Snapper Fishing Charters

26/02/23I had booked for 2 rod hire and 2 male new zealand citizens. Both did enjoy the experience and one was mererly asking the skipper if they were about to head back to the pier.He was taken by a statement the skipper said to him which refered, we are kiwi not indian.Because my friend has accent and not of indian ethnicity I dont that was any cause for a reply of that nature.These 2 people like the majority of the people on board were paying customers and paying or not no one needs to or should be spoken too refering a more dominant ethnicity.Very dissapointed remark coming from a fellow Kiwi.

These guys were great fun to be around - great vibe on the boat. We caught lots of good sized Snappers. Stunning scenery with fantastic hospitality, a perfect day all round. I'll definately be returning again. I recommend them highly for everyone from the novice to the enthusiast.

You get what you pay for. Not the most professional. But you can have an enjoyable day out.The charter is an old, slow, boat and you spend 4 hours out of your allotted 9 hours in travelling, which leaves you with 5 hours actual lines in the water. Cruising speed on my phone app was 7 knots, which is roughly 14 kmh.From that you also need to subtract another 90 minutes of time spend moving around at intervals trying to find fish schools. The skipper was doing his best, but it does take time.So you end up with 3-4 hours of actual fishing time.The boat can take 20 anglers and that is exactly how many were on board. This led to a degree of time wasting with the inevitable tangles.Boat is old and a bit grungy.Some other charters are newer and cleaner, do not pack their boats so tightly, and they have faster boats, but you pay literally twice the cost.Against that - with some other charters bait is included, which can run to about $40 per person, which also needs to be factored in, because Snapper Fishing does not provide bait. Also some other charters provide gear, for which factor in another $20.So if you remove $60 from the cost for some other charters, they are still more, but not double the price.So it comes down to what you value most, your money, or your time and comfort.In terms of professionalism. The safety briefing was a bit of a joke. In the unlikely event of anything happening it would have been chaos. The briefing on fish limits was accompanied by the statement that it was not the skippers responsibility whether or not you kept undersized fish.For comparison, some other charters require you to store your fish in their communal bins, and they definitely check for sizing.The skipper tries hard to be a character, which is either to your taste or not.Having said all of that, we had a decent day's fishing. The boat as a whole caught half its limit in snapper. Not the greatest, but not bad. Just a few other fish were caught which surprised me. Size was generally just keep-able, but that could be due to the time of year.Next time out we will be trying out one of the faster charters for comparison. The cost differential is $80 versus $125 (taking bait and gear into account). Is that worth another couple of hours with your line wet, a bit more comfort, and less time detangling from your neighbor? That's a personal call.

Great family experience. We were crazy happy and had a lot of fan. Special thanks to our best captain Paul - very helpful and nice person. Already planning to do it again and invite some friends as well.

5 stars!!! My only fault is the charter is a little old but other than that AMAZING!Skipper Paul took my family & I(3adults & 4 children) out for the day.He was absolutely lovely!I read the previous reviews & was hesitant but he is not how those negative reviews describe him as! We are a brown Cook Island family & he was great! Not the slightest bit rude at all!My family are still raving on about how much of a great time we all had so many days later!Paul was so lovely with our children aswell!I’ll definitely be be recommending skipper Paul to my family & friends & booking another day out with him!Thank you Paul!

