Saturday, November 7, 2026 · Customer reviews of US businesses
The Fair Hearing score
Great
370 reviews
FishingBookerSelect a line to read only those reviews.
Honesty, pricing, process and quality scores appear once 5 customers have rated them.
FishingBooker is the world’s largest online service that enables you to find and book fishing trips.
FishingBooker (fishingbooker.com) has 370 customer reviews on The Fair Hearing, with an average rating of 4.3 out of 5.
370 approved reviews, newest moderated first
Great experience. This was our second trip. Dave makes sure everything goes smoothly and you have fun catching fish.
By Julie W.
Response from FishingBooker· Oct 18, 2022
Hi Julie, we're glad to hear that you had such a good time. Next time you decide to cast a line, feel free to contact us and we'll do our best to help you book another memorable trip. Tight lines!
I booked a 4 hour fishing trip with captain Bill Perkins for Sept 2, 2022. His company name is “Hooker Charter & Guide Service”. The booking was made via a third party web hosting and payment service named “FishingBooker”. The webpage presented by FishingBooker for Captain Bill Perkins/ Hooker Charter & Guide Service” quoted a total cost of $590 and provides the following verbatim description of cancellation terms: Cancellation policy Customers can cancel or modify their booking up to 7 days before the trip date free of charge. If the trip is canceled or modified later, or in the event of a no-show, 100% of the deposit will be charged. Book with 10% deposit, pay rest to captain When the captain confirms your trip, FishingBooker charges your credit card a 10% deposit to guarantee your reservation. The remaining balance is to be paid directly to the charter operator on or prior to your trip date in one of the following payment methods: My wife and I had a change of plans and cancelled via live phone call with Bill Perkins on Sept 1. I fully expected to pay a cancellation fee to Mr. Perkins for the inconvenience. Per the website language, that fee should have been 10% X $590 = $59. During the online booking process, FishingBooker strongly pushes customers to pay 100% in full up front. Customers are warned of added fees to pay the balance with a credit card at the dock. They make it sound like not paying 100% up front is highly undesirable by FishingBooker and the Captain. Regrettably, I fell into the trap and paid 100% of the full $590 fee up front. The instant I paid 100% up front FishingBooker and Mr. Bill Perkins decided to redefine the “full payment up front” to be the new “deposit”, and they plan to keep the full $590 I paid. Yes…. really. Language as to such is only surprise revealed to customers after they pay 100% up front with a credit card. Captain Bill Perkins did zero work, bought zero expensive marine gas, bought zero live bait, had to clean zero fish and had a free morning to sleep late at my expense of $590. I corresponded with FishingBooker and Mr Perkins with several texts and emails trying to reach a more fair and reasonable solution. It was all a waste of time. In the end Mr. Perkins gleefully kept 100% of my money while doing NOTHING in return. I even made a very generous offer of paying 50% of the full fee. Nope—he kept it all. FishingBooker came up with endless excuses of why they could do nothing- so sorry. Below is an excerpt from a marketing blog found online for FishingBooker. Basically the heavy handed push to get customers to pay 100% up front is a powerful selling tool to attract fishing captains to use their service and get paid in full when trips are cancelled. Online Payments – The Captain’s Perspective Updated on Mar 12, 2021 | 5 minute read | Written by Cat Earlier this year, we made it possible for customers to pay for their fishing trip right away, as soon as they reserve their trip. We got really excited about this. Now our customers have more options when paying for trips, and captains get more security against cancellations! My advice is stay far away from Captian Bill Perkins, Hooker Charter & Guide Service and FishingBooker. None of them are honorable people. And under no circumstances pay more than a 10% deposit up front. If anything changes you can be certain they will keep all of your money! Further evidence of the shady operations of FishingBooker can be found in negative captain reviews and also negative BBB and Trip Advisor reviews. They are based in Serbia according to various posts. Even though I was charged $590 for NOTHING I was unable to post a review on the FishingBooker website so they can preserve a misleading perfect review record for this captain. Shady, shady, shady people!
