Captain Murphy's Fishing — Local services in South Padre Island

My family and I used Capt Murphy’s for deep sea fishing and bay fishing. On Wednesday 10/6, we went on the deep sea trip. The Capt and deck hand did a pretty good job and put us on some fish. Just be prepared for the timeline. You will leave the dock between 7:30-8:00, then you will cruise about 2 to 2.5 hrs before you get to fish. We were told we would be back in around 3:00. Unfortunately for us, Texas Game Wardens boarded us and the crew ended our trip a bit early, about 30 min or so early plus the time it took for the game wardens to do their checks. We ended up back at the dock at 2:30. On Friday 10/8, we did the bay trip from 1:00-5:00. It was pretty much a full boat so my family kind of got shuffled to the front. DO NOT FISH FROM THE FRONT!!! We went to our first spot and started catching fish. It was a good start, but we were given rules to call fish on and let the deck hand remove the fish. We called fish on but no one ever came so we just removed the fish ourselves. It appeared that there was family of the staff on board and they were being catered to in the back of the boat. After about 10 minutes of catching fish the deck hand said he saw a video of people catching mackerel in the jetty so we took off that way. After about 40 min of trolling in circles for the people at the back of the boat we finally stop at the entrance to the jetty. The anchor went down and the tide was coming in, so like I said earlier don’t fish from the front. We dropped lines and they headed up under the boat. After about 40 min and not really catching anything we moved about half way into the jetty and anchored down again. Another 50 min of almost no bites, I walked towards the back and looked and saw everyone had pretty much stopped fishing due to the lack of action. We finally moved in to the Bay Area and the fishing was pretty lacking. Now I understand that fishing is not guaranteed and the fish may have just stopped biting but we started out doing well and we moved before we could get going. The offshore crew was great just wish we wouldn’t have completely stopped fishing after the game wardens were finished with their checks. The bay trip is hands down one of the worst fishing...

This was the low point of my two weeks in Texas. I don't care that we didn't catch many fish. I don't care that it was not ideal weather. I have been on multiple fishing excursions in Florida and feel the level of service provided was worth mentioning in hopes you improve for future guests. The staff were more interested in fishing with their own poles than helping the guests. They caught over a dozen fish casting away from the boat (prohibited by your posted policies) and provided no guidance to guests on better fishing techniques. Be mindful the entire boat of over 20+ people only caught maybe 10-12 fish combined. Once we left the water, interactions with guests ended unless you directly approached them and asked for help. As a comparison, while on other fishing excursions, I have experienced guest interactions such as fishing stories, information on the area and sites of interest... and even some fun banter between competing fishing vessels. It was an experience, an adventure... not just a boat on the water with 20 people dropping lines in the water 3 ft apart from each other. We saw dolphins and SpaceX while on the tour but not one word from the guides to point them out. I am thankful other guests mentioned it to me so I could get my kids over to see them in time. I also spent more time baiting my kids lines than fishing myself. I told them at the beginning of the tour that I didn't care to touch or handle the bait myself nor would my kids. It fell on deaf ears. We had to wait and ask every time we needed help. They were nice, they were friendly... but they severely lacked the customer service skills needed to make this an experience I would...

I booked this 2 days in advance for me and two other buddies for an 8:00am sailing. The evening before at 5:00pm, I receive a call. The lady said there is not enough people to go out in the morning. She said my options were go the next day in the afternoon or a refund. I explained that we had just gotten our fishing licenses and a call earlier in the day would have been helpful. She said that doesn’t change I have two options. I told her I had to check with my two other buddies. I called her back and let her know we would do the next afternoon. She said she would send new tickets and a new receipt. The next morning I still hadn’t received the new tickets so at 11:00am I called her back. She stated my original electronic tickets were all we needed and all we needed to do is get here 30 minutes before we scheduled to leave. As instructed, my party and I got there at 12:30pm with tickets in hand. At 12:55 the captain came out and said time to board have your tickets ready. I stand in line and show him my tickets and he said we need the paper tickets and to go into the office and get them. I said wait, I now have to go to the back of the line. Why don’t someone tell me when I asked if we needed anything else. His snide remarks was “well we don’t need to take you, I don’t care” to sum up this long review. They are unorganized and rude. Oh and no one caught any keepers. I know it’s not there fault we didn’t catch fish but they could have been nice and supportive. I still tipped but would hope this team would work at the customer...