We booked a whale watching trip on our anniversary Gateway. We had a great experience with Telstar! The weather on the day of our trip suddenly changed and Telstar did a great job of keeping us informed. The offered to move our trip to a day that should have better weather. Thankfully, everything worked out. The crew and captain on the boat where great and we highly recommend them. read more

Great trip ,Sean and Casey were very nice and laid back,caught some nice rockcod ,boat was nice,price very reasonable,also a short run to the fishing spots and back with limits by noon read more

I'm from the East Coast and this was my first time fishing in California. It was a great trip and one that I'll remember for a long time. The crew; Captain Sean, and mate Casey are very personable and attentive to all your needs. They are experienced and most importantly, put us on the fish. I took the morning charter and we were back at the dock by noon. It fit our schedule quite well and left the entire afternoon open. I highly recommend them and I'm sure you'll have the same experience that I did. I would definitely book with them then next time I'm in this area; read more

My biggest complaint for the trip would be that one of the crew was smoking in the back end of the boat the whole time. Smelling cigarettes is not very fun when you are trying to experience nature at it's best. Not only that but he was dropping the cigarettes in the ocean while getting a new one. We also did not turn around when getting warnings for huge waves so the ride back was pretty awful through the giant waves. read more

My son and I booked and took our maiden fishing journey. Friendly staff, helpful, everything we needed; caught some Fish, cleaned and filleted for us. Overall enjoyed our experience. We will go again read more

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! Our family had an amazing trip with Telstar Charters!! The crew was professional, personable and genuine. Telstar Charters put us right on the fish, everyone limited on the boat! Captain Sean was friendly, really helpful, positive and courteous with our 2 boys as well were the deckhands Jamison and Cody. We will definitely be using Telstar Charters again in the future. Great customer service for an amazing price. Thank you for the memories!! FISH ON read more

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Me and my 3 year old went rock fishing on Telstar. We had an amazing time, the crew and captain were great! They really made it a special time for my son, he even got to reel in his own fish! I had such a great time I am going out tomorrow again by myself! HIGHLY RECOMMEND! read more

Telstar Charters - AMAZING TRIP - Boat Charters Near Me - Fort Bragg, California

The most fun and excitement I've had in a long time! I think everyone caught their limit and the guys on the boat were great at helping get the fish off the hooks for us and filleting them afterwards. Super crew! Really nice guys. If you're prone to seasickness make sure you prepare for it. My friend & I were fine though. I'll be back :- ) read more

Telstar Charters - Thy had a pool for the biggest fish and I WON! - Boat Charters Near Me - Fort Bragg, California

Crew were great! Lots of help and guidance, Captain helped as well and changed locations several times to make sure we caught our limit. The most impressive was the call the evening before to let us know salmon weren't running, asked if we would like to rock fish or cancel. This has never happened to us before. Thanks for the integrity! I will definitely use Telstar next time I'm in town fishing!! read more

Went out with them in May and again on 10/6/23. Very friendly, knowledgable captain and deck hand. Great fishing. And they stopped on the way in to let us take all the photos we wanted on a large pod of humpback whales. They're the best. read more

Captain Sean and his crew were informative and attentive to all the fishers.. Had a great day fishing... read more

Telstar Charters - Boat Charters Near Me - Fort Bragg, California

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Great charter and crew! We all limited early, so we got to fish for long cod. Limited then too! Highly recommend. read more

Telstar Charters - Limited on ling cod - Boat Charters Near Me - Fort Bragg, California

We went for my bday trip on8/29/21. Top notch boat, Captain was great and the deckhands were amazing! Always ready to help with everything from tackle to getting the fish in the boat and my line back out ASAP!! Best time ever and can't wait to go again. Thank you for a fun time! read more

