It depends on the time of year. In the busy season, which is usually when kids are on spring, summer, or Christmas break, many Maui fishing boats can get pretty booked up. You may want to call us at least three or four weeks in advance if your schedule is tight. If your schedule is flexible or you will be fishing when we have fewer visitors, booking a week or two in advance should be enough to give you plenty of options. Because we book primarily private charters, we suggest flexibility in your schedule if you are looking to book a share charter.

We always suggest booking early in your vacation so that in the very unlikely event we have to reschedule due to weather, you will possibly have another day open to come out with us.

The type of charter you book will dictate how many guests you can bring with you:

Fishing: 8 fishing, 2 riding

Snorkeling: 10 guests

Combo Trips: 8 fishing, 2 riding

Whale Watches, Sunsets, Ash Scattering: 13 guests

Yes. We have exterior shade covering nearly the entire back deck, and a shaded cabin. For those sensitive to the sun, we suggest you bring hats, UV clothing, sunglasses, and reef safe sunscreen.

Bottom fishing on Maui is great for kids. We usually fish where the water is calm and with a small number of passengers and the captain and crew both available to help out, even young kids get a chance to bring in some nice fish. Our private charters are the most ideal way to fish with young ones so that we can go at your pace and not worry about appeasing the masses.

Yes. Anything you catch on your rod is yours to keep, release, or give away. If you get to reel in something on the bonus line or one of the trolling lines you share with the other passengers on a share charter and sometimes the crew. We do not bring any of the fish caught to market, everything is kept by our guests, or in the case of surplus we share with our family. Maui does not have a commercial freezing and shipping facility, so everything you catch will be eaten here on island. We like to say that the ocean is the icebox and if you have enough to freeze then you took too much.

There is very little overlap between the species of, size of the fish, and style of fishing, sport and bottom fishing are fairly different. Sport fishing (also called trolling or big game fishing) usually involves dragging artificial lures on the surface behind the boat out in deep water for fish like Mahimahi, Ono, Tuna and Marlin. If a fish hooks up, one of the passengers is chosen to try to reel it in. If your number isn’t called, you get to cheer on the person reeling in the fish. The stakes are high and although you are less likely to catch a fish, if you do it is likely to be bigger than the average fish caught bottom fishing. We will often try this type of fishing on our way to and from the bottom fishing spots (’cause we know we won’t catch anything with the hooks in the boat) but mostly focus on the bottom fishing. Bottom fishing can also use artificial lures but we usually use bait like squid. Bottom fishing is done with the boat stopped drifting over “spots” where there is known to be concentrations of fish like snapper, jacks, wrasse, goatfish, and many others, in relatively shallow water (100-300 ft. deep). Once we get to our bottom fishing spots, each passenger is given their own rod and instructed on how to use it to drop pieces of bait (the crew is happy to help you bait your hook if you prefer), down to the bottom and each has a chance to catch their own fish from start to finish. The most successful anglers are the ones who forget everything they know from other fishing styles and follow the fishing instruction from their captain and crew. Most of the fish we catch are small but the tackle is relative light so its a perfect match. If you do hook into a big one on light tackle, you are in for a really fun challenge.