If you are a fan of the deep sea fishing, or even just boating, there’s nothing quite like the thrill of reeling in a big catch from the deep sea. If planning a trip to Kauai, then this is a must!
The Garden Isle has some of the best deep sea fishing opportunities in the world. With that, comes a LOT of options for who to head out into the sea with, and it can be tough to sort through all the companies out there.
That’s where I come in. I spent over a year planning my last trip to Kauai, and researched the hell out the companies (I wasn’t about to spend hundreds to over a thousand dollars on an excursion that wasn’t going to be the ultimate experience! Here’s a few companies I found that I narrowed down the long list to, and our experience on my #1 pick for Deep Sea Fishing on Kauai.
There were 3 Deep Sea Fishing Charter companies I considered after extensive research –
Captain Don’s SportFishing
https://www.captaindonsfishing.com
HuntFish Kauai
https://www.huntfishkauai.com
Captain J’s Deep Sea Fishing
https://napalihawaii.com
I truly don’t think you could go wrong with any of these companies, as they have stellar reputations and really seek out the best experience for you.
A bit about the catches – fish don’t play by the rules, so you can never “guarantee” you’ll catch a big one. What I do love about these companies is that many in Kauai work together to find the fish, as in – your captain will be chatting on their radio to other captains and share where they are finding the large catches (and where it runs dry that day/hour), so that everyone, despite the boat crew they chose, will have a good attempt at a great catch.
We chose HuntFish Kauai’s private 4hour tour for up to 6 people. If you go with the 8 hour tour, you have a chance to see some of the Napali coast depending on the conditions, which was tempting, but I didn’t know how our youngest would do on the deep sea, or myself for that matter in terms of seasickness or even just the length of time. Of course, we prepped with dramamine and anti-nausea wrist bands, and were careful about what we ate prior to the excursion.
Things to know:
- You don’t take home everything you catch. Every company has their own rules on this, but basically, this is their business – they need fish to sell to restaurants, etc and you are technically paying to be on the ride with them. So although they will do their best to have you assist reeling in a catch and want you to go home with some fish to cook up at your resort, there is no guarantee. Some places will give you some take home fish from another excursion the day before, all packaged and ready to go, some companies will give you a portion of the fish from someone else’s catch on your same excursion (if you don’t do a private charter), and other companies won’t send you home with anything. Best to really look at their site for those kinds of commonly asked questions.
- What happens if the fish aren’t biting? We managed to catch what we thought was a big fish, but in the standards of tuna, it was on the smaller side. What we lvoed about HuntFish Kauai, is that they moved the boat frequently when the fish weren’t biting, and then asked if we’d like to move closer in to an area of smaller fish, to guarantee that Reese could reel a few in for the experience and photos and toss back in.
- Don’t drink heavily the night before! . An often forgotten tip, is to watch your alcohol level the night before to avoid seasickness. Along with that – EAT a small breakfast and stay hydrated on the boat. Those are the best ways to avoid having a miserable time retching off the side of the boat. We also grabbed these wrist bands for Reese P6 Motion Sickness Bands for Kids on Amazon for about $15 for two sets. Dramamine or motion sickness patches are also helpful.
Our captain and first mate were just the best! The Captain was every bit of surly, man of the sea, type personality you could want, and the first mate, was such a great balance – he has the chill, Hawaiian vibes and was hands-on helping both Jack and Reese get the experience they desired. (helped that he had kids around the same ages as them, so was very tuned into the teen and preschool age kiddos).
They were both very informative about the ocean, fish, history, and were happy to educate and talk about anything we wanted to hear about it. I highly recommend the private charter if you can afford it. With the 4 of us, we would have paid close to the same amount whether we did a private fishing charter or not, so it made sense to us.
Decide if you want a 4 hour, 6 hour or 8 hour – and if the extra money for a longer one would be worth it for the people you are taking with you…often it is not. Yes, it allows for more time to get further out, find those big fish, and maybe see the Napali coast, but if someone starts to get sea sick? or me, just plain windblown, tired, and hangry, will the extra time and money spent really be worth it? Something to consider.
A highlight for all of us, was when we got back to the shore from our deep sea fishing adventure and had the opportunity to watch them expertly clean and slice up the fish we caught in chunks. Its quite the art to see someone do that with the skillset they have. Then they were kind enough to ask us how much of the catch we wanted and packaged it up for us. We were able to have more than 2 more hearty meals of fish on our trip from that!! And with the prices in Kauai for food – that saved us hundreds of dollars on eating out.
Whichever Deep Sea Fishing Charter company you go with, I highly recommend you make this a part of your Kauai trip, especially with teenagers. It was easily my son Jack’s favorite part of the trip. Reese’s was the excursion we did with kayaking and secret falls – I will make sure to write a post/review on that soon, so stay tuned!
For our next Kauai trip, James and Jack are insisting on heading back out with HuntFish Kauai for the boar hunting adventure. Check it out on their site: https://huntfishkauai.com
Whether you do the deep sea fishing or boar hunting with HuntFish Kauai – tell them Carla sent you!
Have you been on a deep sea fishing adventure in Kauai? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments.
While you are planning your trip to Kauai, don’t forget to check out my other posts on Kauai:
Kauai: 12 Best Shave Ice and other Treats