Had a great time fishing on a recent trip on the Telstar. Captain Shawn and his deck hand Jamison were very laid back and were excited to take us out and try for some salmon. Although we didn't hook up with any salmon, we did hook a huge thresher shark. Amazingly we (the whole boat) had a chance to feel the tug of this big fish for 3 hours until he finally spit the hook. Anyone who has ever owned a boat knows that "things" happen. We had a minor malfunction with the steering system that cut our trip short, Captain Shawn made good on this , even know he didn't have to. Thank you Telstar. If I ever come up that way again, I will definitely book another trip read more

Charan in reservations was incredible. Our group number kept changing and I was able to bug her every time. Best Customer Service! Captain Sean and the guys were amazing. They let me help with counting and sorting crabs, they answered all my silly questions, and I was even given a tour of the Captain's quarters. Sean told me about all the instruments used, we talked about helms, and the most important part, the fish finder. I am still new to fishing so the guys taught me how to cast and bob the pole. I think they were even more surprised and excited than I was when I caught two fish at once. 3 was my total :) We ended up not catching our max of fish but we definitely did with crab. I even got to take a few extra rock crab home. Thank you guys for an amazing weekend. Too bad my boyfriend and friend got sick but I had a BLAST!! Thanks again!! read more

Thank you to Sean and Casey of Telstar Charters for an unforgettable boat ride to see the migrating gray whales off of the coast of Fort Bragg and Mendocino. So amazing to see these magnificent creatures up close! Thank you for this opportunity. You guys were really great...skilled, friendly and informative. read more

My car smells like fish. And why didn't anyone tell me fishing was so labor intensive? My left arm is SORE today. Not so sore that I couldn't write my longest review EVER. For the boyfriend's 25th birthday, I decided to gift him with a fishing/crabbing trip. He'd been talking about how much he wanted to crab and fish that I decided to go all out. Upon recommendation by Denis of Golden West Saloon, I made reservations to go rockfishing and crabbing with Captain Randy and Telstar Charters. On Sunday morning, we awoke bright and early, picked up some Dramamine [take 30 minutes up to an hour before take-off], and headed for Noyo Harbor. At first it can seem intimidating. Valerie, one of the deckhands, ran through the instructions very quickly at the beginning. Don't worry - you don't have to pick it all up within these first ten minutes of introductions! Throughout the 6+ hours on the water, Captain Randy and his crew made sure that we were having a good time. Since it was our first time rockfishing, we had no idea how to drop the line to the bottom and to feel for a bite. I never hesitated on asking questions, and they were always ready to field questions. I think I got really lucky with the handful of cod that I caught once I figured out how to do everything! For $25 more [only rockfishing = $75], our trip included crabbing. The deckhands will assign you to a group to help measure, count, bring in the buoy, and to reel up the cages. Even though you're participating and it may seem tough, the deckhands are really doing all the work. It's just a fun way to "get involved." Some tips - 1) Don't forget to bring a snack or two. They provide donuts and coffee already, but if you prefer other food items, BRING THEM. Common sense would have told us to bring food, but it was early and we were too tired to think about that. Needless to say, we were starving by the time the trip was over. 2) Wear layers that you don't mind getting DIRTY and SMELLY. You're fishing. Of course you will smell like fish! It's cold in the morning but tends to warm up as you become more active or as the sun comes out. 3) Bring cash for the trip. If you lose setups of bait, they're $3 each to replace [we lost 4]. You will also want to tip your deckhands. They work REALLY hard, so that you don't have to! They'll also help you out whenever you need something. Whenever we would reel fish in, they would come by and help us make sure that it got into our burlap sacks. Rockfish are extremely sharp and spiny. 4) Bring cash for the trip. Let Valerie filet or gut the fish for you! We have a tendency to like to eat our fish whole, so we didn't have her help us filet them. We should've at least had her gut 'em though. It's SUCH hard work that takes her a matter of minutes! If you end up crabbing too, take the crabs home AFTER they boil 'em for you. They'll keep better. 5) Make reservations! The original plan was to go out on Saturday, but I'm guessing I made reservations much too late [a week or two in advance], so it was a Sunday trip. Overall, we had a great time. I wish that we had more information prior to the trip, such as bringing food, how to dress, what to bring, since I did specifically say that we'd never gone before. The only instructions were to get a fishing license at Long's and to show up at 6:30. So hopefully this review will help anyone else thinking of fishing/crabbing up in Fort Bragg. It's totally worth the trip! It is not without good reason that we could not make the North Bay Elite event this weekend. By the time we got back to the city, we were loaded up with 13 fish [all sorts of different cod - China, Black, Olive, etc.] and 8 crabs! YUM. Totally worth it in $$ too! My mom tells me that one of the olive cod we caught sells for $15-$20/pound in Chinatown, and it was at least 3 pounds. WHOA! And we all know it's not crab season now. What a catch! read more

