Rodeo Fishing charters
Rodeo Fishing charters
4.5
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Monday
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Wednesday
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday
7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Full view
About
Offshore,Deepsea,Reef and Backcountry/Everglades fishing charters.Come fish with us on our 43 ft. custom charter boat and enjoy plenty of cock pit space ,a giant salon, air conditioning,fly bridge or the tranquility of our 24 ft. Scout Bay Boat. Families welcome. Enjoy a great day with us where you can learn how to catch Sail fish, Dolphin, Tuna, Wahoo, Snapper, Grouper and more. Fishing the Keys Since 1973. Best regards, Capt. George Jr. and Capt. George Sr.
Key Largo, Florida
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Rodeo Fishing charters
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
4.5
190 reviews
Excellent
174
Very good
3
Average
0
Poor
6
Terrible
7
rc
9 contributions
Jan 2021
Captain George's knowledge of the spots is encyclopedic, George puts you on the spot with the right gear, and the knowledge and know-how to put the targeted fish onto the boat and later onto a plate. Cerro / bar jack / yellow-tail / red snapper / black-fin tuna not to mention what we caught and released
Check out his recipes
At one point we were in the midst of what could only be described as a flotilla.
This occurred when the other captains identified George's boat and moved in to share in the action. As it turned out the fish only had eyes for George's techniques.
Wyatt is a credit to you George. Dr. Dave and I [Robert] had a great time
Check out his recipes
At one point we were in the midst of what could only be described as a flotilla.
This occurred when the other captains identified George's boat and moved in to share in the action. As it turned out the fish only had eyes for George's techniques.
Wyatt is a credit to you George. Dr. Dave and I [Robert] had a great time
Written February 13, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Trey B
1 contribution
Jun 2020 • Couples
Great charter to go out with! We came here on our honeymoon and got hooked up with Captain George and couldn’t have been more pleased. Plenty of fish and action. Great crew and experience all around. Very knowledgeable and very helpful in helping you to learn about the sport.
Written June 24, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Gene P
Miami, FL9 contributions
Aug 2014 • Friends
My family and I decided to go on a private fishing charter and ran into Rodeo Charters online. We read great reviews so we went ahead and made reservations. When I arrived I noticed the boat was a little older, no big deal. Captain George is a super nice guy and knows where the fish are. During our trip, we were assisted by Garrison. Garrison was on top of things. Our rods were always ready and he made sure our hooks were never without bait. Some of us are not experienced fisherman and they took that into consideration and were very patient and gave great instruction. I would definately fish with Rodeo Charter again. Trip Date August 2nd, 2014
Gene
Gene
Written August 3, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
topherashley
Atlanta, GA79 contributions
Jun 2015 • Family
As someone who has been on many fishing trips in the keys, I trusted the reviews of Captain George to my own detriment. I should have noticed that the large majority of them come from people who have left one single review on this site, never to return. Below is a detailed testimony of one of the worst transactions I've ever made -
I booked a half day trip with the captain about 3 weeks out based of the website and the reviews. The booking process was easy, they took my credit card over the phone but didn't charge it. This is the one positive of the experience.
We were told to arrive at the dock at 7am. We arrived at 6:45am to find Captain George and a boat that looked nothing like the pictures. Old, dirty, full of junk, and the boat didn't look great either.
Now on most fishing trips, you simply, get on the boat and leave. However, Captain George had not yet purchased bait for the trip, so we sat around and waited nearly 30 minutes before departing. Once we departed, we found out Captain George had not yet fueled the boat, this took another 30 minutes. Now it was after 8am and the Captain told me that even though I had booked an off-shore trip, there wasn't enough time for that unless I upgraded to a 3/4 day. Being the optimist that I am and wanting to go offshore, I agreed, ignoring the hour delay that was 100% the fault of the Captain. Before departing from the marina the captain felt the need to espouse his political views and that all who didn't agree with them were idiots, liars and traitors. Thinking we were of his ilk, he continued his political rants throughout the trip. As I don't enjoy talking politics with strangers during recreational activities, most of my group remained silent in awe of this spectacle. In addition, he commented on how he had been fishing for "13 days straight" and was "sick of it". Great.
