Needed once in a lifetime fishing trip

[Redearonbread]

A pretty cheap trip would be to drive to the Outer Banks and go off shore fishing the bottom on sunken ships and stuff. You will slay the fish and be able to take a bunch of good eating home. Grouper, snapper, etc. That is my favorite. A lot of action.

[artcarney_agr]

I had a King ski my butt all the way from the back of the boat to the bow. We've had some take us around the boat three times.

One of the party boats that I went on out of Islamorada - you could fish off the sides like usual for bottom fish, or you could opt. to fish off of the back. They have chum blocks they drop off of the back for kings. When you fish off the back of the boat, you don't use the big baitcasters and heavy weights...instead you are handed a large spinning rod with a hook, and no weight. You would put a ballyhoo on, cast it over the side, and see what bites! It's kind of cool because you can usually see the fish - you cast that bait out there, let it sink a few seconds, and then you see a streak of lightning underwater, then set the hook and hang on! It's crazy! Fishing from the back doesn't mean big numbers, but it means big fish! Well worth the $50! We did this twice as we finally got bored of fishing for grouper and snapper.

Here are details on the party boat I'm talking about:
http://www.robbies.com/partyboat.htm
$35 per person for a 4 hour trip, plus $3 rod rental, plus tip, add that up and it's basically $50, which is a steal for what you get!

There is another party boat down there nearby, called the Miss Islamorada - avoid it if possible, as it was not that great. We fished the Capt. Michael 3 times, and the Miss Islamorada Lady once. The Miss Islamorada did not have a very fun crew, and they didn't work too hard to get us on fish...the Capt. Michael was a far better experience and a lot more fun.

As for off-shore, we went with this guy:
http://www.suzannefishingcharters.com/
We went out one day for sailfish, landed one and lost another - weather made it tough that day for sails. Went out for a second day to try something a little different and to load the cooler - went after the blackfin tuna - caught several of those, along with a few small mahi mahi, and towards the end of the day we loaded the cooler with cero (like a kingfish). That made for some REAL good eating! John was an excellent capt. with a lot of experience in the area - I was thoroughly impressed by him!
Full day is $875 - add in tip for the mate and it's pretty much right at $1,000 per day total.
Keep in mind that a full day charter is for up to 6 people, so if you can find some folks to split the charter, it would make it cheaper.

[flyfish]

You should check out Belize. There are many fish camps you can go to where it's all inclusive. Guided fishing everyday and food for 4 days for $1200 per person.

[KyTrkyHntr]

You should check out Belize. There are many fish camps you can go to where it's all inclusive. Guided fishing everyday and food for 4 days for $1200 per person.

Boom!

[Duayne]

One of the party boats that I went on out of Islamorada - you could fish off the sides like usual for bottom fish, or you could opt. to fish off of the back. They have chum blocks they drop off of the back for kings. When you fish off the back of the boat, you don't use the big baitcasters and heavy weights...instead you are handed a large spinning rod with a hook, and no weight. You would put a ballyhoo on, cast it over the side, and see what bites! It's kind of cool because you can usually see the fish - you cast that bait out there, let it sink a few seconds, and then you see a streak of lightning underwater, then set the hook and hang on! It's crazy! Fishing from the back doesn't mean big numbers, but it means big fish! Well worth the $50! We did this twice as we finally got bored of fishing for grouper and snapper.

That's some great info! A very inexpensive way to hook into a wild ride. I can't imagine how you guys managed to keep the fish behind the boat. We fished for them pretty much the same way only Charlie uses bait fish as chum. He'd throw a few handfulls out. He called it King candy. Everyone would have to bring their lines up and be ready to clear out of the way when we hooked one. I first thought the one that skied me up the boat was a shark. I spotted a huge shark and cast out in front of it. Two seconds later I was getting pulled up the boat. Turned out to be another huge king.

[downtime]

El Salto x10!!!!!

[aceoky]

With all the violence in Mexico , I personally would not take any of my children there, I have a good friend who does the fly in Canada thing on a regular basis , I'd hoped to go this year but a triple by-pass a few weeks ago thwarted that hope. The pike and walleye fishing are basically non-stop as I understand it and it's so much more fun fishing when you are catching boatloads than when you're not IMHO. Just my $.02 and easily worth half that with inflation