We are from Colorado, where my husband is an avid fly fisherman and my daughter's boyfriend is an avid off shore fisherman. I wanted to surprise my husband for Father's Day with a unique fishing experience while on our recent trip to Maui. We booked and paid almost $1000 for 4 anglers (husband and 3 teenagers) and 1 observer (myself). Stephanie and Johnny were our crew. They were both very friendly and explained everything in detail before we got started. The only negative was that they smoked several times during our 4 hour adventure, which for people that don't smoke is disgusting and VERY unprofessional.
We made several stops throughout our 4 hour excursion based on where the fish seemed most abundant. The first stop was the best and most productive. We caught three average sized, but very unique fish and several "bait fish". None of them were fish that you would keep. As my family were reeling in their fish, we were able to see several small sharks and actually caught one on one of the lines. At one time there were at least a dozen circling the end of the lines. At this point, we were all having a good time and enjoyed the extra excitement. However, my youngest daughter was supposed to be the 4th angler. After over an hour on the water, I asked Johnny if we could get another pole in the water for her, he told me that the currents were too strong and he was worried that the lines would get tangled. I was totally fine with that explanation...seemed to make perfect sense. We continued to travel from one location to the next, only to catch "bait fish". At some point during the last hour, Johnny came to the front of the boat where my daughter and I had been sitting the whole time and mentioned something about putting a "bait fish' on a pole and throwing it off the back of the boat to see if we could catch anything that way. Previously we were only using squid. There was no clear communication that pole was put in the water for my daughter. Every once in awhile he and Stephanie would check on it, but that was about it. My daughter never left the seat at the front of the boat to attend to that pole because we had no idea that was actually meant for her to use. We had a fun day and the overall experience was okay. We enjoyed being out on the water and the opportunity to fish on the ocean. Of course, we would have liked to have caught some bigger fish, but you can't do anything about nature and we understand that. What was most frustrating was when I called to ask for a refund for my daughter, since she never actually fished, I was told they would have to talk to the captain to affirm that information. When I got a call back, I was told that according to the captain, 4 poles went in the water so 4 poles was what I would be charged for. I got very upset and asked to speak to the owner. After receiving a "text" back from the owner stating that I would receive a refund for my daughter, I was satisfied and thanked him for doing the right thing. However, at the end of the day I'm not sure if I would go through this company again.