We rented a very nice house in East Falmouth, MA the week of August 9th. The weather was a bit iffy in the early part of the trip, but as Thursday rolled around, it looked like the best day to take my two boys (19 and 16) out on a fishing charter would be Friday.
It was a very busy weekend in Falmouth, as the annual Falmouth Run was coming up that weekend. I started calling around to see if anyone had availability on that Friday. My first two calls were to no avail, but the Captain on the second call recommended Captain Jim at Capt. Jim's Charters. I called Jim and took an instant liking to him. He had availability at the perfect time for a four-hour fishing trip. Jim took my payment for a $200 deposit (which he promptly refunded when I paid him for the trip) and texted me the address and instructions upon arrival to the Marina.
The first thing we noticed upon arrival was the big orange boat with LOTS of people on it. At the time of this writing, the Delta variant of Covid-19 is quickly increasing infections in this area (and our home in Pennsylvania). While all of us are vaccinated, I was concerned about being in close quarters with a lot of people and was therefore glad that we were the only passengers on Jim's boat. Speaking of the boat, while it is definitely not the newest boat that you can charter, it was clean and definitely big enough for the three of us. FYI, the price is the same, up to six people, though I think that more than five might be a bit tight.
Captain Jim Silvestro greeted us, invited us on the boat and we were off within five minutes, which was greatly appreciated as we had dinner reservations that evening. Once we cleared the harbor, he increased the speed and we had a very enjoyable ride on the boat. I was sitting near Jim while the boys were in chairs facing the bow of the boat, and we had very pleasant conversation that included Jim pointing out sights of interest like Nausnan Island, among other things. While we were on the way, Jim offered all of us a drink of Sprite or water, which was a nice touch. After about 20 minutes of cruising, Jim cut the motor and we got to the business of fishing.
Now, I should mention that I am pretty clueless when it comes to fishing and have unfortunately passed that cluelessness down to my sons. So I was a bit nervous and was hoping for a Captain who would show us the ropes. Captain Jim came through in spades, showing us how to work the rods as we baited our own hooks and then dropped them to the bottom of the Sound. Within seconds of doing the thud of my hook hit the bottom, I started getting nibbles. My oldest was the first to pull up a Porgie, too small to keep. Jim was fishing too, right next to me, and while I was still feeling nibbles, he caught a fish and switched rods with me so I could get the experience of reeling one in. Throughout the trip, he did this over and over again. All of us caught fish within the first ten minutes and within the first hour, we had caught several decent-sized Sea Bass.
One highlight of the trip: I caught a fish that was MUCH more difficult to reel in than all the others. I mean it was really HARD to pull this catch in. Slowly but surely, it came closer and closer to the surface and we were all wondering what it would be. It turned out to be a Sand Shark and it was, unfortunately, all wrapped up in the fishing line. Jim helped me pull it on the side of the boat and started wrangling that very unhappy shark into a position with his knee holding down the tail and one hand holding down the front of the fish and using the other hand to unwrap the fishing line. It took about five minutes of very hard work but he eventually freed the shark, held it up for me to get a picture, and then threw it back.
Now, I should say that the kitchen at the house we were staying at is small and my wife (who is an experienced fish cleaner) did NOT want to clean a bunch of fish. I mentioned this to Jim at the beginning of the trip and he said that he cleans the fish for us. So, three hours into the trip, he set the boat on autopilot back to Falmouth and enlisted my boys to keep an eye out for anything that might cause him to get back to the wheel. Jim then expertly began to clean our fish. It took him about a half-hour and when he was done we had about ten pounds of fresh fish fillets which he put into a Ziploc storage bag. I had brought a cooler (highly recommended) filled with ice, and Jim topped that ice off with some of his and we were off to the house to shower. We made it just in time for our dinner reservations.
In summary, I highly recommend Captain Jim. Our experience with him far exceeded my expectations and the price was well worth it!