Night Striped Bass Fishing? SCAM. Capt. Dave advertises a 7pm - midnight striped bass trip with live eels as bait. There is a big sign on the dock. Here's what I have to say to that after going on one of those crock trips a few weeks ago: 1. There were no live eels. Instead, we used worms and it was like pulling teeth to get the mates to refill the bait containers. 2. We were rigged up for porgy fishing, not striped bass fishing! Capt. Dave stayed at one spot for over 2 hours because people were catching porgies. A handful of us started complaining loudly and only then were we rigged up for bass. 3. Capt. Dave moved the boat about half a dozen times during our trip...BUT...half a dozen times of doing the same big circle/loop - you can tell by measuring landmarks along Coney Island. What a joke. 4. Not a single striper was caught. We had about 50 people on the boat, and 1 guy caught a bluefish, 1 kid caught a shark, many others caught porgies, and a number of people didn't catch anything throughout the entire trip. At the end of the trip, and according to Capt. Dave's review the next day, there were over 100 porgies caught. I didn't pay good money to go porgy fishing with worms!! Capt. Dave is guilty of FALSE ADVERTISING. You will not get live eels and you will not catch stripers. read more

I would also give 0 stars, but that's not possible on yelp, so fine, 1 star. I bought some travelzoo vouchers for my friends and I. We were excited to join Captain Dave and his crew. The voucher said you must call and make a reservation so I did. The man who picked up the phone was so rude and couldn't be bothered with taking a reservation, he said just show up, bring the voucher and hung up. He barked out theses orders and I could barely understand him. I called again just to ask what items we could bring - a cooler? And he was like, I already told you, just bring your voucher and no, no, cooler, we sell food and drink on the boat. Again, hung up, so rude and I couldn't believe his tone with a customer who was merely calling in to make a reservation, which the voucher REQUIRED! I wasn't calling just to call and it was as if any call coming through with vouchers was interrupting his day. I felt like I wasn't even on the boat yet and had already had a poor experience so why give this place any business? I returned my vouchers and found another boat company to go on. Honestly, if a company doesn't want to be bothered with people who buy travelzoo or discount vouchers, then don't put your company up on those types of sites. If they want hardcore people who fish all the time, fine - run your business how you want to run it. But don't put your company on a travelzoo or groupon and then be rude to customers excited about the tour they just bought with you. Yes, you're going to get a lot of business from people in hoards because these travel sites get a lot of exposure and if you can't handle the business in a customer-friendly way - don't put your company out there like that. Simple. So, yeah, I didn't even make it to Captain Dave's actual boat because I don't care if his crew is great face-to-face (which I doubt). If they can't even handle a simple reservation without being a jerk, I don't want to spend an evening on their tour and give my money and my business. Go elsewhere people! There are many tours in Sheepshead Bay. I'll be taking the Sea Queen VII today and will post my experience on their yelp site afterwards, but so far, it has been an excellent experience. read more

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. read more

After getting scammed by Captain Midnight (he claimed his mother was dying after I used my voucher to book a trip when his boat has not gone out all season - would do nothing to make it right), I found that Captain Dave was running a Groupon for the same price. I called Captain Dave a couple of times to ask questions and to reserve a spot and he was very accommodating and assured me there would be a space for my group. I had read some mixed reviews about this company, including some where people had complained about the deckhands. Whatever those people are smoking they should bring enough to share with everyone. The deckhands on this boat are some of the most patient and encouraging people possible. My lack of fishing skill caused me to do everything humanly possible to try their patience. I must have tangled my line a dozen times and never one did any of the deckhands express any frustration that I needed their help yet again. To the contrary, when I apologized profusely for making their lives difficult they reassured me that it was not a problem and that they do this every day. At one point, I felt so bad for needing so much of their help that I put my fishing pole down and one of the deckhands encouraged me to keep trying. As for the trip itself, it was blazingly hot and the fish were not really biting (I hear that there is usually more action on the night trip), but this was not the fault of the captain, who tried valiantly to find us a good fishing spot. I caught no fluke, but I did catch two sand sharks. My girlfriend caught a fluke and a sea robin. I really loved being out on the water all day and this was a great company to choose. I cannot stress enough what a great time I had on this trip. I do not live in the New York area, but if I ever had the opportunity to go on this trip again, I would do it in a heartbeat and I would do it with Captain Dave. Book this company with confidence. There was no problem at all using the Groupon and everything about Captain Dave's company was customer friendly - my date of trip was June 30 so this is a very current review. read more

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. read more

I am a regular on the "Captain Dave." I can go on any boat in the bay or anywhere else I please. I prefer the "Captain Dave" because the Captain alone is very knowledgeable of the waters, tides, currents and the structure where the fish are. I have gone out during the day fishing wrecks and reefs for bottom fish and caught porgies, sea bass, black fish, cod, ling, fluke and flounder. Other times I have jigged for striped bass and blues where the birds are working (diving into the ocean where the bait fish are) and caught huge fish. I also fish on the "Captain Dave" at night and caught many huge stripers and blues. "Captain Dave" will go the extra mile to try and please everyone. I have brought my wife and son and many of my friends on the "Captain Dave" and we always had a great time and I will continue to do just that for many years to come. If you want to go and catch fish and enjoy day and night fishing, I highly recommend this boat. As far as the Travel Zoo complainers, you probably haven't been on a fishing boat before. The "Captain Dave" is a fishing boat. read more

the worst boat throughout the docks do not go here he is a liar, extreme false advertisement , extremely rude yelling at passengers , no help ,worms as bate not live eels, the boat was extremely dirty no running water , fishing only in a complete circle n most of the time your line will get caught on rocks he should really go out further n when u need help no one to be found n u must pay extra for everything n he doesn't mention it until at first waits until something breaks then tells u ,u must pay then he says its not bass season they tell u rod rentals is 5$ then it turned to 10$ pls don't waist your time and money especially if its your first time experiencing this .. read more

What a night of fishing on The Capt. Dave last night! No fish caught ! Ripped off for the pool money ! While the mates work hard even on a night when everyone gets skunked on the boat, they have no right just pocketing the pool money. Myself and my two friends had already tipped the mates ten bucks a piece (very generous) Why would they take the pool money without even mentioning it ? A raffle drawing should have been set up so at least one unlucky fisherman would have a chance at a happy night ! As my friend pointed out , only in Sheepshead Bay does this go on. If anybody out there is thinking about going out on the Capt. Dave, do yourself a favor , spend a little extra time traveling to Jersey or Captree where the number one priority is you the customer and the good reputation of the fishing industry in those areas! read more

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!!!!! read more

had the worst experience in 45yrs. of party boat fishing on the capt dave. night striper trip, no fish caught on the boat, which is not a problem, it happens.on the way back we were waiting for them to raffle off the pool (over $100) which is common practice. not only did they not do a raffle, they didn't even mention the pool money. as we were getting off the boat we asked the mate what happened to the pool money and he said the mates keep it. the problem wasn't that the mates got the money, its how they went about it. the mates or the so-called capt. never said a word about the money. I have NEVER heard of this happening on any party boat ever, anywhere.he should have used the PA system and told his fares, probably no one would have had a problem with that. what made things worse was the jerk telling every one not to forget to tip the mates. in my book this was the same as stealing the pool money. DO NOT FISH ON THIS BOAT!!!!! read more