We’re going down to my parents’ house on Amelia Island for a little vacation, and I thought the boyfriend would really have a good time going deep sea fishing or whatever it is they do out there. It’s not really my thing, but it certainly wouldn’t kill me to spend a day on the water with some beers and have somebody else bait a hook for me, and maybe we’d catch something I can cook.
So I was looking online, and there’s TONS of companies - how do you tell which ones are reputable? Affiliations? Is there a review service somewhere? (Do those magazines do reviews? I’m a periodicals librarian and we get tons of boats n’ stuff magazines but I don’t read any of those.)
Prices seem to vary all over the place, I assume based on size of boat or something - it would just be the two of us. Can we have a good time on a little boat with just us, or do people join groups, or what? You can tell I’ve never done this before - when I was a kid my dad took me fishing off piers and from a little fishing boat all the time, but I’ve never gone salt water fishing at all. Suggestions?
Catch and release or were you planning on bringing something home? Most captains or crew will clean your catch for you if you don’t want to or know how.
We’ve always just gone down to the docks a day or two before we wanted to go out, and see who was hauling in the fish we liked. We wanted to go out for tuna, so we looked at the boats who were coming in with fish. We had a few to choose from, so we introduced ourselves to the captain(s) and talked to them until we found one we meshed with personality-wise. A couple didn’t allow alcohol on their boats.
Also, check the weather forecast before you book your boat. You do NOT want to be out on the water in 6 - 8 foot seas if you don’t have the legs for it.
ETA - Oh, and ask the captain if there’s a latrine on the boat.
Well, we’re not in a hotel, so we can bring something home if it’s tasty.
I had not even considered the latrine issue. Oh, god, thanks.
I’ve never gotten seasick on my life except once, and that was probably mostly the bottle of wine I drank the night before the last day on my schooner vacation. It was the fog that finally got me - no seas, just a hangover and fog. I spent the whole morning desperately peering through the murk to try to see some landmark to calm my stomach.
They’re trying to sell even as we speak, but they’re in Ocean View, which is right across Fletcher from the beach at New York. (Right by Katie’s Light.)