Mickey’s Big Mack Charters

We spent $ 300 and didn’t even touch a fishing pole. Wouldn’t recommend this to anyone.

I took my 7 year old daughter out with Micky. He was extremely kid friendly and we caught fish. The boat is a nice size with a bathroom, warm cabin and tables. There is a large monitor in the cabin with the fish finder on it, so you can see the fish mark as you troll. If your wanting a booze cruse, or an overly joyful tour guid who willing to entertain you as they portion if a bit of their soul to do so, this isn’t the place. Its a fishing trip, thats it.

Our family enjoyed a fishing trip on the Big Mack — it was worth getting up early to be out on the lake as the sun rose and then pulling in some large Mackinaw. Mickey was great! Don’t miss this fun trip.

I took my son and his two kids on a charter with Mickey on Big Mack in July 2014. We started out early on the Big Mack II from Carnelian bay fishing for Mackinaw. We spent 8 hours fishing and joking with Mickey. Not only did we catch 6 Mackinaw but we had the greatest time with Mickey who really is a jokester. He is exceptional with kids and he made my grandson’s and granddaughter’s day a fantastic experience. I cannot recommend him enough.
If you want to catch fish and have a good time, book a charter with Mickey and the Big Mack II.

Best fishing charter I’ve been on to date. He leaves early like you’re supposed to for a fishing trip. Mickey sells fishing licenses right there on the dock. All you have to do is show up and kick fishes ass. his boat is full of top notch brand new equipment. I saw no less than three screens for fish finders. Including an LCD TV. This sport fishing trip was my wife’s idea. that is what she wanted to do for our anniversary. Mickey and his deckhand Andrew were very knowledgeable people and they answered all of our questions. Mickey’s got a lot of jokes. He was a wonderful captain. All of the equipment appears to be new ish and was fully functional. I’ve been on other charters that weren’t this nice. Mickey has a nice big 43 foot long boat so you’re not constantly rolling while out on the lake. No rolling equals no seasick. I would not hesitate to go out with him again. My wife want to be to add that it has a bathroom so the ladies will be happy.

I had a great time fishing on this boat. Mickey does know what he is doing and spent 40 years accumulating knowledge to do so. We caught 11 fish total for the boat and catching that many fish on a charter is a successful day. The old man is very proactive and very useful.

Great trip! 11 fish on board for 11 folks. All
nice Macks. Mickey is a great guy, especially with the kids. He has plenty of jokes and pranks to play on the kids to keep them on their toes which made it fun since we had a 6,7, and 9 year old with us.
My only complaint is that, when you ask Mickey any question about fishing, he mumbles or ignores you??? I guess he is trying to protect his trade secrets but his fishing approach is quite basic; a flasher and a minnow.
Over all, I recommend Mickey, especially if you plan on fishing with the family.

My family and I had a fun morning fishing with Mickey. My son was the youngest in the group and Mickey let him reel in the first fish of the day. There were several kids on the boat and he engaged them all through the morning. As for the adults, he chatted about fishing, talked about the lake, showed them how to gut a fish and was generally entertaining. As a group, we did not catch a lot of fish (6 fish for 9 people) but there was at least one fish for each group.

There were 8 of us, family and friends. I’ve been hearing about Mickey and the Big Mack for several years. My son Travis worked on Mickey’s boat and he couldn’t say enough good things about Mickey… We all just got back from fishing… What a day! Mickey told us that the fishing was poor lately… We caught 5 and couldn’t be happier! My soon to be daughter in law caught the biggest one measuring 27.8 inches and weighing a hefty 10 pounds. When she held the fish up to her chin, the tail was down around her knees. Awesome fish! My step son caught a 22 inch Mackinaw. Another great fish! We had a blast! We took our fish to Poppy’s restaurant in Tahoe City and Matt smoked them for us. Poppy’s serves the best sandwhich I’ve ever eaten (The Big L) and the staff there are absoutely wonderful! This trip was so awesome on several different levels. They don’t come any better than Mickey and the staff at Poppy’s.This trip will be remembered by all of us for the rest of our lives. If you’re thinking about fishing for Mackinaw, look no farther than Mickey and the Big Mack. I’m certain that you will agree with my review. AND — -be sure to check out Poppy’s!

