I've been wanting to go fishing on the Blue Heron for years - and finally found the time to do it between trips, camps and school and choosing a day a week day that we understood would be fairly light. So our expectations were pretty high just to go out. In checking the fishing conditions I realized that fishing wasn't supposed to be great but we looked forward to the overall experience. When we arrived at 7:30, a half hour before pushing off, there were only 5 folks. Our group brought it 8. Then there were 9 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 18. And off we go after being told we would only be fishing from the starboard rail leaving only a couple feet, if even that, between the 18 anglers - very tight but we thought, these guys are "pros" so cool. During the 40 minute trip to a fishing spot the crew got all the rods baited. And here the first warning sign appeared. Given the fairly fast current all the lines immediately started drifting to the stern. And with all the anglers letting out lines at varying lengths of line the tangling started immediately. Then combined with the early hits being bonito, darting all around, the tangling got worse. After 20 minutes the skipper decided to move as all we were getting was bonito. Again, the lines went and with the first few catches, anglers were having to slide down the rail going under or over the other anglers and then more tangling. We moved three more times with the same results. The catch - lots of bonito (low food quality) with the rare grouper (2), porgy (1), lesser amberjack (1), kingfish (2, one of which was bitten in half by barracuda), snapper (1) and tangles (too many to count and which seriously cut into fishing time) Now I had my expectations that we would go out and fish along a ledge, deep hole or wreck, but that was not the case. It was pure drift fishing with a strong current and too many anglers for the conditions. And remember, I said at the beginning that I didn't expect the fishing to be great that day (operative word "fishing" not "untagling"). So for a four hour fishing trip, the trip out was 40 minutes and a half hour back - expected, but when combined with another 50 plus minutes moving around left us with two hours fishing (or untangling) out of four and I did not figure in the lost time spent untangling and untangling. Of course, I could have possibly prevented the some of the disappointment had I called before hand to verify the expected number of anglers, positions along the rail, catches from previous days, and the speed of the current. High points: 1. the captain and crew were knowledgeable, friendly, and relatively efficient. 2. the deck cover protected us from the sun on a nearly windless, bluebird, 90+ degree day. 3. okay bench - but we were left sitting a little close together. 4. the other anglers were surprisingly pleasant and courteous, which was great. 5. crew took care of baiting, unhooking and untangling but while untangling hooks went unbaited and fish weren't brought in resulting in more tangling - and this wasn't two or three lines - at one point was over six, Honestly, the constant untangling proved exasperating. Before booking - call and find the number of anglers expected (booked), what are the fishing conditions, where they expect to be heading (ledge, hole, wreck, etc.), and the current. If the current had been slower we probably could have fished off both rails greatly improving the experience. Would I go again? I think I might try other charters first. And for the cost, a private charter isn't all that much more. Or I'll just stick with my tried and true angling - walking out my back door and go surf fishing.