Tigerfish Sportfishing

Second-year in a row being on the Tigerfish for a crab/combo trip.While I don't discredit other people's reviews, mine were all very positive.Captn Allen and Jonathan were both there each time. Captn Al put us on the fish every time! This year the average-sized rockfish were HUGE. I'm talking 4-5lb average. We even left the docks a bit early to give us more time to fish. While I didn't have much interaction with Allen, Jonathon worked his @$$ off all day to take care of ALL the customers on the boat (both years). This was the first boat that I've been on where the deckhand pretty much will help with everything from lifting the fish out of the water, dehooking, and even placing it in your bag for you (not to mention the typical clean/scale/filet job). The people next to me kept getting tangles and Jonathan was always there to help. The most he would say is "give it slack!" or "tighten up!". Even took the time to ask our names and get to know us. I don't recall getting that level of service from other boats in the Emeryville fleet. This year Jonathan work extra hard running those lame crab rings (new regulations) until we got our limits. Ended up being a longer-than-usual trip, but kudos to the captn for making sure we got home with our limits.Looking forward to fishing with them again next year.

Just got home after a long 13 hours on the water. I have fished this boat before. I go out of Emeryville probably 6 times a year. Typically get on Tigerfish once during Rock Cod/ Crab combo. Todays weather report was not good. Captain Al decided to drop some traps, remember this is the only technique allowed thus far in 2021. We ventured to Fanny Shoal. The weather kicked up and a fair number of folks were sick. Deckhand Jonathan is a professional. Some of you say he and Al are rude. I don't think so. This team is motivated to catch fish. Do you want someone to hold your hand or work their asses off to catch fish?The action can get fast and furious. Jonathan is running all around the boat helping everyone. Today most of the Emeryville fleet chose to do crab only. Tigerfish went to Fanny Shoal for quality rock cod and then started pulling traps. Johnathan works the crab like a maestro. We ended the day with 26 limits of rock cod and Dungeness. Capt Al came to the back deck several times to help Jonathan. If you want someone to hold your hand and be cuddly go to a movie. This boat is a fishing machine.

Duped on a quality crab limit!I recently made a long drive up from southern California to do a crab/cod combo trip, hoping to come home with some decent sized crab and although I made that clear, deckhand Jonathan made certain that I got the smallest bag of crab limits when compared to the other passengers. As I handed him my bag to be filled, he gave me the bag of inferior crabs, while filling the bag I bought from the office with quality crab and giving it to another passenger. All the jumbo crab went into everyone else's bags and I got nothing but just legal crabs. Jonathan became irate when I made the observation that my bag had none of the nice sized crabs that everyone else(regular favorite customers, presumably) had in theirs, then he cussed me out and said that if I didn't want the crab, he would take them for himself. Hey D-bag, this customer is right and knows what decent crab are from a previous trip that I made back in January when I was allowed to select the crab bag I wanted and not accept what shitty bag a deckhand would ever hand me. The boat also didn't spend enough time fishing cod as we were back to the dock two hours earlier. The boat will keep every rockfish until limits are filled, even if they are only 5 inches long(hardly a meal). If I book out of Emeryville, it will be with another boat and hopefully with a crew that will distribute the jumbo crab equally and fairly.

Booked a crab combo trip on the Tigerfish since my usual boat, the Seawolf, was all booked full for crabbing trips months in advance; going well into December. While I realize every boat does things a bit differently based upon the preference of the captain, there were a few things about the Tigerfish's captain and crew that give me pause to take their boat again. First and foremost, was the rude way the Captain would address people at times over the PA. Although none of it was ever directed at myself, the way he would rudely announce "get out of there" over the PA is not the way one would normally treat paying customers. Also, there were multiple instances in which the deck hands, one in particular, would rudely belittle the newbies in our group because they would pull newbie mistakes (i.e. - bird nesting because of not applying pressure with the thumb on spool, tangles, etc..). While I understand that it is frustrating dealing with people who have no clue what they are doing, we all had to learn at one time or another the hard way. There is no reason to be so rude and put off newbies from every wanting to continue the sport.I was also disappointed with the fact that others in my group who went without their own gear had purchased tackle from the boat, yet the crew acted as if it was a rental as well. The crew will pre-rig the rods with 1 set of shrimp fly w/ a sinker, and take it back at the end of the trip if you didn't lose it. Considering the fact that the customer paid to OWN two sets of tackle, it's rather dishonest to not let them keep any of it. Lastly, I really did not like their system of dumping all of our bags of fish haphazardly around the stern. When I had finished fishing, I had my limit of 10 fish. When I grabbed my bag at the end of the trip at the dock, my bag felt decidedly lighter. Upon arriving home, I realized that my bag was mysteriously missing 2 fish, with a total count of only 8. There is no way to tell if other passengers nicked my 2 fish, or if the deckhands somehow carelessly let 2 fish escape out the bag when shuffling it around. Either way, it is rather disappointing that I went home with less fish than I actually caught and bagged. +1 point for the captain consistently putting us on fish, and for the hard work the deckhands all put in to remove tangles and making sure every got their limit. However the cons unfortunately outweight the positives and as far as I'm concerned, is enough to keep me away from this boat for the foreseeable future.

