Central Charters & Tours — Local services in Homer

I would have to say that I would never use this company again. It wasn't a bad experience, it was just slightly disappointing. Our captain was late arriving that morning and we had only scheduled a 6-hour trips so this was extremely inconvenient. I had booked this charter almost a year in advance and we were so excited to have our pictures taken with the fish, like you see all over the website, but it wasn't even offered. There was four of us in our group and two in the other group and our fish were not kept separate, and the captain would not weigh our fish. When we would ask, he would just guess. The other two people on our boat ended up giving most of "their fish" to the captain, which he hand selected from the total 12 fish caught. He cleaned the fish on the water and we never even got an opportunity to take picture with them on shore. Between the four of us, we only ended up bringing home 40 lb of halibut, including only eight cheeks instead of 16, and I know we caught significantly more than this between 8 fish. We only booked the 6-hour tour because we had no idea how some of the people would handle being on a boat in the ocean. We did catch our limit and that was great, but then our trip was cut short instead of letting us fish for other species. If you're coming to Alaska and looking for an amazing halibut experience, because of course that's exactly what we're doing in Homer Alaska, I would recommend paying the extra $50 and going with a company that has a better reputation for pleasing it's customers. I feel this company needs to explain better to their customers exactly what their trip is going to include if they are booking...

Went on both the full day halibut + rockfish and 1/2 day halibut trip. The full day trip was long in that it took 2 plus hours to get to the fishing grounds and then halibut fishing was slow all day, only one angler got his limit of 2 halibut. Rockfish were plentiful and everyone caught their limit of 3 fish quickly. The half day trip the next day was only a 50 minute or so ride and fishing was great with nonstop action for the 2.5 hours or so of fishing. Fish were not as big as the whole day trip but catching and releasing so many was enjoyable. Both boats, the Crusader and Bella Vita, were twin 300 hp aluminum 6 pack style on the newer side being light and fast. Of course this translates to a bumpy ride so this should be a consideration for those that may prefer a smoother ride on a heavier but slower fiberglass vehicle. Both captains were knowledgeable, patient and helpful to all anglers. All in all I give it a 4.5 star experience and I would recommend these...

Booked 2 weeks in advance. Received confirmation immediately and reminder day before. Night before was told that they had not sold all the seats on the boat and would not be going. I was given choice of a different boat, a different day, or refund. I'd specifically chosen--and paid extra--for the smaller boat. I offered to pay for an extra person to improve their profit but apparently that was not enough. I'll give them credit for being honest that they were cancelling purely based on profit (rather than lying about mechanical problems) but the lack of ethics is appalling. If you the customer attempt to cancel less than 30 days in advance--no money back--but they can cancel the night before without caring about my plans (or the fact that I'd already bought fishing licenses for our group). Think wisely about who you (attempt to) do...