Our first indication of trouble was that the mates were not very experienced. They struggled with the bait, used plugs instead of ballyhoo, and spent the entire departure up top with the captain instead of preparing below. Next we noticed that the captain was only going out to the hump half throttle. He was trying to save gas, not catch fish. This made our trip offshore much longer than it should have taken.
We started to get really worried when we noticed the mates weren't paying attention while we were actually trolling. There was quite a bit of seaweed in the water and at one point a mate went over 30 minutes without checking the bait only to find the entire hook gone. Awesome. We kept "looking for birds" instead of cruising to areas we heard others were having luck on the radio. We spent several hours without getting one single bite.
It was at this point, I received another upsell, we would need to pay for a full day or head back. I was surprised as it was only 12pm and we were 16 miles offshore. We told the captain we didn't want to be out until 5pm, especially considering we weren't catching anything. He cruised back to the marina at half throttle, boats passing us doing double our speed, getting us back around 2pm without a single bite all day, much less any fish.
On the way back he kept commenting that if we'd only stayed out longer we would have caught fish. I actually believed him until we got to the marina and the neighboring boat was proudly showing off the 30+ dolphin they had reeled in.
The facts are these - The Captain was tired and gave my trip ZERO effort. He commented that this was the first time he had been skunked in 2 years. I thought this would lead to a discount. Since the mates had spent 90% of the trip updeck with the captain and done zero work, my group tipped them $60 each. This was much less than 20% but hey, we wasted our time , you didn't give us any effort, we aren't tipping you more than that.
This is where the trip got interesting. The Captain got wind of our tip and told me I owed each mate an additional $100, when I asked for a discount he said I could have $100 off. He forced me to pay $900 total for the trip described above before he would let me off the boat. My group had already left the boat and the mates were "guarding" me from leaving without paying the higher rate.
The captain did not keep his part of the deal. He is a poor fisherman, the boat is a relic, and you would be wise to avoid this man. Go down to Islamorada or Key West. Go far away from the money trap known as Rodeo Charters.
I booked a half day trip with the captain about 3 weeks out based of the website and the reviews. The booking process was easy, they took my credit card over the phone but didn't charge it. This is the one positive of the experience.
We were told to arrive at the dock at 7am. We arrived at 6:45am to find Captain George and a boat that looked nothing like the pictures. Old, dirty, full of junk, and the boat didn't look great either.
Now on most fishing trips, you simply, get on the boat and leave. However, Captain George had not yet purchased bait for the trip, so we sat around and waited nearly 30 minutes before departing. Once we departed, we found out Captain George had not yet fueled the boat, this took another 30 minutes. Now it was after 8am and the Captain told me that even though I had booked an off-shore trip, there wasn't enough time for that unless I upgraded to a 3/4 day. Being the optimist that I am and wanting to go offshore, I agreed, ignoring the hour delay that was 100% the fault of the Captain. Before departing from the marina the captain felt the need to espouse his political views and that all who didn't agree with them were idiots, liars and traitors. Thinking we were of his ilk, he continued his political rants throughout the trip. As I don't enjoy talking politics with strangers during recreational activities, most of my group remained silent in awe of this spectacle. In addition, he commented on how he had been fishing for "13 days straight" and was "sick of it". Great.
Our first indication of trouble was that the mates were not very experienced. They struggled with the bait, used plugs instead of ballyhoo, and spent the entire departure up top with the captain instead of preparing below. Next we noticed that the captain was only going out to the hump half throttle. He was trying to save gas, not catch fish. This made our trip offshore much longer than it should have taken.
We started to get really worried when we noticed the mates weren't paying attention while we were actually trolling. There was quite a bit of seaweed in the water and at one point a mate went over 30 minutes without checking the bait only to find the entire hook gone. Awesome. We kept "looking for birds" instead of cruising to areas we heard others were having luck on the radio. We spent several hours without getting one single bite.