Telstar Charters - Valerie and a California Starfish! - Boat Charters Near Me - Fort Bragg, California

Just had the best experience ever with the crew of Telstar Charters. The crews were knowledgeable, fun and serious about catching fish. Thanks for a great day of catching fish. Sean, Josh, Cody and Jameson you guys are awesome! read more

Went out with Telstar on a rock/crab combo. 5/22/15 Was greeted by the deck hands: Josh and Casey. Fantastic guys. Before shoving off, they went over the safety guidelines. While fishing, these guys were working! Josh is a magician at freeing snags. The gear. First time using a spinning reel for bottom fishing. Not my cup of tea, but the Okuma reels did their job flawlessly. The poles were the lightest pole I've ever used for rock as well. Nothing like having the tip damn near touch the butt when fighting a Ling. Many folks brought their own gear, huge thick heavy poles. I have used those before and was dead ass tired afterwards. Captain Randy's setup was not only fun but saved you a ton of energy. The fishing was hot. Well for me it was. I caught 5 Ling keepers (gave 2 away), handful of black rock (gave a few away), few greenlings, an olive rock, a vermilion, few sea trout (gave a couple away), few cabezons, I think that's it. At the end, I caught a total of 20 fish. Each person got 8 crabs. Way too much for me. Wish I had a fridge at hotel. Do understand, if the boat has a hot day. You will be waiting at the dock for awhile. 120 crab, plus fish took 90+ minutes to cook and clean. Capt Randy, Josh and Casey run the nicest charter operation I have been with in a long time. read more

Captain Randy and his crew are the best! We had a great time catching crabs with the friends we made on the boat. Everyone had a great time and we limited. We even took a little side trip to see whales mating! We will definitely be back!!! read more

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Called to find out what they had available on charters for boyfriend & I, never got a call back. Guess they were too busy to follow up. I went through Anchor Charter and have never been disappointed! read more

10/10 would recommend! Crew was awesome and extremely helpful. We had a wonderful day of fishing and everyone limited out. No pictures because we were to busy slaying the fish. Look forward to booking another charter with these folks in the future read more

Just go back home to Chico. Went out on the Telstar yesterday. Opening day for Crab and we all got limits and it was a full boat. Shawn was an excellent Captain and Jamison and Cory were excellent deck hands. Always right with you to reel them in if you need help. This was my first time crabbing and to watch and be involved with the process was awesome. We will definitely be back as many times as we can. Telstar is number one in my book!!! We've been out with them a few times this year and each time was great! Until next time...Happy and safe fishin!!! read more

