Thread: Walk on / Party boats

I know this has been discussed here in the past but nothing recent. Planning a trip to the beach in October with family and friends. I'm the only fisherman in the group so planning to try my luck on one of the walk on boats. Can anyone recommend a good walk on boat where you will actually catch a good number of fish. My last experience on a walk on boat out of Zekes about 10 years ago the boat would stop at each hole long enough for everyone to either get tangled with someone else or get cut off by a shark. Those that got tangled were basically left to get themselves untied, those that got cut off by sharks got to stand around and watch the others until the boat moved again. Needless to say the deck hands did not make much on this trip as there was not a lot of fish to clean after this trip. I know this is all part of fishing but if I am going to pay to be on someone else's boat I at least expect the crew to care and put forth an effort even if it is as bargain basement process.

Many years ago, we got on a split charter where they put smaller groups together out of Zeke's. There were 8 fishermen on the boat. Various snappers and grouper and a couple kings. We hauled the fish off the boat in a wheelbarrow. I don't know if they still do that and,of course, it was slightly more $ that the head boats.

A couple years ago we took the 4 hour party boat out of Hudson’s Marina. They furnish bait & tackle of course. It was ok. Pretty cheap comparatively.

The party boat experience has a lot to do with how knowledgeable the other fishermen are so that they avoid a lot of the tangled lines. That part is a crapshoot. I take my wife on one a couple of times a year. She prefers Reel Surprise, but I don't see a lot of difference between them and Zeke's. On the Reel Surprise you are usually dealing with an owner/captain (Randy) not a hired "driver". They give more information about where the fish are (depth).

All of them are going to jump from spot to spot to avoid cleaning a spot out and the last couple of spots are usually the best. You will usually do better on a charter. A six hour trip is approx 2 hrs out, 2 hrs jumping from spot to spot and 2 hrs in. It is what it is.

Thanks Frednic, this is good info to know. I would think an owner captain would care more about his customers than a hired captain.