I have just spent 20 minutes reading mixed bag of reviews and appreciate everyone has a right to their opinion. Like me, you have an opportunity to read reviews from past customers and can make you own informed decision. To openly slander the Service, Captain or Boat is incomprehensible.My family were back in New Zealand for Christmas in 2018 and I had made arrangement with this organisation for 3 charters, one was a morning cruise and the others were back to back morning and evening charters. The first group consisted of my 15 year old sun, my brother-in-law and my 2 nephews. The second group was again my 15 year old son, my friend and his son.On the first charter there was a small misunderstanding about providing a total amount of money for the group and when you logically think it through the skipper needs peace of mind that he has collected the correct amount of money for the groups he has to board, quickly and efficiently. Once all money was collected we were allowed on the boat and we chose the spots we were comfortable with, there was no preference given to any particular individual. Once underway, the skipper handed out the rods and yes some needed to be re-rigged but hey, that's fishing. All you had to do was ask and Paul did what he needed to do. His advise while steaming out was excellent which saved valuable time when we reached the fishing marks. When we reached the marks and his command to start fishing resulted in fish after fish from the entire party onboard. Some caught Snapper, Trevally, Kaiwah, John Dory from what I saw. Our small group caught over 90 fish for that charter and we kept 19. The Skipper moved with the fish and we were catching for what seemed the entire trip. We came back to port happy and watch everyone who had happy faces from the experience.The next charter was very similar however the difference was that I offered my services to Paul and he got me to do things that lightened his load getting ready to steam out and I got rods ready to hand out as instructed and changed tackle accordingly. Even though our group was smaller this time, we still caught over 100 fish and we kept 20. Again the catch was mainly Snapper and the boat caught quite a few 55cm plus fish, John Dory , trevally and Kiawah. Paul is very kind to the younger fishers and looks after them if they get into difficulty, I grant you, he can be dry, lets face it, he is an old sea dog and I and my group take my hat off to him, he delivered, made the trips worthwhile and had a few chuckles maybe at his expense but regardless he is a character and knowledgeable Skipper.We are returning to New Zealand for the first time since Co-Vid this year 2023 and will be booking several charters with Skipper Paul and his old boat. See you all at Christmas 2023/New Year 2024, safe sailing until then.

Hi, just letting you know that we are disappointed with our whole day charter fishing today. Skipper is rude and arrogant. Also, we’ve barely done fishing for a whole day trip. I don’t even know what’s the skippers reasons are, but, he keeps changing locations! There was one great spot where most of the passengers and guest were catching some fish, then all of a sudden he decided to change course and told us to take our lines back. It seems that when he see 2 or 3 fish being caught, he wants to go for a more boring spot and save some fish. All of the passengers were wondering why are we keep on changing our fishing spots. Mostly, we’ve been travelling and moving from one spot to another. For a whole day charter fishing, this is horrible! We’ve barely done 2-3hours of fishing in total. Shame! Please don’t be offended but, it was an upsetting day for fishing, despite all of the excitement that we’ve felt.

Fishing on-board the M.V JOY has always been an amazing experience for us. With a price that's unequivocally unbeatable. Skipper Paul is always very welcoming and his banter makes for an amusing and entertaining trip. He always manages to put you on to the fish and is helpful with rods etc even sharing his tips and tricks of the trade. Paul is also exceptional with the kids on-board so if you take them along you'll have no worries at all. We (Mark, myself, our 7 year old daughter and Mum) always manage to leave with our quota and smiles on our faces.

NOT EVEN WORTH 1 STARDO NOT TAKE THIS CHARTER!!! WORST CHARTER EVER. They overloaded the boat to 21 passengers on a small boat. We were a group of 13 and we had to stand up.They never told us they trip will take 2.5 hours one way so 5 hours of just traveling only 3 hours of fishing.The captain Paul is just a rude , racist old guy . So rude and was telling us off Example he said do you know how long a meter is did you even go to school. Very Very Very Rude.We didnt even go to the deep sea only shallow water and also the fish was so little not like the website photos.Please please do not use this chapter boat.The Skipper PAUL just spoiled all our day but we was so nice to the Other 7 people just because they were white.

Had a very good day, been with my family and friends. My Son 9 years old enjoyed a lot, Paul was very helpful and friendly. Paul was making sure everyone on board catches fish and very supportive. We all had a very good day and will definitely come back for another trip and recommend all my friends.Thanks Paul and see you soon. Highly recommended ☺️☺️