Trying to be as fair as possible about this review. The Good: -Captain did a good job explaining the plan and captained a good boat The Bad: -showed up for rockfish with my kids (idea was to catch fish) and was asked when we got there if it was ok to switch to salmon because they were apparently "biting". We kind of had no choice at this point because we were ready to fish and said "yes". Told "if we get skunked, we will still go rockfishing". -Once boat headed out, 2 couples started drinking and chain smoking. Loud and continuously dropping sexual innuendos. Nice to be able to take our masks off out on the water only to have to smell smoke the whole time. Crew said and did nothing- not sure they can do much about loud (fill in the blank) people but would be nice if they had signs that asked people to limit smoking. -My kids were miserable because we just had to listen the whole time to these couples dropping F-bombs the whole trip, getting drunk, shouting out sexual innuendos, smoking, and then one lady puking... and then keep smoking. They occasionally called one of the deck hands "Fat boy" and "Chunk". He was the larger of the two... -One guy on the boat caught a salmon. Once we had a salmon on board we were all told "sorry, no rock fishing- once you have a salmon on, that's the law". Gee... thanks for telling us the rules before. -He caught another small salmon and that's all that was caught (NOT THE TELESTAR'S FAULT)- that's fishing... I'm just pissed about not being about to try rockfishing. -When we reeled in our lines at the end of the day, two of our lines had small rockfish at the ends... they called them "hitchhikers". Great- the deckhands hadn't checked our lines for about 2 hours... how long were these things on there... WTF- how were we supposed to catch salmon with those things on there? That's a crew's job- at least I thought so. Anyway... kids were disappointed. I was disappointed- not by the fish as much as by the way the day was handled. Sorry Telestar. I give you Tele"two"stars. read more

I am so heart broken about writing this review. We came up from Sacramento since we had planned to fish on this boat. We did not get a call before to cancel but he told us the morning of. Had we at least known with time we could have rearranged our day. I would recommend you check somwhere other than with this company. read more

Cancelled opening day of rock fish. Made reservations two months in advance, which included expensive local lodging etc.. Apparently took boat out of storage two days prior to opener only to find out it was non-operational. Although very apologetic on phone, it would have been nice to have them provide a discount on future trips. Had out of town guests who had never been fishing in this area. Very disappointing.. of course conditions were perfect and all others were booked. read more

Just returned from an all-day fishing trip with Captain Randy and his deckhands Shaun and Josh. I've been on several fishing charters around the U.S. and prior to this trip I was reluctant to try another due to the many bad experiences I had. This trip was set up as part of a friends bachelors party so I went with it. Glad I did. Captain Randy and his deckhands were welcoming, friendly, engaging, helpful... bottom line, they let you be involved as you wanted to. You could tell they were passionate about what they were doing and you weren't just another "fare". I don't know when I will get to Ft. Bragg next but when I do, I would definitely like to hire these guys again. Thank you for the great experience. *Forgot to mention, we caught more fish than we knew what to do with! read more

Went here for my brothers bachelor party. We did salmon fishing in the morning and rock fishing in the afternoon. My one brother is a fisherman... he's been coming to Fort Bragg for years to fish, so he knew what to expect. My friend, other brother, and I, on the other hand, aren't big time fishermen and don't have our "Sea Legs." This "lack of sea" legs cause us to get sick. Three of us threw up... which sucked. The deck hands were cool about it and handed us papertowels to wipe our faces. On to the fishing... it's impossible for a captain to know exactly where the fish are. The first part of the day we did salmon fishing and only one person caught a fish. I personally was feeling discouraged and wanted to quit. My brother said it was early in the season so it was kinda unlikely anyways. The second half of the day we did rock fishing. You drop your line with bait to the ocean floor, and shake the rod up and down with the current and hopefully catch stuff. For the first two hours the boat caught fish, bud I didn't. The captain would walk around and see how everyone was doing... wanted everyone to catch something. The captain navigated the vessel to a few different spots trying to please the customers. After the first two hours I finally got the hang of it. I was bringing in fish LEFT AND RIGHT... mostly black bass and ling cod. It was AWESOME!!!!!!! I caught a small fish, and as I was reeling it in, i though it might just be seawead or something. I brought up my line and there was a small 4" fish on my hook. The deckhand suggested I leave it on the hook and use it as bait. --- which WORKED. I caught a HUGE LING COD!!! That was awesome. After the fishing was over and we were back in Noyo Harbor, the captain went around and asked how we liked it... which I though was a class act. The crew filled all our fish from their fillet table on the docs, for a small fee- which was worth it. I HIGHLY recommend using Telstar Charters for your next Fort Bragg Fishing Trip. The captain genuily cares about the customers. The deckhands were always there to rebait your hook and use their long stick with hook thing to bring the heavy fish into the boat. I plan on going back. read more

