Black Hawk Open Fishing Boat

Captain Craig did his best to find the best fishing spots. When the fish stopped biting, he would find a better spot, or motor to a new location and shift from fishing for blues to bottom fishing for porgies.
The crew was outstanding. Responsive to our needs and patient and very helpful in showing and explaining fishing techniques.
My family doesn’t fish much, but the captain and crew made this days outing a memorable experience.

This was an OK experience that could have been made a lot better with a little less macho bellowing and a kinder and gentler attitude from the captain.
There was a lot about the Black Hawk that I liked. The boat is quite a bit smaller than it’s competitor which made the whole experience much more manageable. I was on a 4 PM trip and they max out at 25 people, They have more (50) on a day trip and less on a night trip. So the size of the crowd made for less tangled lines than you get on the big boats.
I didn’t have a problem with any of the mates. On the contrary, without exception, I found all of them to be courteous, attentive, helpful and nice to deal with. Alex gets high marks in all categories.
I liked the fact that we were given a pretty comprehensive group lesson before we left the dock, I had never seen this before. We went over the essentials — how to flip the release on the reel, how to drop your line, how to keep your thumb lightly on the reel as the line drops, what to do when the line hits bottom, how to reel up a few cranks and then drop again, etc, etc. This was very helpful.
Where I had a problem with the Black Hawk was the manner and style of that lesson’s delivery. The ships captain is a very knowledgeable man, he has been in the fishing industry for years, and has made countless radio and trade show appearances. But being a little more humble, a lot less belligerent/​insulting/​sarcastic, and a lot more polished in the art of customer service would have made the excursion a lot more enjoyable,
During the pre-​trip lesson, one of his phrases were «you will fish to your ability» delivered in such an insulting way that basically means «if you are too stupid or too uncoordinated or too inexperienced to follow these instruction you’ll fish shitty and its not my fault». He made fun of people that had trouble on the boat, saying they had lobotomies when they walked onto the boat.
By the way, we didn’t have a stellar amount of fish caught on our trip. My party of five caught 2 fish. I guess the fishes’ ability to evade our hooks was greater than our ability to catch them.

Me, my wife and our 11 year son had one of the best experiences imaginable. The fishing was phenomenal and very different from other trips i been at. This crew is the best! They really coach and help you to do well and it is non stop action. The captain is awesome and works really hard to make the most of the trip. We left with 4 large blues, 30 some porgies and a few seabass. 42 fish total! As good as it gets!