I went with a group of 8 family members on the "Catch my Drift" for an afternoon of what was suppose to be good fishing and a great time. Upon boarding the boat we realized that this trip was not going to be the trip we expected. The boat was absolutely packed at the dock, so much so that they took 20 people off to fish on a different boat. Our boat easily had 40+ people on it when we left. The boat is easily capable of carrying twice the 40 but when everyone is fishing off one side of the boat it becomes difficult to enjoy. Many people spent extra time untangling lines from one another.
It took us about 25 minutes at low speed (a very enjoyable cruise) to get to open ocean and once there we basically fished the shore line. The boat might have traveled 1 mile off shore. To put it this way, i could easily make out people on the shore and did not lose 1 bar of 4g cell phone coverage. Once parked over a reef the boat drifts, hence the drift fishing, until its no longer over the reef then goes back and does it all over again until your 3 hours of fishing is over.
Sadly I was disappointed for a number of reasons. For a group of 40 people only 1 keeper fish was caught (yellow tail snapper) and it wasn't by any of our 8 members. What irritated me the most however was the crews lack of care to use catching fish. Every person on the boat was using the same line, with the same rig, with the same bait, dropping it in the same location. I know its not called catching but at least give the passengers better odds. I am of the opinion that if fish aren't biting change the way your trying to catch them. Use different bait, move to a new spot, use different rig. None of this was done.
Secondly, I boarded a boat to get off the coastline and go to fishing hotspots. We fished an area i could have reached with a kayak in less time than the boat got there and the captain never made an attempt to change locations. I am not sure if this was a gas saving technique(since he would turn motor off while drifting) or just protocol but wow was there a lack of enthusiasm for finding fish.
The crew was attentive to rigging new bait if you lost it(only lost mine once all afternoon, and it was lost on a rock), getting people untangled(probably the reason they are on the boat because its so frequent), and taking off fish(mostly junk, poisonous, or coral).
Thankfully there was a coupon for this expedition because i could not see myself paying any more than 20 for this glorified boat ride. While it wasn't the worst trip i could have imagined it was pretty miserable for my entire group.