A group of seven of us went out with Capt Randy and his crew on a blustery winter day. The morning that we were scheduled to leave it poured like no one's business, but prior to us shoving off the rain stopped and the weather turned out to be great. From the minute we showed up and stepped onto the Telstar, we felt welcome and the crew although it was busy had smiles on their faces and was very friendly. They even provided us with "Fat bullets" doughnuts in nautical speak I guess. We had a short 30 minute boat ride to the crab pots and on the way; deck hand Sean trained us on our crab fishing duties. I was the pot person, who placed the rope into the winch and then swung the crab pot onto the rail. Others pulled the rope up, used the gaff to grab the buoys, one daughter measured the crab and another would give the captain the crab numbers. We were in a real life albeit miniature version of Deadliest Catch. Everyone was having fun and working towards a tremendous abundance of table fair. After catching a total of a hundred or so crab we headed back to port. Our journey took approximately three hours and was a great adventure for my entire family of four. Well two of us enjoyed it; the other two spent some time with their head over the rails. However each time my wife got "sick" one of the deck hands would take her a fresh paper towel to wipe her mouth and then would tentatively return to his work. I cannot stress enough the compassion and overall warm feeling we all had aboard the Telstar. Additionally the crab was delicious and they were big. The four of us took home well over 50 lbs of cleaned and cooked crab, which was sweet and delicious. 10's across the board and I can't say enough about these guys and the great time we had. I will be back in may for a combo crab and bottom fishing trip in May. Steve Guthrie Yuba City California read more

Real nice guys running the boat. We got out limit of crab and didn't get seasick!!! read more

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What an amazing time we had. Our Captain was Shawn and our Deckhand was Kevin. Both were helpful and knowledgable. The only thing that we would ask for is more bait. By the time the squid was chopped up, it was gone. For that many people on the boat, there should be more bait made available. read more

Other than my 8 year old getting sea sick, which is not the Charter's fault, we had an excellent experience and caught a lot of Salmon in some pretty rough waters. Captain Shaun and Deckhand Kevin were awesome! They were experienced and very helpful in us catching fish. We originally went out for Rockfish and it was a little slow but we ended up catching a few big salmon off of the rockfish rigs which is not very common. The crew immediately changed over our gear to fish salmon and we nearly caught our limit with 6 people in our group, including a 25 lb hog. The fact that they were willing to accommodate us based on what was hitting, was great! We'll definitely be back! read more

Thanks for making my birthday a fishing adventure!! Very helpful staff and very friendly ... They helped everybody out all the time when someone had trouble or needed a hand always entertained the ppl and always had a good joke or story to tell :) we traveled from redding to fort Bragg and they made our fishing trip special :) the captain very friendly, Casey & josh you guys rock !!! By the way josh filet everybody's fish after the trip so nice and clean couldn't asked for more ... :) thank you read more

Telstar Charters - :) - Boat Charters Near Me - Fort Bragg, California

Have been coming out to Ft. Bragg a couple times a summer on average since 1992 (live in Sacramento). I was up again the weekend of August 4th with both of my sons. I'll say I've probably chartered each boat doing business at Noyo Harbor at one point or another. Though they've generally all been fine to fish with (except for one I would never use again), this was my first time being on the Telstar, and it was one of the best times we've had. The Captain (Brandon) and deck hands (Kevin and Shawn), were great- very engaging, interacted with everyone, lots of friendly tips and advice, and whenever there was a snag or other challenge, Kevin and Shawn were totally on it. We fished from about 7am to 1pm or so, and the action was light to moderate for about 2/3's of the trip. Brandon worked really hard to get us to productive spots, and we moved around fairly frequently. We hit jackpot in the last hour to hour and a half, many of us bringing in 2 at a time. Everyone came pretty close to rockfish limits, with 3 Lings caught (my son being one, and me the other), and a number of other beautiful fish. After docking, Kevin and Shawn go onto cleaning everyones' fish right away, and charged a very reasonable price. The Telstar will be my "go to" charter from this point on. read more