It was at this point, I received another upsell, we would need to pay for a full day or head back. I was surprised as it was only 12pm and we were 16 miles offshore. We told the captain we didn't want to be out until 5pm, especially considering we weren't catching anything. He cruised back to the marina at half throttle, boats passing us doing double our speed, getting us back around 2pm without a single bite all day, much less any fish.
On the way back he kept commenting that if we'd only stayed out longer we would have caught fish. I actually believed him until we got to the marina and the neighboring boat was proudly showing off the 30+ dolphin they had reeled in.
The facts are these - The Captain was tired and gave my trip ZERO effort. He commented that this was the first time he had been skunked in 2 years. I thought this would lead to a discount. Since the mates had spent 90% of the trip updeck with the captain and done zero work, my group tipped them $60 each. This was much less than 20% but hey, we wasted our time , you didn't give us any effort, we aren't tipping you more than that.
This is where the trip got interesting. The Captain got wind of our tip and told me I owed each mate an additional $100, when I asked for a discount he said I could have $100 off. He forced me to pay $900 total for the trip described above before he would let me off the boat. My group had already left the boat and the mates were "guarding" me from leaving without paying the higher rate.
The captain did not keep his part of the deal. He is a poor fisherman, the boat is a relic, and you would be wise to avoid this man. Go down to Islamorada or Key West. Go far away from the money trap known as Rodeo Charters.
Written July 22, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
dxrx
U.S.36 contributions
May 2013 • Friends
Knows his stuff, puts you on fish, but his offshore boat is not safe. It is old and dirty. The fighting chairs are not bolted down. The chair toppled over while I was fighting a fish. It toppled over again for my partner when a big wave hit the boat. She almost went overboard. I asked him to go back to the dock because a big storm was coming. He turned toward the mainland, but continued to fish. The ocean got very rough until we got inside the reef. When we got in, his comment was "did you think I was trying to kill you". Very unprofessional!
Written May 17, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JerseyFamily5
11 contributions
Aug 2017 • Family
After booking our fishing charter two months ago, confirming again by phone a couple of weeks ago, and again confirming with the captain last night, we were highly frustrated and heartbroken to see the Rodeo pulling away from the dock just as we arrived at our scheduled time this morning. Evidently we had been double booked with no attempt made by the Captain to inform us or resolve the problem ahead of time, while there was still the possibility of us booking another deep sea fishing charter for this, our one and only possible fishing day in the Keys.
Written August 2, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
DRTJRT
Missoula, MT2 contributions
Jun 2015 • Family
Because of the high rating on trip advisor, I booked a trip with Captain George for my family of six on a 3/4 day trip. What a mistake. The boat is 43ft, but is extremely dirty. The diesel fumes are very strong. The bathroom looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years and the smell was so bad, you wouldn't go in it unless it was your last resort.
We did catch five 20" dolphin and a 20lb wahoo. When my husband went to reel in the first fish, the reel actually broke off of the rod. When we went to net the second fish, the net broke. When we asked the Captain if we could fish for some Tuna, he said sure and yelled down to the mate to put on some fresh bait. The mate said there was no more left. This was only half way through out trip.
George had two mates on board and a friend of his that had just moved to the Keys from out of state. We had no problem with the friend. He was nice and seemed to help out. George constantly yelled at the mates and would say things such as "you couldn't find (blank) with both hands" and "how much do you want to keep your job?". He was quite abusive.
The icing on the cake was at the end of the trip when we went to pay. George had promised to clean the fish, but wasn't going to touch them until he got his money. No problem, we gave him a credit card and he ran it. Next, he asked me how much we were going to tip his boys. I said I needed to talk to my family. We were going to give it to them in cash. He said in a harsh tone "you have to give them at least 15-20 percent". I don't think it is his place to tell me what I have to tip. Regardless, I handed him $120 and he promptly gave it to his friend who put it in his pocket. I asked it the mates were going to get any of it and he said "sure they will get something".
I have to say that the mates were very helpful and tried to do everything they could to make it a nice day. My family had fun just being together. Nevertheless, overall this was a terrible experience. It had nothing to do with the amount of fish we caught, but with Captain George. He told me once during the trip that he couldn't wait to get out of the business.. He said he was tired of the people. I would recommend anyone else but him.
