Captain Dave III Party Boat Fishing

Found this boat after finding out that the Captain Midnight was only going out with one boat instead of two. That boat was packed and on the small side. As I walking down to bagel store Old curmudgeon type guy asked me if I needed a boat and he gave me a good cash deal. On some of the boats down there prices, rates and services can vary from moment to moment so beware. Don’t be offended everyone is treated the same and I would suggest be a understandable as the boating economy there is hurting. Plus $ 10 for rod and bait, and $ 5 for pool (pool optional but fun to do). Went fishing for blackfish and fluke and was given plenty of assistance and clam bait. Strongly suggest picking up crabs at bait and tackle store a block away for blackfish. Didn’t catch any keepers but a couple of Seabass which unfortunately for us it was a week before the season. I think Jay was our deckhand and Paul our Captain. Both good guys and very informative. I definitely felt that they were making every effort to find fish. Boat was clean and comfortable. I had plenty of room. Bathroom had a door and there was TP. I would definitely go on this boat again. As with any boat find out what they are going for and see if you should bring any additional bait to what the they have.

Despite the warnings ahead of time about fishing boats out of Sheepshead Bay, my buddy and I decided to cash in on a byob full day fishing Groupon for 2. I must admit, Captain Dave was probably the nicest, cleanest, and most spacious boat out of that area. They honored the Groupon and took us out blackfishing. The crew was friendly and helpful. It wasn’t the best day which ended with 2 short blackfish and some nice looking sea bass that unfortunately, we couldn’t keep. I took a star off because of the smoking on board the boat. Either way, I had a pleasant time and I would consider taking another trip with Captain Dave again.

Good value, nice helpful people, my family and I had a great day fishing. I would definitely fish on this boat again.

Never again family did not like the boat and they had no toilet paper. The water was not working in the bathroom… it’s a fishing boat but no toilet paper come on now

I didn’t know what to expect since it was my first fishing experience. It was phenomenal. Jason was one of the crew members, talk about attentive. I had no idea what I was doing and I didn’t feel stupid when I messed up. There was always someone there to help and to teach about the different type of fish and strategies. I thought fishing would be something I did once and never again, wrong, I want to go out again and again and again. Thank you for one of the best experiences of my life.

So… I ended up getting screwed on a living social deal with another charter service just a couple of piers down from the cpt dave (despite having a reservation, the captain didn’t show up, and the first mate lied and told us that there was a death in the family). We had trekked 1.5hrs in the subway to get there with a confirmed reservation, and were quite pissed that they just cancelled on us. But, that really has nothing to do with the Cpt Dave. Read on to find out why they get one star.
The first mate of the boat that screwed me and my companions, was happy to walk us to the captain dave and tell us that they would give us the same price for a the same all day fishing trip. They all know each other pretty well. «Hooray», I thought, «all is not lost». I WAS SO WRONG. After boarding the boat and cracking a couple early morning beers, we find out that this is a common occurance. IF NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE SHOW UP TO FISH, the boat operators will collude to cancel the trips on their boats, and you will be out there in sheepshead bay with nothing to do at 7am except find another boat.
Of course when it comes time for the anchor to pull up, the first mate of the Dave comes around and tells us that we have to pay full price because there is not enough people to justify him going out. Well, there you go. The old bait and switch (no pun intended).
What you have to realize is that theses guys hate the livingsocial/​groupon/​travelzoo what have you deals. They just want to use those people as fillers for boats that are close to capacity. With no other options left, we agree to pay full price. The weather was kinda crappy, so it was just my group and and a couple other people. Obviously, they don’t want to burn too much fuel, so we go out a little ways, drop anchor and start fishing. I’m not gonna lie, the fishing was fun. The first mate really didnt want to be out there, and that was quite obvious. He cut the bait and laid out our poles. Gave us a little instruction, and took the f off to fish himself. The first mate of the boat that was supposed to take us out managed to get on board and get a free fishing trip for himself as well (imagine that). The fishing was fine, we caught a few, and were on a roll, when about 4 hours into the trip, the first mate walks by says «theres too much wind and you guys aren’t catching anything, we are heading in now». SO MUCH FOR A FULL DAY OF FISHING. He shoves a card in our hand saying that we will get half off our next trip and they proceed to haul ass back to the dock.
I understand the need to make money. But the amount BS that gets dealt to you on these fishing charters is amazing. I’m sorry if the weather stinks and you don’t have a full boat. Stick to the deal you made.