Had the best day EVER fishing with Captain Randy and his trusty deckhand Josh yesterday. We were just ready to pull up the gear and my pole went off and we ended up with a 42 pound "hog" ( that's what Josh called it)... Such a terrific experience, great people, nice ocean! Visit the Telstar any chance you get! Lots of my friends in Willits are eating salmon right now! Christine Griggs read more

Awesome guys. Family oriented, always catering to the needs of the customer. All around great group to go with. You feel like part of the family! read more

I have done a lot of fishing trips, but this was my first dungenous crab experience. Bit of background: 90% of boat fishing with an open crew (more than just your friends), can be a horrible drop a line over the side. What made this trip great was the crew, it is a family run business and they clearly take a lot of pride in running their business to make their clients happy on their trips. It is incredibly cheap for a half day compared to the SF bay area and the Santa Cruz area. WHAT IS IT LIKE: The scenery is beautiful and we went north of FT. Bragg off 10 mile beach. As the fog burned off in the morning, the mountainous coast let the sun peak through. There was a 150 pots set the day before and the gruop of 12 is broken into 3 - 4 man teams: 1 bait person (rigging the bait), 1 person grabbing the pots, 2 people counting the crab. This is definitely a working trip as you are pulling pots every 5 minutes. You can choose to be as involved or just sit and watch. WAS THE FISHING GOOD: We hit the jackpot, 150 large dungenous crabs on a sunny flat calm day! Each person left with their quota of 10 crabs. The crew will boil crack and clean all your crabs for an additional $10. This is well worth it, especially if you are driving back to SF or somewhere further away. The boiling and cleaning can add an hour on the backside of your trip - be warned. WHAT TO BRING FISHING IN FT BRAGG: You should bring a cooler to leave in your car on the return of the trip. They provided the ice for our coolers. I brought a puffy jacket and a slick jacket to go over it on the day we went out. I highly recommend having layers. It started in the low 40s and ended up in the 60s. The boat has a communal covered area, that would be tight if everyone needed to get into it. The crew provided coffee and donuts, but we also brought additional snacks and waters. There is a toilet on the boat, but if you are feeling sick please plan on going overboard. OVERALL EXPECTATION VS TRIP: This exceeded my expectations. I assumed I would catch something, but coming home with 10 crabs a piece after a gorgeous day of being on a boat. We saw huge dolphins and watched the back of waves crash along the shore. Outside of the fishing Cpt. Randy and his crew are incredibly personable. I know a lot about fishing and ended up learning a lot on this trip from the crew, which I found to be worth the price of admission alone. I would high recommend this trip to a broad spectrum of weekend adventurers to serious fishermen. Lastly, do not forget to be courteous. We were the only people that tipped our crew, it is a fairly standard thing to do and I was surprised that no one but us did it especially given the quality of the experience. read more

I have gone out on the Telstar three times since 2001. Every time it has been wonderful. Captain Randy is the best. I highly recommend using the Telstar for for fishing as well as other your charter needs. read more

Randy "only" charged 1/2 price after fishing for an hour. he is too interested in taking pictures of people who had fish. won't return with this guy. don't erase this review again. read more

Went out on a rock cod trip. Great crew! One of the guys was even nice enough to share a beer with me and my buddy. Everyone on board caught fish and had an excellent time! Pro tips: Bring a little cash for the big fish pot and some to have the guys clean your fish for you to save you the effort. I think it was .50 cents per fish. Next time I go, it will definitely be a salmon trip. read more