Galveston Offshore Fishing Guide

So let me begin this review first by saying that I did not look on Unilocal to do a review check first and I paid dearly for it.
I had booked a shark fishing trip with Shannon a month prior to the actual event. Initially, he was nice and attentive and worked with me on some things as this was supposed to be a surprise trip for my husband. I called to discuss departure time, address of departure, what to bring, weather etc and he didn’t seem to remember we had a booking for a trip that was two days away. «Oh yes, I remember you. It’s this Saturday?» is what I got. Should have been a red flag but what was I supposed to do at that point… our anniversary was 2 days away and everyone else was booked up. I hoped at the time this was just an over site. Now to the day of.
Paid: $ 750 (8 hr trip — $ 650 with two extra people — $ 100 advertised on his website)
Boat leaves at 6:30am.
We were late by 10 minutes but since it was just us going on the boat it shouldn’t have been a problem and we were on the phone with Shannon that morning telling him we would be a few minutes late. We arrived at 6:40. On the dock, with coolers, snacks, drinks, etc. Absolutely no sign of Shannon. Found his boat and waited. Called his cell a couple times because we had litterally just spoken with him on the way there and he new we were pulling into the marina. By 7:00 the guy finally shows up. We load up our stuff into the boat and off we go.
There are 4 fishing people on this boat, two of which I paid extra for. He had two poles set up. Plenty of poles on board we just couldn’t use them. He stayed on the phone the entire time running his business of selling crappy oil rig parts to other countries where there isn’t any laws about that kinda stuff. My husband (who eats sleeps and breaths fish) got the shark in just fine, but the two girls on the boat including myself where having a hard time with the technique. He didn’t seem to care he just kept saying «Don’t break my pole!» over and over again. The fishing poles in our truck back at the dock were 3 times more expensive than the poles this guy had and even admitted he bought them discounted for $ 37. But this trip was mainly for my husband anyway so I didn’t mind letting him take over and get the shark to the boat. We caught over 10 shark over 6 ft long. That part was fun! Which is the only reason he is getting two stars instead of one. NOW, ask me how many of those sharks we kept… go ahead ask me… ONE. and it was only about 4 ft long. He just kept saying «Nah, thats not a keeper.» They were not spinner sharks they were black tips and we had four people on the boat and we had one shark to show for it. The general consensus was he just didn’t want to deal with them.
And finally, it is now about 11:30 or so. The last shark makes it to the boat and is cut loose. Then he yells «Alright, lets cut out!» (Lets keep in mind that I paid for the 8 hour trip here). We thought, because it had been mentioned by my husband, that he was going inland a bit to catch some fish that we (the girls) could bring in. Not the case at all. At 12:02 we roll up at the dock. I check my watch and I am furious. Even if we start the clock at 6:30am, the original departure time, which is fair because we were late, it still doesn’t equal 8 hours from start to finish. I had paid for the 8 hour trip and gotten under 6 hours. He grabbed the shark and left us on the boat to unload everything. Then, when handing my husband the shark meat, he ask for a tip. ARE YOU SERIOUS? NOPE. NO TIP. YOU ALREADY HAD BEEN OVER PAID.
We left with one shark and lots of frustration. We were clearly a paycheck to this guy and he wasn’t real interested in repeat customers.