Came here at 415, and was greeted unethusiastically by mickey. As first time fishers, my group eagerly asked him questions as he set up the lines for trolling. However, he seemed to ignore us as he carried about his routine. Five hours later, with little small talk or any reaction from him, and a whole bunch of false alarms, he gave up. Now, i don’t blame him for not having any fish but throughout the whole trip we felt like we were doing nothing, weren’t having any of our basic questions answered and pretty much ignored. When we got a piece of debris, and one of his friends pulled up next to us on a jetski, he referred to it as «I caught this» which clearly showed his attitude towards us. He was the one and only person on the boat, and we were just there to help pay for his fuel costs. At the end, when we were pulling up, he came and made us reel all his lines in. After trying to talk to him about a discount for one member because they weren’t doing anything he had plenty of reasons to not budge including how he had another group want to join and we took their spot. He seemed very well rehearsed with his reasons. Finally, I looked through his log of fish caught, and only two to five fish a day were caught and that includes at least two five hour sessions with at least seven or so people per charter. All of this for 90 a person. With poor service and interaction, I feel this is the worst customer experience I’ve had in a long time and I’ve lived in new York before
In summary, if you’re looking to have an engaging experience, trolling with mickey in lake tahoe is not a wise choice

Avoid this buisness like the Plague! A small group of us (5 guys) got up at 4 am to do this «supposedly fun trip». Well, I can’t express enough disappoint! When we got to the dock, Mickey never spoke one word to any of us except to collect $$. Not only did he not explain what to expect, what kind of fish we were going to find, How to fish the lake etc. but NEVER even introduced himself… Don’t know how he has run this buisness for this long. After sailing off, we only realized he was fishing (NOT US) after he pulled the first of our 2 fish over 7hrs into the boat. Mickey had put out 9 lines (one for each person on the boat)…AND BASICLY DID ALL THE FISHING HIMSELF WITHOUT TALKING TO ANYONE!
BOTTOM LINE: amounted to 7 hrs of torture… We each paid a total of $ 94.00/pp to watch him fish… unbelievalble!
DO NOT GO!

Our whole fishing party had an extremely enjoyable experience with Mickey. My husband and I took our dads out for a Father’s Day fishing trip and everyone had a good time. There were 6 of us and we pulled in 5 big keepers. Only one of our group walked away without a fish but even that person got to reel in 2 hooked fish that unfortunately jumped the hook before we could get them. Both of our dads were successful and both really liked our surprise fishing trip. I would highly recommend Mickey if you want a relaxing and fun fishing trip for your family or friends. Mickey was extremely friendly and kept us entertained with his funny props.
I saw that someone gave Mickey a low rating because they used this fishing charter as a place to get wasted for a bachelor party. I wouldn’t recommend this fishing charter if you are planning on having a bachelor party where everyone wants to get drunk. Instead I would recommend a bar or some other bachelor party appropriate place. While I’m sure Mickey does allow drinking, he is a responsible person and, quite reasonably, doesn’t want to have to babysit a group of drunk adults at 6 in the morning.

Absolutely terrible experience with Mickey… It was apparent before we stepped on to the boat that Mickey did not want to entertain our group. We were a group of 25 – 33 year old males as part of a bachelor party. We made prior arrangements with Mickey and were told that bringing beer on board would not be a problem. However once we started opening beers on our ride out to the middle of the lake, we were labeled «A bunch of drunks». We were NOT greeted, Mickey did not engage in any conversation, he did not introduce himself or explain what we would be fishing for. He actually appeared to be miserable and having a bad morning. We took the early trip and met at the dock around 05:30am. Mickey was a downer the entire ride. We cut our trip short and returned to dock after approximately 2.5 hours. We didn’t catch any fish, which isn’t Mickey’s fault, but who knows if there was even bait on the lines because the trip was not interactive whatsoever. I don’t recommend this trip to anybody. Mickey was a total disappointment. I would have been more understanding if Mickey told us he was not going to take us out that morning rather than ACCEPTING OUR $ 800 and treating us like punk little kids. At one point, Mickey even got in one of our faces and challenged him to a physical altercation. This was my first chartered fishing trip. If you are under 40 years old and planning on fishing with Mickey, DON’T“T DO IT because he will stereotype you before you have a chance to say good morning.

Great experience with Mickey… Long time fishing captain on the Big Mack II. It was my 5 and 9 year old boys first fishing charter and I can’t say enough good things about Mickey and our fishing trip. We caught 6 – 8 Mackinaw trout (the main fish in the lake). We took the early trip and met at the marina at 5:45AM. It was about 30 degrees outside, but the cabin on the boat is heated and very comfortable (toilet onboard). Mickey brought coffee, and the trip to the fishing spot was short and easy. The boat is definitely a fishing boat, so don’t expect more than a padded bench seat and a few bench tables. Very adequate for a real fishing trip and much better than I have seen on my salt water trips. Mickey is a very knowledgable guide and a wealth of knowledge. We learned a lot about Tahoe, the lake, and fishing (including tagging and release). We only kept enough fish to eat while we were here in Tahoe, so Mickey tagged the others and released them. He was absolutely great with the kids. Some charters are kid friendly, but I would call him kid happy. He really catered to the boys and they loved the trip. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for more. Mickey even cleaned our fish and bagged em for the ride home…