I recently vacationed with my family on Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras. One of the activities that we were most excited about was fishing for tuna. We've fished in Mexico, Costa Rica, Hawaii, and Alaska, always having an excellent experience even when the fish weren't biting. Not the case with this trip.
The first mate spent the bulk of his time on his cell phone conducting personal business instead of taking care of his duties on the boat. Even when he was not on his phone, he didn't have a clue about which tackle to rig and how to rig it. Consequently, we spent a lot of time waiting for the Captain to do the first mate's job for him.
When we did get a good sized fish on the line, a poorly manufactured leader failed, allowing the fish to get away. Upon inspection of the failed leader, the boat captain acknowledged that they were trying some "new leader" instead of using leader they built up themselves. The leader failed at the swage, indicating that it was poorly manufactured and likely never tested to ensure it would hold up when loaded to the limit of the leader line. The captain appearred embarrassed by the situation.
Finally, and most importantly, the boat had no live-well for live bait fish. It wasn't until we were out on the water that the captain informed us that the pump on their live well was broken, so they didn't have any live bait ! It turns out that the only success we had that day was achieved using live bait that we had to catch ourselves, then assist in pour fresh water every few minutes into their broken live well. Unbelievable.
When I took these issues up with the owner, Loren Monterroso, he offered a small rebate and said that he had fired the first mate as a result of our experience. He did not apologize or own up to the failed gear and live well issues, which were more easily addressed than the crew issue. We felt a significant refund was warranted, based on the multiple problems we experienced. He disagreed.
Do yourself a favor and steer clear of Early Bird Fishing Charters.