I have been fishing for over forty years and I have never encountered more inept mates. They threw our short stripers back (I have no problem with that), but let other’s (regulars) keep them. I only hope that the DEC catches them. I would not go out on this boat again.

A lot of folks here are just arguing about using a voucher/​coupon, so I’ll give a perspective of a standard (full price) trip (no fuel surcharge nonsense).
A buddy and I went on the 8 – 9 hr trip to fish albacore. We paid, got on the boat for our deep sea fishing trip. We boarded at about 3AM and were looking to get some shut-​eye but the cabin was VERY bare bones. I know that’s a fringe case since not everyone does that trip, but don’t expect anything fancy in there.
There was a $ 5 rod rental fee, which was fine with unlimited (?) bait. The one thing that was annoying was that they didn’t provide us with any sinkers, only «shots» (tiny weights added to the lines). I got two shots added to my line over the course of an hour and my line barely had any weight to it. Thankfully, my buddy woke up and let me borrow one of his. So my one word of advice is to pick up your own tackle box, since they don’t do too great of a job of giving you what you need for the trip. Beers were about 3 bucks on board, with food options being limited to chips, burgers, hotdogs, and scrambled eggs.
The boat took us around to different places and while the pickings were slim at first, that wasn’t because of the crew, so it’s hard to fault them. We did run into a school of mackerels, which provided us with a ton of opportunities to reel em in. While the fishing bonanza happened, the crew was really helpful if you needed any help setting up your line, unhooking a fish, or whatever it was. My line got messed up twice and one of the crew stopped what he was doing to help me out which was nice.
Once all was said and done, we had the option of having the crew clean/​fillet. We thought they’d do it for free, but they charged about $ 2 a fish (or $ 25 a bucket). They should’ve told us there was a fee for this upfront, but whatever.
I didn’t think about this during, but my girlfriend later mentioned that she thought it was odd that they didn’t go through safety procedures, but then again, all of the people on the trip seemed to be savvy folks.
Also also, I’m pretty sure one of the crew members threw a bottle off the captain’s deck into the water. I thought that was kind of messed up.
Overall, I think it was a good trip and I gave them 4 stars, but please KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING INTO. Don’t expect the crew to wait on you hand and foot and teach you how to fish, don’t expect to be given top of the line rods, don’t expect luxury of any kind. It’s a little rough-​neck, so if you don’t care and just wanna fish, then go for it. I’ll probably be back.

This boat is terrible !!! Everything about this boat is shady !!! They charge you for every rig, hook and sinker, charge you to fillet your catch !!! I am a great tipper, when and if they deserve a tip. The mates fish more than they work !!! Go on the boat during Blackfish season and all the pinhookers line up on the favored side and FILL their cooler UP, illegally of course !!! I landed the pool fish with over 45 fares onboard and they give me $ 40, lol, never again. The ONLY REASON I am giving two stars instead of one is because I remember when Dave helped out during 2 water rescues in one season !!! Besides that he lost my busy forever !!! If the truth hurts, FIX IT !!!

I fished on Capt Dave almost 5 years ago. Haven’t been able to get out fishing in Sheepshead bay in some time… Decided to try Sheepshead Bay again. So glad I did. Totally got me back into the fishing scene,
Boat was very clean (for a fishing boat) and the mates were just AWESOME. They had a few «regulars» on the boat that were also very helpful… offering some better bait and helping the newbies.
Capt Dave does know his stuff… He was able to put us on fish just about every drift. We were going for fluke which I was able to land two keepers. Also had a number of shorts, some sea robbins and a skate or two. All in all a great day was had by all… I plan on taking my son out tomorrow on Capt Dave pending weather…
Great job Capt Dave and crew… See you soon

Pretty funny that ALL of these one star reviews were cheap voucher users. Ive never had a foul experience on this boat. Don’t listen to these other reviews.

Two bad experiences. Two friends and I bought travelzoo coupons. Back in December 2012, we called on the day of to make sure the trip was going, and they told us yes. We drove all the way to Sheepshead Bay, only to be told that not enough people had showed up and the trip was cancelled. Our vouchers were due to expire at the end of the year so they told us we could reuse them any time regardless of expiration date.
Fast forward to August 2013, again we call on the day of the trip and confirm that it is no problem to reuse the coupon. Fine, they say. Well, when we get there, we board and again notify the crew hat we are using coupons. Fine, they say. Then, ten minutes after we set sail, they come and ask for fifteen dollars more per person, because the coupons were expired, plus a five dollar fuel surcharge per person. We argued and they backed off.
Finally, our 7pm-​12 midnight cruise ended at 9:30 because the boat’s generator stopped working. We got a half off coupon for a future cruise. I threw it away.

