, probably less than 13, that was there, but the majority were average aged couples. You are supposed to bring a small cooler with you, and it can have anything you want---no illegal drugs of course, but I brought beer, water, and in my beach bag, brought jerky and snacks. A lot of other people brought sandwiches, etc.
We were informed by our Captain that because the water was cold, we'd have to go out a lot farther south than normal. This ended up being a 2 hour boat ride out. While that is okay, considering that it was a 6 hour trip, it definitely took a lot longer to get back to shore.
Once we were at the destination (the Captain uses a fish locator), we were able to drop our lines. This is a drop only fishing trip. No casting, and there were 2 hooks to each pole. The bait we used had a certain name, but I just called it squid. I would definitely recommend bringing either santi-wipes, or a small towel to wipe your hands with. I ended up getting squid ink embedded in my nails. No biggie, just giving you an idea of what to expect.
Once we dropped our lines, people were catching fish here and there! The majority of what we caught were Vermillion or Lane Snapper----red Snapper was not in season (we were about a few weeks shy), and I didn't see any fish that was incredibly huge.
Once you catch a fish, you call the deckhand over, and they are very quick and were also very nice throughout the trip. I even got tangled up in another fishers line, and they were right there to help.
The only thing I didn't enjoy was that we were only there at the first spot for what seemed like 20 minutes. The Captain told us to bring the lines back up, and then we were onto another place. This happened 2 more times, and while I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I couldn't help but feel that I wanted more time to fish!
They do state that this is for people who just want to try and see what its' like. They offer Charter boats, which are quite expensive, but if you get a big group to go out and split the cost, it is definitely a good choice. You can also trolley, which allows you to cast out your pole as opposed to just dropping down to the ocean floor and reeling back up.
We got to see a shark (very small), and I even had 2 fish on each hook, but in my excitement, forgot to bring my pole on board and lost one....
All in all, we caught a total of 10 fish.
Once we headed back towards the shore, (we tipped our deckhand $20), we got to the dock and the deckhands were able to cut and filet our fish, and even place them in a ziplock bag. Hence, do not forget to bring a cooler with ice. You don't want those fish to just sit out in the hot sun.
Once we arrived back home, we grilled up the fish into some fish tacos, and they were amazing. There is nothing like catching your own food and eating it!
I give this 4 stars because I felt like we could of had more fishing time if we weren't taken 2 hours+ down south into the gulf. I would do it again, but I think I would try the Charter fishing trip next time.
