JC
James Crutchfield
Jun 28, 2026
Here’s a revised version that incorporates those corrections while keeping it factual and persuasive:
I don’t usually leave negative reviews, but I feel prospective customers should know about my experience before booking.
Six of us booked a 7-hour charter with L&H Charters for $1,600. I understand that fishing is never guaranteed. Some days are incredible, and some days aren’t. We weren’t upset that we only caught around 10 keeper mahi and one wahoo. That’s just fishing.
The issue was what happened afterward.
About 45 minutes after we had already left the dock, the captain’s son, who was also the deckhand, casually mentioned that if we had a “big catch,” the boat keeps half of the fish. This was never disclosed before booking, before we left the dock, or before we paid. If that’s your policy, customers deserve to know it upfront so they can decide whether they’re okay with it.
More importantly, I don’t consider 10 mahi and one wahoo to be a “big catch.” Had we come back with 50 or 60 fish like many of the photos they post online, I could understand sharing the catch. But 10 mahi and one wahoo? That should have gone home with the customers who paid for the trip.
When we got back to the dock, the captain cleaned the fish and gave our group only six mahi total—one mahi per person, or two fillets each. He then cut the wahoo into just eight steaks, and the six of us split those. The boat kept the rest.
What really bothered me was paying $1,600 for a private charter, catching the fish ourselves, and then watching a substantial portion of our catch stay with the boat. It felt like we paid to catch fish for someone else. Then, after all that, we were asked for a tip.
I do want to give credit where it’s due. The captain’s son absolutely busted his ass all day. He worked hard from start to finish, stayed busy the entire trip, and he absolutely deserved the tip I gave. My frustration is not with him. It’s with the captain and the lack of transparency regarding their fish-retention policy.
If keeping part of the customers’ catch is standard practice for this charter, it needs to be clearly disclosed before anyone books or leaves the dock—not 45 minutes into the trip after there’s no turning back. Transparency matters, and this experience left all six of us disappointed.