I would give Zero stars if I could. My family and friends all bought their Travel Zoo voucher and I called «Capt» Dave to book the reservation for 9 of us. He said he didn’t have room this Saturday so I booked the reservation for 3 weeks later. I asked him how the Travel Zoo vouchers worked and he said to just bring it with me at time of boarding. Right before the conversation ended he asked that I call two days prior to confirm. (I had thought that this was odd but just figured it’s a good idea just in case it’s bad weather or something unforeseen).
For 3 weeks we were extremely excited for the trip as good weather was in the forecast. I called Dave to confirm and to my disgust he asked if all 9 of us were «Travel Zooers». He started rambling about the following
«Saturdays are my bread and butter I can’t take Travel Zooer’s»
«I need to save room for Full price people»
«You should have told me you were Travel Zooers» (I obviously did at the time of reservations)
«Oh I didn’t know all of you were Travel Zooers» (BullS***, as if only one of us would buy the voucher)
«I can’t take 9, maybe 4 or 5 of you’s» (As if I’m going to split up my family?)
«Maybe on a Monday I can do 9»
«I can maybe take 2 – 3 of you’s» (He went from 4 – 5 to now 2 – 3 by the end of the conversation)
All in all it’s a conversation that went in circles. Judging by the other review of how he randomly forces «Surcharges» and blames it on «Volatile Fuel prices», it’s clear Dave is greedy and a poor business man that won’t honor his word and action. We will be paying full price on another boat with a Honorable «Captain».
PS: TravelZoo wouldn’t issue a refund after 7 days and told me to work it out with the Captain. I called my credit card and they reversed the charges.

This was a normal old boat, which is typical of this kind of ride. The fishing gear was very old, and proved to have a lot of problems. Each time there was an issue with a reel or something needed to be changed, the shoulder-​to-​shoulder setup made it harder and longer to fix.
The staff was very immature and did some very inappropriate things. At one point, a small shark was caught. The two helpers spent 10 minutes cutting the shark up (cut the fins off while it was still alive). They then played around with the parts before throwing it back to sea. This was extremely unprofessional and inappropriate. They also stomped on some smaller fish that were caught before throwing them back in the water.
Overall, it was just a bad experience.
As the other person mentioned, there was an additional surcharge on top of the voucher for «fuel.»

Ok, I don’t know where that other reviewer is coming from, but that seems like an isolated experience.
I had never been fishing before, but my new brother-​in-​law thought that a big fishing trip would be a fun bachelorette/​bachelor party. So he gathers 11 of us together, all fishing newbies, and books a trip with Captain Dave. We paid $ 40 each, which was at a discount, and off we went for 5 hours. The trip was beautiful, the deckhands helped us with every little part we needed on the fishing pole, and there was a lovely little cook making $ 3 hot dogs and $ 4 hamburgers. There’s a little cabin with a clean bathroom. You can bring some beers along, though they also sell them at 3 or 4 bucks. It’s a grand olé time. I highly recommend!

Came here for a celebration with a group of good friends. From the moment we set sail, Captain Dave and his crew were warm, welcoming, and instructive. Over the course of the next five hours we enjoyed not only a beautiful sunset and an amazing group of co-​weekend-​fishermen, but also some fishing success ourselves! In fact, our group’s next dinner featured a striped bass caught on this very trip.
Do yourself a favor and spend an evening on Captain Dave’s boat. Excellent people, and a wonderful time.

friendly people good crew always happy to help

I brought two coupons on Travelzoo for Captain Dave fishing. On that voucher there was no small print that they were going to charge us $ 10 each for surcharge. It just said gratuity not included. I had no choice, but to pay for the surcharges since we already packed up everything and was ready for a day of fishing. I found this to be a con and very deceitful to the consumer. When I called travelzoo to complain, not only was the consumer service rude. She told me gratuity not included and when did gratuity became a surcharge? I told her that gratuity and surcharges are two different things. She won’t listen and was more than happy to try me get me off the phone by cutting me off in mid-​sentence by saying is there anything else I could help you with. I didn’t even get a chance to explain to her how this was wrong to do this to customers. Never again, would I go back to Captain Dave boat or book anything from travelzoo, until I called the company before hand and ask them if there are any charges on top of the sale price listed. BAD BUSINESS PRACTICE!!!