Big Game Fishing from Vilamoura

I felt I had to write to complain about our deep sea fishing trip on Tuesday the 24th. Whilst the ladies booking the trip last week were extremely helpful in booking it up, that’s where the good part of the story ends. When we boarded the boat the skipper, Bill hardly commented in welcoming us on board and the other crew member, V, did not have much else to say also. There was no safety briefing and we were not offered life jackets at any time even though we have some small children travelling with us. We were not given any guidance on the trip apart from being told it would be an hour out to the fishing area. V, after setting up the rods, just mentioned to one of our party what would happen when we caught a fish. Then basically sat up with Bill for the duration and had there lunch and chatted. After reaching the ‘fishing’ area we spent the next 2 hours watching the lines as the lures just bobbed on top of the water. It wasn’t until I enquired if we were likely to catch anything, we were told that it was early in the season and they had only caught two small fish to date!? I asked was it possible to move location or go reef fishing instead and was told no as it was too late. So the 11 of us spent another chilly 2 hours watching the the lines and bait bob up and down until returning back, thoroughly bored and dismayed at spending 6 hours in the middle of the sea, a €1000 worse off with no great stories to tell of a single great catch. The only ‘excitement’ was untangling some lines and half catching a seagull. If the fishing conditions were that bad why were we not told when booking as we would have changed to reef fishing or another trip!? It was ultimately, a complete waste of a day and we were treated without any respect from the crew and there were no apparent safety measures in place, especially dangerous with young passengers on board.

Day started well with good banter at the greeting and belief in captains fishing ability. but in general a poor big game fishing experience, more tickets sold than rods available, if you only put 6 rods out just sell 6 fishing experiences. Put into a lottery of 9 people in order to catch a fish, any experienced game fisherman knows you are highly unlikely to get a chance after a simple draw if you have a high number. Game fishing is a game of chance for sure but when you’re not even giving everyone you’ve sold to an even chance that’s a poor show, and a poor experience especially for the first timers on board. From someone that runs activities as a job, I would suggest mixing more with your customers as well rather than both the captain and the mate just sitting on the upper deck!

Had a nice time with the team onboard, amazing group of people. However, the company was only concerned with catching Marlins. Probably because of its’ meat’s high price. One dimensional strategy. Barely attempted for Tuna that was present. Heard the weather excuse and others but like they say excuses are dime a dozen. Wasn’t expecting anything, but was hoping for a little bit more effort to catch something.