Lady Stuart Deep Sea Fishing

Reservations are not required, but highly recommended… especially during busy times!
Since retiring and moving to the Treasure Coast, my father has been talking about fishing, fishing, and more fishing. However, he never wants to go alone. So, I figured as a father’s day treat, we could get some good father-​daughter fishin’ bonding time. The first day that we attempted to go fishing, we showed up with no reservation and much to our dismay, the boat was full and we were turned away. We made a reservation for the following day right there on the dock (because that’s where they conduct their business). So… I’ll skip to that next day.
The charter heads out at 0800 and there isn’t assigned seating, so Dad and I arrived there at 0700. When the man who worked for the charter arrived, we checked in and paid our registration fee ($ 40/​person). We brought our breakfast so it was nice to be on the dock while the sun came up. It’s such a pretty sight. A little before 0800, the Captain of the ship introduced himself and his crew, talked about the facilities on the boat, and gave some ground rules. It surprised me that drinks were offered at a fee, but hey, that’s life, huh? Good thing Dad and I anticipated this and we brought our own drinks and snacks. When it came time to get on the boat, they called people in order of arrival, so it was nice to be 2^nd and 3^rd on… We picked a good seat and waited for everyone to load up.
We rode for about an hour out to our designated fishing spot… then another 20min or so to a second location. While on our ride out, the crew started a competition to see who could catch the largest edible fish… for $ 3 per entry. A little competition is always healthy! The boat was PACKED with people (as you can see from all of the fishing poles in the pic!). The helpful crew showed us how to use our fishing poles and bated our hooks. It was a fun and new experience for me, but all we kept catching were the little bait fish… boo. Since there were so many of us, our hooks kept getting tangled, too… boo. We rode around to a few different places and tried our luck, but we got nothing… boo. I know that fishing is kind of based on luck, so I can’t blame the charter on our lack of big fish, but still… that’s what we were looking for.
All in all, it was a nice day on the water. However, I think that they shouldn’t pack the boat so much… and maybe make the booking a little more official/​standardized by using technology? I’d never been fishing before, so I enjoyed my time. Not sure if I would go back again… unless Dad wants another day out on the water.

My husband, kids (5 & 11) and I went out for a morning trip. We had a great time. Captain Pat, Mike & Butch were all happy, energetic and helpful, not to mention knowledgeable. We can’t wait to do it again!

Prices are good. First come first serve as far as where you fish on the boat. Deckhands were good. LONG boat ride for sure– my boyfriend was very sea sick. Changed spots 4 times and the last 2, there were only about 5 fish caught on the entire boat. Boat was at capacity which was not good because you are right next to someone– the waters were a bit rough so everyone’s lines were getting tangled. My mom didn’t catch anything. All I caught were small bait fish and a small shark which was cool. I would not say this is DEEP sea fishing as no one really caught a big fish– I have gone before and we caught mahi mahi, barracuda, Sharks and other large fish. The largest fish was about roughly 2 feet big which is small for deep sea fishing in my opinion. We went out about 15 miles. It could have just been a bad fishing day but I have definitely had better deep sea fishing. They should not cram so many people on the boat ESP because seating is limited on the sides of the boat. If u manage to get there early enough, fish off the front or back for the most room and that seemed to be where the most fish are coming from. It was an okay day– but I wouldn’t use this service again. Kind of disappointed

We had a wonderful experience on the Lady Stuart. The mates were very helpful to the members of our party who were less experienced, and they were quite patient with every person on the boat with whom I observed them interact.
I truly believe everyone on the boat caught something, but most of it was either fish that aren’t very good eating or were small. Still, there were a couple of good-​size dolphins (fish, not mammals) and snappers caught.
We also were thrilled by three different schools of dolphins and a sea turtle, and the views were beautiful.
If you are a hard-​core sport fisher, this is not the charter for you. But if you are a casual fisher, or are bringing along kids who will be more interested in catching something, no matter what it is, this is a great choice.
Note: I strongly recommend Purell, flip-​flops, sunscreen, and a hat. Those people prone to sea sickness only had problems, it seemed, when the boat was anchored. Forget Dramamine — get a prescription patch.