We did catch five 20" dolphin and a 20lb wahoo. When my husband went to reel in the first fish, the reel actually broke off of the rod. When we went to net the second fish, the net broke. When we asked the Captain if we could fish for some Tuna, he said sure and yelled down to the mate to put on some fresh bait. The mate said there was no more left. This was only half way through out trip.
George had two mates on board and a friend of his that had just moved to the Keys from out of state. We had no problem with the friend. He was nice and seemed to help out. George constantly yelled at the mates and would say things such as "you couldn't find (blank) with both hands" and "how much do you want to keep your job?". He was quite abusive.
The icing on the cake was at the end of the trip when we went to pay. George had promised to clean the fish, but wasn't going to touch them until he got his money. No problem, we gave him a credit card and he ran it. Next, he asked me how much we were going to tip his boys. I said I needed to talk to my family. We were going to give it to them in cash. He said in a harsh tone "you have to give them at least 15-20 percent". I don't think it is his place to tell me what I have to tip. Regardless, I handed him $120 and he promptly gave it to his friend who put it in his pocket. I asked it the mates were going to get any of it and he said "sure they will get something".
I have to say that the mates were very helpful and tried to do everything they could to make it a nice day. My family had fun just being together. Nevertheless, overall this was a terrible experience. It had nothing to do with the amount of fish we caught, but with Captain George. He told me once during the trip that he couldn't wait to get out of the business.. He said he was tired of the people. I would recommend anyone else but him.
Written June 27, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Likestotravel79
Grand Island, NE3 contributions
Didnt catch any fish. Best thing I did on our $950 fishing trip was take a nap. Avoid this charter if possible.
Written June 9, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BFNorris
Shenandoah Valley, VA6 contributions
Feb 2016 • Solo
This review is for George Sr.'s charter. As I understand it George Jr. has a smaller boat that he runs. Please read topherashley and DRTJRT's reviews under the "terrible" rating, they are accurate in regards to the George Sr. experience. Here's my abbreviated account: Boat: filthiest I have ever been on. Literally rotting. Gear/tools/tackle/jugs of oil/transmission fluid scattered in the cabin. The head was atrocious. I couldn't imagine taking a female on that boat. Broken arm on one fighting chair, missing rod gimble on the other. Mate: Lazy. Very poor skills with tackle set-up. Never bothered to get tackle ready on cruise out. Lost one fish when he "set" the hook hard with 3 mighty yanks, then handed me the empty rod, saying it was still on. Also, when we did manage to get one wahoo in (thank God he never touched that rod), there was blood on the deck and fighting chair that he never bothered to clean. Captain: I really can't say. He hardly introduced himself and stayed on the flying bridge the whole time, and I wasn't about to climb up there for fear of falling through the roof. He did a fair, but slow job of cleaning my fish and soaked the filets in sea water/ice bath which i thought was odd. First thing out we spent about an hour trying to catch ballyho and got about a dozen, which we never used?! The wife didn't explain to the George, Sr. that I wanted just a half-day sailfish only excursion. The only thing that keeps me from giving them a terrible rating was the fact that I did come back with three fish: small mahi, wahoo and a skipjack. If they had their act together, I bet we could have caught a lot more. I feel that tripadvisor really let me down on this experience. I usually discount the very worst reviews and the very best and figure that the remaining are representative of the business. Certainly not in this case! I guess it is skewed by George Jr's smaller boat business.
Written February 7, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TheLightGuy
Wilis, tx15 contributions
Aug 2016 • Family
Boat broke down. Anchor got lost. No fish. Captain and crew were nice, but it was just a bad day. I feel like I threw away $900. I wasn't told that fishing had been bad until after the trip - so do your checking before you go.
Written August 14, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hello we will be in Key Largo July 6-10
How far in advance do we need to make reservations?
Do we need our own equipment or can we rent. What is the cost?
2 Adults and 1 child 10 years old
Thank you
Written June 26, 2019
My question was for 2 1/2 years ago , I was in key largo then.
Written July 9, 2018
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*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.