Charter Rates and Trip Lengths
Four trip types out of Port Aransas, priced for two anglers with a flat rate for anyone extra. Everything you need on the boat is included, so the number you see is close to the number you pay.
Below is what each trip covers, what it costs, and how booking, deposits, and weather work. If you’d rather talk it through, the captain who runs the trips takes the calls himself.
Book Fishing Trip
Full day charter, 8 hours
$600 for two anglers, $50 for each additional angler. The boat departs at 6:00am.
Eight hours is the trip that lets us follow a tide right through. We can start shallow at first light, move as the sun climbs, and still have time to change the plan twice if the first two aren’t working. If your group is serious about fishing or you want to cover more than one bay system, this is the one.
Half day morning, 5 hours
$400 for two anglers, $50 for each additional angler. The boat departs at 6:00am.
The most popular trip, and the best value for most groups. Five hours covers the first light window, which is when topwater works and when the water is usually calmest, and it still puts you back at the dock with the afternoon free.
Half day afternoon, 4 hours
$300 for two anglers, $50 for each additional angler. The boat departs at 3:00pm.
Shorter and later. It suits groups who don’t want a pre-dawn start, families with younger children, and anyone fitting a trip around a travel day. The afternoon bite is different from the morning one rather than worse, and the evening light on the flats is worth seeing.
Bow fishing, 6 hours
$450 for two anglers, $50 for each additional angler. Morning departure.
A different trip entirely. Bow fishing targets black drum, sting ray, and sheepshead in shallow water, and it’s a genuinely different skill from rod and reel. Worth asking about if you want something your group hasn’t done before.
Which trip suits which group
Length matters less than timing. A five-hour morning covers the best of the day for most species, so a full day isn’t automatically twice as good as a half. What the extra three hours buy is options: the ability to run to a second bay system, wait out a slack tide, or start on trout and finish on redfish rather than committing to one.
The afternoon half day is the one people overlook. It costs less, it doesn’t need a pre-dawn alarm, and on a summer day the water is often calmer late than it is at dawn. For a family with young children it’s frequently the better trip.
Group size changes the maths more than trip length does. Because the base rate covers two anglers and each extra is a flat addition, a party of four splits the cost far more efficiently than a pair does. If you’re weighing a half day for two against a half day for four, the per-person figure moves a long way.
What the price includes
Rods, reels, and tackle. Bait, ice, and ice chests. Coaching for anyone new to it, which on our boat means proper instruction rather than a rod handed over and good luck.
Fish care at the dock is included too. We clean and bag your legal fish so you leave with fillets rather than a cooler full of work.
What isn’t included is your fishing licence, your food and drink, and gratuity. None of those is unusual for a charter, but it’s worth knowing before you budget.
What you bring
A Texas fishing licence with a saltwater endorsement for every angler who needs one. Food and drinks, though the ice and the chest are on us. Suitable clothing, which on this coast means sunglasses, a hat, sunscreen, and a jacket more often than people expect.
There’s a full kit list if you’d rather check before you pack.
Current promotions
Children under twelve fish free. A ten percent discount applies to artificial-only trips, which suits anglers who’d rather work lures than fish bait.
Booking ahead
Spring and autumn fill first, and the mornings go before the afternoons. If your dates are fixed, particularly around a holiday weekend or a tournament, the earlier you ask the better. If your dates are flexible, tell us and we’ll suggest the tides that suit what you want to catch.
We take one group at a time. That means the boat isn’t shared and the day is planned around your party rather than split between several, but it also means a date that’s gone is genuinely gone.
Deposits and booking
A $100 deposit confirms the reservation, payable by cheque or credit card. Until the deposit arrives the date isn’t held, which matters more than it sounds during spring and autumn when the good tides book out early.
A liability waiver gets signed before departure. Nothing unusual in it, but it does need signing on the day.
Cancellations
Cancel with two weeks’ notice and the deposit is refunded in full. Inside two weeks the deposit is retained, because that date is unlikely to be filled at short notice.
Bad weather
If the forecast makes a trip unsafe we’ll reschedule rather than run it. If we can’t find a date that works for you, the full deposit comes back.
That call is ours to make and we make it early, usually the evening before when we send the meeting details. We’d rather move a trip than take you out into something miserable.
Wind is the usual culprit rather than rain. A wet morning often fishes perfectly well, while a hard north blow can make half the bay system unworkable. Having four ports helps here, because a forecast that rules out one side frequently leaves another fishable.
Choosing a trip
If you’re not sure which length suits, the half day morning is the safe answer. It covers the best fishing window and it works for almost every group.
What you’re targeting matters too. The species we target sets out the differences, and if you have your heart set on redfish trips or on flounder and gigging the timing changes. Our guide to picking your dates covers what runs when.
Where we fish shifts with conditions. Trips out of Port Aransas are the default, with Aransas Pass trips, Rockport trips, and Corpus Christi trips all in reach when the wind says so.
Common questions about rates
How many anglers does the price cover?
Two. Each additional angler is $50 on any trip type, so a party of four on a half day morning comes to $500 rather than double the base rate.
Do children count as additional anglers?
Not under twelve. Kids under twelve fish free, which makes a family trip considerably cheaper than the headline rate suggests.
What deposit do you take?
$100, by cheque or credit card, and the date isn’t confirmed until it arrives. The balance is settled on the day.
Can we cancel and get the deposit back?
Yes, with two weeks’ notice. Inside that window the deposit is retained, since the date rarely refills at short notice.
What happens if the weather is bad?
We reschedule. If nothing suitable is available the full deposit is refunded. We make that call early rather than leaving you to guess at the dock.
Is there a discount for artificial-only trips?
Ten percent. It applies if the whole party fishes lures rather than bait, and it’s worth mentioning when you book.
Book a date
Send your dates, your group size, and which trip you’re after. Get a date in the diary or call Captain Charlie on (361) 946-5290. There’s more about how we work if you want the background first.