This company (Born to Boogie) ripped us off. A friend of mine set up the trip and I'll include the email he sent to them afterwards. Basically they promised us a fast boat and a lot of action (fish) using a bunch of different fishing techniques. We ended up going on a slow boat with broken engines. We had to stay near shore because of the engines, so we ended up trolling a mile or two offshore for 6 hours and had only two bites (possibly) and didn't catch anything. I understand that you're not going to always catch fish, but because we didn't have the fast boat we weren't able to go out and check different spots. Also, it took us an hour to return back to the dock because boat was so slow.

Here's my friend's email.


I want to write this email now because if I wait a few days I am afraid some of the emotion I am feeling right now will not be conveyed (and I want it to be conveyed).
This was my fourth trip with you; out of these four trips we had a broken boat three times. Two of the four we were promised the "fast" boat and both times we were on crippled boats. (BOTH BROKE) Today's trip I can not forgive and I feel your actions this morning lacked integrity, honesty and common courtesy. I can not let this trip pass without expressing our outrage. (In retrospect I should have said something last year!) We booked and were promised (again) to go on your fast boat, in addition we were told how many different tactics we were going to use, the different kinds of bait fish we were going to catch to target different fish and basically we were going to "kick butt". You were going to personally take us out etc..etc..etc...
Well, as somebody who has been fishing his entire life I can deal with a bad day of fishing. What I can not tolerate is being taken to the cleaners on your charter.
Not only did we not get anything we paid for, (by the way 660 dollars is a lot of money for us) we were put on a boat with a max speed of 18 miles an hour vs the 50 miles in hour it can go when it is working.
We were not, however, informed of this until we were already on our way. That my friends is BS.
Had we, or anybody for that matter, been informed that the boat we were paying full price on could only go at ~30 percent of its' max speed we would have chosen another day or cancelled all together. My two friends and I were so disgusted we could not even speak to each other when we got back to land. They were livid and so was I.
Rest assured that we will never refer anybody your way. And if asked we will tell whomever exactly what our and my experiences have been. Steve lives in Panama City and has many young AF Capt's, Lt's and Airman working for him and they are always looking for outdoor activities to do. Without even talking to Steve about it I am certain he will not send anybody your way.
At an absolute MINIMUM what should have happened today was for you to be upfront and honest. You should have let us know the boat was not operating at 100 percent, offered us a discount or cancelled the trip.
One more thing, I dont give a crap if the fishing was bad everywhere for everybody today. That is NOT the point.
We were not even able to try another spot because your boat was BROKE...period, and that is not the way paying (returning customers) should be treated. You have lost three valued customers and many potential future customers.
I am sure this email is disjointed and fragmented, and I still wish I could write more but I am tired and very pissed.

Don't understand the going out with them time and time again when you are not happy with their trips, especially 3 trips out of 4 with a boat that barely goes. But you keep going back to them. Must like something about their trips. Seems like a glutton for punishment to me.

Yeah, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me....

I agree. Wouldn't use them again after the first time!

I agree that using them 4 times and you just now want to vent? Obviously the last 3 times were not as bad or you wouldnt have hired them the 4th time. I agree you should be upset if the boat was not as "fast" as you wanted. I am not a fisherman so i dont know how fast the boat should go. But i have been fishing and know that you dont stay in a place very long if fish are not biting. I can understand your gripe that you couldnt go from place to place to land fish. But geeeeeeeeeeez 4 times using these people and you are just now wanting to speak up?

I am just as curious as everyone else is as to why on earth you would go back a 4th time -- I could understand twice, maybe even three as they say the third time is the charm -- but jeez --

I sure hope that you will come back to the area and experience some of our FANTASTIC charter boats, their captains and crews. If you need a recommendation, I'd be glad to offer up several! I happen to have several friends who own and operate boats here on PCB and have for YEARS -- they have good reputations and guarantee their trips....in one way or the other --

Fishin' is great here most days -- but some days it sucks -- no excuse for a broken boat --

So - come back to the World's Most Beautiful Beaches and give us another shot!

Would you please give the names of charters you personally would recomend? I have a friend that will be down in a few weeks and looking to use a local charter.

Well, I happen to personally know both of the Captains of the charters I'm going to give you -- they never guarantee that you will catch a fish, but they guarantee that you will have a safe vessel! They are honest, good men with tons of fishing experience!

Southern Hooker - 234-1308 Capt Rick or 276-3706 Capt Joe

Hooked UP Charters - 960-FISH (3474) - Capt John Black

Hope you have a great time!!! Tell 'em Bev sent ya!

Same experience on Born to Boogie. I recommend not taking that boat! The experience was horrible. We paid $900 for a boat that goes 2 knots and took on water. We didn't catch any fish.

We (6 people) used Born to Boggie on 10/14/06. We had a very good time on this boat. We also had the best catch in P.C. on that day. We went out at 7:00am on Sat. and had our first 2 king in the boat by 7:35.

Got any pics of your catch?

I have a charter scheduled for this weekend. Hopefully, we can put some fish in the boat and put a positive spin to this thread. It is good to know the history and I won't hesitate to put a stop to things if it turns bad.

Good luck! Take lots of pics and post 'em here... along with a review. We'd love to hear how things go...

The fishing is very good this time of the year. I caught fish Sat. and Sun. GOOD LUCK

Looks like Saturday is slated right now to be a good weather day. We have an all day charter booked. We are all local PCB guys so we have some flexability on schedule.

The group wanted to get some ARS in the freezer before the close of the season but it sounds like trolling might be the way to go. I just hope he runs a good boat and puts us on the fish.