The most horrifying experience I've had on a crabbing charter. I've been on many crabbing charters throughout Northern California and this was by far the worst experience I've ever had. The boat had 25 paying customers signed up to go out, yet we heard the deckhands count 43 people on the boat total. The extra people were friends of the crew that joined for free. When the deckhands were distributing the crab they were giving the smallest crab to the paying customers and cherry picking the largest crabs for their friends. Not to mention, when they started to distribute the crab they told us we would have to pay $5 each for a bag to carry them in. This was never told to us beforehand so we didn't have the opportunity to bring our own bag. I suppose the alternative would be for us to carry the crab in our arms? As the deckhand was filling our bag with crab, we watched him pick up a large crab, then put it back down and dig around for a smaller crab. We then watched him fill his friends bag with crab and dig around to find all the largest crab he could. We just stood there watching in shock. After the deckhand was finished cherry picking crab for his friend, he proceeded to fill extra bags with the remaining crab. He ended up storing 5 bags of 10 crabs each in the bins in the back of the boat. They ended up bringing in 50 more crabs than they should have legally been allowed to.I suppose I could have guessed this type of behavior from the deckhand when we were first heading out of the bay, but at that point we were already stuck with them. On the way out the deckhand was bragging to his friends about being woken up by a girl sucking his d*ck. It was so uncomfortable and inappropriate. I cannot believe people continue to pay to go out on the tigerfish when the deckhands display this type of behavior. I recommend staying far away from this boat and the crew. If you are going out to Emeryville Marina, do yourself a favor and choose a different boat.

Captain Al and deckhand Jonathan have brought me home with limits almost 2 times. I definitely recommend this boat. I I have not experienced rudeness or an issue with customer service. On the contrary, Jonathan was helpful, friendly, and kept everyone in our party baited. When lines got tangled he diligently untangled them. You will have a great time if you follow instructions, step aside when you see them running from fishermen to fisherman. Don't forget to tip.

My buddies and I go crabbing and fishing a few times a year, typically at the beginning and end of the season. We had a trip planned out of Bodega Bay but our AirBNB was canceled so I decided to treat my friends to a chartered trip out of Emeryville. I fished with Captain Allen in September on a salmon trolling expedition. It was a fun and successful trip. Our deckhand that day Jonathan was by far the best I've ever had. Jonathan was engaging, friendly, hard working, helpful, knowledgeable, polite, and left a wonderful lasting impression. Since I had such a great time the first time, I booked a crabbing and rockfish combo with Allen. We showed up early, but were the last ones on the boat. The water was choppy and treacherous. Out of the 19 passengers, Captain Allen, and our deckhand Kyle, I was one of the only passengers not to vomit. We had been scattered throughout the boat and naturally were hoping to fish together since I had spent a ton of money and we go to catch up and spend time together. I paid a few fellow passengers so we could be together but they'd brought their own gear. The Captain was instantly rude and said we had three hours to get our stuff together. I was inclined to think he woke up on the wrong side of the bed until I read other reviews. He was condescending, crude, unprofessional, and rude throughout the day. Our deckhand Kyle didn't have the greatest awareness, and while he was knowledgeable, it didn't translate into great customer service or well tied setups.It was technically a successful day since we limited out on Dungeness crab and rockfish, but the poor customer service translated into a poor customer experience for the four of us. If I book another trip through Fish Emeryville, it'll definitely be on another boat.

I give this Boat one star for the treatment of deckhand. I never went with this fishing charter and it was first time and most likely it would be my last time.Although, captain knew where the fish are ; they didn't have courteous deckhands.After being stunk for few hours in boat I wanted to change my location as you are allowed to go in between every other lines and all needs to do to change wait .., This idiot ( deckhand ) embarrassed me in front of everyone by moving my line back to where I was saying stay where you are. Also, he was hardly attentive and condescending every time you ask for help.I eventually got my fish and he did get $20 tip; in all honesty not well deserved.Avoid, this boat as it is Far eastern owned and their set of behavior and customer service resemble being on fishing boat in that part of continent.

Always a family atmosphere on the boat. Allen is very a very knowledgeable captain with a hardworking deck hand, John. And, both keeping customers happy is their priority.

Like so many others, I'd give this captain and 1 of his crew, (John), negative stars if I could. My husband, one of his friends, and his brother went out for cod on Sunday, May 21st, and had the absolute worst experience of their lives. The infractions, offenses and insults are as follows:1. Captain Al was verbally abusive and aggressive with his paying customers.2. Deckhand John was verbally abusive and aggressive with the clients.3. Lingcod were caught and kept which were under size limit. 4. The conditions were so rough that the captain should have turned around but didn't. A fact that even the deckhand (who got sick) agreed on. People were hanging on for dear life.5. About half the people if not more ended up chumming so the fishing report for that day can't possibly be correct.6. The pot was given to a friend of the deckhand rather than the fisherman who deserved it.7. On the return home, the burlap bags along with beer cans were chucked overboard by the deckhand who was hacking up the fish under the guise of filleting.8. Possession of fishing licenses was not confirmed.In thirty one years of marriage, my husband has never gotten sick while deep sea fishing...he sure did this time. The captain was extremely cavalier in his attitude toward the safety of those in his charge. He did not do his due diligence and risked everyone for a reason known only to him.I advise extreme caution when booking on this boat. My husband and his companions are in agreement that they will NEVER risk their lives or throw away their money on board this vessel with this captain and deckhand. Seek enjoyment elsewhere is my honest admonition.