We are staying down in Perkins Cove Ogunquit area, and all the local charters were booked up for days, so we drove 20 min North to Wells. Captain Derek was awesome. My kids (14 & 12) are novices and still had a day they will not soon forget.
We booked a 2 hour “kids intro” charter, and we had so much fun that we wished we had booked more time. We started off with a short boat ride which the kids loved, then trolled for bait fish. The captain was open to our request to see his lobster traps - so we swung by my and pulled up a pot. Learned about lobsters, threw the small ones back and there was one keeper that my kids named “Josh”.
We then moved onto the fishing grounds with what little time we had left, but boy were they biting. The kids soon had 4 hits and hauled 3 aboard. Derek, my father in law and I spent so much time helping the kids land their fish that the adults did not even cast! But so much excitement.
One child caught a striped bass too small to keep, followed by one to big to keep, and had bragging rights to “largest fish” and “most fish”, while my 12 yo caught the keeper and provided us with dinner, aka “most tastiest fish”.
Derek was great and was open to our thoughts on itinerary, swing us by to see the seals basking on the rocks, etc.. posed for pics with the kids, helped them hold the lobster for photos, etc… All in all a great operator and a super fun trip.
One Note: the boat holds up to 6 passengers, but our group of 4 felt about right. If uncles had joined us - it would have been pretty tight.