I think a good plan going forward is to try and book with a certain Captain directly. When giving trip reports or recommendations give a shout out to the individual Captain, Mate, Vessel and not the booking company.
If you call someone in that industry in the summer they aren't going to turn you away, they will book you on a trip, you need to clearly state WHO you want to fish with and if that person is already booked they will then communicate that to you.
It is also beneficial to book well in advance. Every negative experience I've had was us showing up on Saturday, figuring out who wanted to fish, pricing some trips, and booking what was available the day everyone wanted to do it. Some were good, Some were terrible.
A great example is the off shore vessel I prefer to fish with now. I just booked them for an October Rodeo trip and requested vessel, Captain, and Mate. The Captain's wife also books for other boats in the fleet and if I called and just gave a date and number of people I might not have gotten exactly what I expected.
If you call someone in that industry in the summer they aren't going to turn you away, they will book you on a trip, you need to clearly state WHO you want to fish with and if that person is already booked they will then communicate that to you.
It is also beneficial to book well in advance. Every negative experience I've had was us showing up on Saturday, figuring out who wanted to fish, pricing some trips, and booking what was available the day everyone wanted to do it. Some were good, Some were terrible.
A great example is the off shore vessel I prefer to fish with now. I just booked them for an October Rodeo trip and requested vessel, Captain, and Mate. The Captain's wife also books for other boats in the fleet and if I called and just gave a date and number of people I might not have gotten exactly what I expected.