The phone calls are fielded by a woman with a cell phone who probably is completely unaware that she is severely lacking in phone etiquette
Business is conducted right on the dock on top of the near by electrical box by the boat slip. Very informal and what I thought to be a little unprofessional.
My experience on the Lady Stuart was undoubtedly one of the worst experiences of my life. I waited several weeks after the trip to write this review because I wanted to make sure I was calm, clear headed and reviewing the adventure objectively. I have no experience with deep sea fishing and so was counting on the professionalism of the crew to make the trip enjoyable for both me and my 12 year old daughter.
Following the extremely bad experience aboard the vessel, I relayed my story to a local experienced fisherman who clued me in to just how ridiculous the entire experience really was.
First off, the seas were 3 to 5 feet that day… now, I didn’t know exactly what that meant, again I have no experience with deep sea fishing, but I’ve been told that 3 to 5 to five foot seas are pretty good sized waves, I can attest to the fact that there were swells consistently bigger than 5 foot! It felt as though we were on a roller coaster during the entire trip. You could not walk from the front of the boat to the cabin 10 feet away without hanging on to something constantly or you’d be tossed around like a rag doll. Bear in mind that I went on the afternoon trip and so the ship had been out on the water only a short time before and knew very well just how bad it was out there and yet they decided to go out on the afternoon trip anyway. From my point of view, I don’t think they cared one iota just how rough the seas were, they were taking everyone’s money and going out regardless! From my novice point of view, the boat shouldn’t have even gone out.
Now, if it had JUST been the rough seas, I suppose I could have just chalked it up to a bad day and let it go, unfortunately my story does not end there. My daughter took seasick about 30 mins after hitting the rough seas, this despite the fact that she took Dramamine, Half the people on the boat where heaving the guts overboard. We stopped at the first fishing «hot spot» and everyone started fishing while hanging onto something for balance. I was hoping for a little bit of help from some of the crew for both myself and my daughter who was TRYING to be a trooper about the whole thing. But it was as if we were invisible or they just assumed everyone knew exactly what to do and how to do it — wouldn’t you walk around and talk to each guest one on one real briefly just to gauge everyone’s comfort level with the equipment and procedures etc? I certainly expected something like that, but no… after fumbling for a while, I had to yell out like an idiot and wait for someone to come and give us a hand ~ it turns out that the reel I was using was old and jammed and it had to be ‘forced’ to make it work.
So after that little crisis was averted, I continued to fish but never got a nibble. One guy caught a fish but had to throw it back as it was apparently not the kind of fish you can keep. It would turn out to be the ONLY fish caught that day by anyone.
We then went to the 2^nd «hot spot» — once there, we dropped our lines in and proceeded to fish again, of course no one was catching anything, the seas were extremely rough and then we are told that we are «dragging anchor» (whatever that means) and so we have to pull our lines in while they re-​position it. Well, for the next hour, we get to sit around with our fingers in our noses while the crew attempts to re-​position the anchor and then sit around some more while they tried to retrieve the anchor. During the process, the anchor line broke, the block that was holding the line snapped and in the process, broke two of the deck hands fingers and tore his whole hand up pretty badly. They never DID get the anchor back and the poor deckhand had to get his whole hand bandaged.
We proceeded to the final «hot spot» and, even without an anchor, started to fish again, finally. The seas where still very rough, no one was catching anything and the deck hand was probably dying to get to an urgent care. After about 15 minutes the captain announced that we were heading in a little early, this despite the fact that we let the dock originally about 20 minutes late.
The whole day was nightmare. My biggest complaint about the crew itself was the fact that it was made very clear to all the passengers that there was no smoking anywhere on the boat except of up on the top deck — this apparently only applied to the guests because the deck hands felt free to smoke anywhere they pleased, including inside the enclosed cabin where my seasick little girl was resting. Thankfully she was sleeping soundly when the captain announced over the loudspeaker that he was hoping to catch a «one-​eyed purple yogurt squinter» — Way to keep it classy guys. Geez — Never again.

We are from New Mexico and were so excited to go deep sea fishing in Florida. The Lady Ft. Pierce came highly recommended so we booked two spots for Nov. 11. We are all set to leave the place we were staying on Nov. 11 at 6:30am when my phone rang. It was a gal from the ship saying that because other people had cancelled they weren’t sending the boat out with just six of us. And if we still wanted to fish we could drive all the way to Stuart, FL… though we only had 1 hour and rush hour traffic to get there. Because we planned our trip round this, we hit the road, got lost but somehow managed to get there in the nick of time… we were event told that they weren’t going to hold the boat for us.
The boat was older but ok. My boyfriend enjoyed the trip and caught about 15 fish. My main issue was that we were inconvenienced because other people cancelled… how is that our fault? We had to drive much farther and almost didn’t make it. So I’ve given them only 3 stars. Wasn’t horrible but wasn’t the best customer service I’ve ever received either.

We had a fantastic time today! Our entire family had a great time including our kids ages 4 & 7. In addition to the fishing which was great, we got to see dolphins & huge sea turtles. The crew was so helpful and friendly. I highly recommend them!

$ 40 half days and $ 50 long trips, best value in town. Big boat, even with max anglers plenty of room. Well designed boat perfect for fishing.
Family friendly crew is always helpful. Highly recommended. Better than the Seven B’s, Safari or Captai Lou’s (forget the name went twice it sucked) and cheaper too. 5 stars.