By CK
Response from FishingBooker· Oct 24, 2022
Hi Christopher, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re truly sorry that things panned out this way. While your cancellation did violate the captain’s policy, your review made us realize that the way this policy was communicated to you was misleading. As you pointed out, the captain’s listing page said that in cases when their cancellation policy is violated, “100% of the deposit will be charged.” This text dates back to when the only available payment method on the website was booking with a deposit. We’ve since introduced Online Payments to allow customers to fully pay their trips online and avoid any additional credit card fees at the dock. As you know, we communicate the details of Online Payments cancellation policy in the booking confirmation emails and your booking details page. However, it is now apparent that this wasn’t clearly communicated on our captains’ listing pages. You had no way of knowing the full consequences of canceling before you booked your trip. Thank you for pointing this out. We’ve now issued you a full refund of your trip price. We’ve also amended the cancellation policy text across the website, to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. We understand that not being able to leave a review on the website must've been frustrating. As you probably know, customers are only able to leave reviews when their trip has actually taken place. This is because fishing can be unpredictable, and for a number of reasons that are out of anyone's control, a lot of bookings don't go on to become trips. I’m sure you realize how unfair it would be to our partners if every bad weather cancellation had a review. But this is precisely why we extend randomized review invitations for customers to review us on external websites. Thank you once again for taking the time to share your experience. If you decide to get on the water again, please feel free to reach out. We’d be more than happy to organize a memorable fishing experience for you. All the best from FishingBooker.
Easy to book with. Website easy to use. We booked a trip which the captain canceled 15 minutes after it was supposed to start. These things happen. I was refunded quickly which I appreciated. My concern lies with the explanation as to why the trip was cancelled. Fishing booker told me that the captain had a flat tire and no cell coverage. 7 hours later the captain told me that his boat wouldn’t start. Somebody is lying, at this point don’t really care, won’t use either in the future.
By Ben O.
Response from FishingBooker· Aug 23, 2022
Hi Ben, thanks for your review. We're really sorry to hear that you didn't have a positive experience with your captain. When it comes to why your trip was cancelled, we were informed by the captain that he had a flat tire and no cell coverage, which we passed along to you. However, we can see that he gave you a different reason. We understand why this would be frustrating. We want our platform to offer a fair experience to both captains and customers, which is why we refunded you quickly. Again, we're really sorry you had a negative experience, and would like to make this up to you. A member of our team has reached out to you with information about credit we'd like to offer you. When you feel like hitting the water again, please don't hesitate to get in touch. All the best from FishingBooker.
Great trip and well organized!
By Yasmine L.
Response from FishingBooker· Aug 16, 2022
Hi Yasmine, thanks for your review. We're really glad to hear that you had such a great trip! Good organization goes a long way, and it seems like the captain's organizational skills had a big impact on your trip. If you want to get back out on the water, feel free to reach out. All the best from FishingBooker.
We all had a great day fishing on The Early Riser. Capt Kenny was the best. He always put are safety first while letting us be hands on from the beginning to the end of our trip. We all highly recommend Captain Kenny and The Early Riser.
By Roy M.
Response from FishingBooker· Aug 16, 2022
Hi Roy, that's great to hear. It really takes a good captain to balance safety and a hands-on fishing experience. Thanks for sharing, and all the best from FishingBooker.
Anthi and Mohammed were so much fun and very knowledgeable. We love fishing and it was great to experience hand lines and net fishing. Great experience and highly recommended.
By Kelly L.
Response from FishingBooker· Aug 16, 2022
Hi Kelly, we're glad to hear that you had so much fun. It's so great when you get to have such a hands-on fishing experience, isn't it? Thanks for sharing, and all the best from FishingBooker.
Four hour trip with captain was a great experience as well as a learning experience in casting lessons
By braz
Response from FishingBooker· Aug 16, 2022
Hi Braz, we're glad to hear that you had fun. Feel free to reach out when you decide to apply your new skills – we'd be happy to help you organize another day on the water. All the best from FishingBooker.
Good captain knows his stuff.
By Stephen B.
Response from FishingBooker· Aug 16, 2022
Hi Stephen, thanks for your review. We're really happy to hear that your captain provided such a good experience for you. When you next want to hit the water, feel free to get in touch! All the best from FishingBooker.
