Fishing Excursions at Castaway Cay

[VArunner]

My 16 yr old son loves to fish. We usually book a fishing excursion.
This will be our first time on Disney and at Castaway Cay.
There is a morning slot for shallow water fishing and a 1PM slot for bottom fishing.
Is there anyone out there that has done either of these fishing excursions?
All things considered we'd rather go out in the morning. However if the bottom fishing is more exciting and those fish are still biting in the afternoon we'd consider the afternoon.
We've gone out in the freezing cold and caught next to nothing and still enjoyed it for the experience.

 

[criddla]

When are you going? We've booked bottom fishing excursion (the one where they go bone fishing)for next week on CC, I'd be happy to let you know how DH & DS' liked it when we return.

 

[VArunner]

When are you going? We've booked bottom fishing excursion (the one where they go bone fishing)for next week on CC, I'd be happy to let you know how DH & DS' liked it when we return.

We are on The Halloween weekend Dream 3day, 10/31.
We would love to hear about it from you! Thank You!
What time of day are your guys booked to go out on the excursion?

 

[criddla]

We booked the first time slot - 9:00 am I believe.

 

[kisobel]

ok, i feel like an idiot. what's the difference between shallow water and bottom fishing? i was looking at those 2. i like to fish off the dock at home and wondered which would be more fun.

kate

 

[VArunner]

We booked the first time slot - 9:00 am I believe.

Right now we have an 0845 on the shallow water excursion because my son is interested in catching some of the fish listed on that excursion. However we usually do the bottom fishing just because that's what is usually offered and he wants the big fish.
I personally just go along to bait the line, watch the fish come in and enjoy the boat ride.

But....the shallow water fishing boat isn't like any boat that I've been on. It looks like a Dick's Sporting goods boat to me.....no sides....very small. Yet if I am correct, the shallow fishing is slightly more expensive. Probably because it's just a few people vs an 8 person boat with the bottom fishing.

If you get a chance....could you please ask the fishing captain if there are still decent fish biting in the afternoon session, late October? Would there be any sharks around to nab?

Thanks so much!

 

[VArunner]

ok, i feel like an idiot. what's the difference between shallow water and bottom fishing? i was looking at those 2. i like to fish off the dock at home and wondered which would be more fun.

kate

Hi! You don't always see multiple options for fishing excursions, and these two excursions don't show a lot of detail.
On bottom fishing, you take the boat out a bit into the water where there is enough going on down there for the fish to be looking for food down there. This is an 8 person boat.
In Cozumel, on RCCL the bottom fishing wasn't that far at all from the shore line; in other excursions it can be deep. You pretty much drop your baited line and let it go down to the bottom and wait for a bite to pull it up. The possible fish to be caught are listed.
On the shallow water fishing, there isn't a real view of the boat. I forget where I got a look at the boat but when I saw it I felt that it looked like an open fiberglass raft. (That's the best way I can describe it....sorry) Because of the look of the boat I am guessing that you are not pulling in large fish. it describes the fish that will be found in the more shallow water. I am guessing that these may be some more tropical fish and not your larger deep water fish.

My son usually is looking to nab a shark.....a competition he has with his friends.
So I am surprised that he is showing interest in the shallow water trip, though he really showed a preference for the types of fish in the shallow water description. We also prefer to fish in the morning and the bottom fishing is only available now at 1PM.
I could only find one youtube video of a Castaway Cay fishing excursion. It was a bottom fishing video of a boy and his dad pulling in a huge shark.

 

[NCConch]

I have done the bottom fishing at CC. Eight people besides the captain and the mate. Mostly reef fish like snapper and grouper. All fish are thrown back. Smaller fish are used as bait. Someone caught a nurse shark and one or two fish came up with just heads due to barracuda or shark activity. The mate said DCL was looking at adding a deep water trip because the deep water is not far from CC. I love deep water dolphin fishing. I will be doing the shallow water/flats fishing just after New Years.

The cool thing for me was I was catching snappers in the morning and swimming with them in the afternoon while snorkeling. A few of the snappers in the lagoon snorkeling area were rather tame and swam right up to me - which gave me quite a startle because I have had close encounters with 'cuda snorkeling off the beach in Fla.

 

[criddla]

Hubby and kids did the Abacoe fishing excursion last week. Unfortunately it poured the last hour of the excursion and they came in early, however the 2 hours they were out - it was only DH and DS 11, DD 9 with 2 guides. Lots of help for baiting and casting. They caught grouper, trigger fish, snapper and a few sheephead. They liked the fight that the fish put up. All fish were released. They enjoyed it, just disappointed that the weather cut it a bit short.