Lady J. Sportfishing

Captain Phil was extremely kind to my family. He even let my seven year old drive the boat! Quinn was a knowledgeable mate who was very personable. We caught many big fish this trip. Would definitely book again!

My husband wanted to go charter fishing and were only going to be down the Cape for a week. Being so busy beforehand we didn't get a chance to book a trip. Called 7 places - spoke to 3 people and left messages for the others. One guy just answered the phone "hello" like I was calling his house. He said he was booked. Another guy was really nice but said he was booked for two weeks solid (Cape Cod Family Fishing Charters, Barnstable)

But before everyone, we spoke to Captain Phil. He was driving at the time of my call and actually pulled over to look at his calendar. Though he couldn't accommodate our preferred date (he was booked) he offered us a few alternate dates & times within out stay.

We booked for today and he was right on time - even coming in from another charter. The boat was comfortable and big and his mate, Chris (his grandson), was truly great. My husband wanted to fish for striper and despite his warning that the supply was extremely slim, Captain Phil, set course to try and find some. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride and that's a good thing because we did more searching than fishing . Captain Phil made a choice to try and find my husband the fish he wanted instead of just taking us out to catch a lot of fish we didn't want to eat. In the end we brought home a beautiful bluefish and a whopper of a Stripped Bass!

Though we only caught two fish - we caught something we wanted. (And truly have enough to share with a houseful of folks this weeked. Captain Phil and Chris made our trip very enjoyable - and Chris even filleted the fish for us!!! :)

capt phil and his son tony have got it together when it comes to bass fishing, they kept us on the bass the whole trip.caught our limit of fish in a 5 hr run could not get any better than that if you want a great fishing trip go on the lady j.

Our family visits Cape Cod once a summer from Wisconsin and have been fortunate enough to secure a half day fishing on the Lady J in 4 of the last 6 years. Every year we have had good fishing. Our first year our son caught the largest Bluefish of the year in the state of MA in his division. We brought him back to MA in February and with Captain Phil present, our son accepted his award for the biggest bluefish of that year. What a great day and great experience that he will never forget! Each successive time we fished after that Captain Phil was able to locate both stripers and blues and we caught multiple keeper stripers that we took back to enjoy. Each year I left the boat feeling that we had been able to do something that few people were able to enjoy.
This year, our family arrived early to find Captain Phil extra enthusiastic because he had just had a great day of striper fishing the previous day. We shoved off and within a short time we were at the location of thew previous day's catch. An hour or so passed and we caught one keeper but I could tell Phil wasn't happy about this one nice fish and was really hungry to find us the large school of stripers that he believed were close by. Then amazingly, by taking cues from the water movement and distant birds he moved our boat to a new location where no other boats had visited and within a period of period of 5 minutes the water - "exploded" - with fish. There we were, by ourselves, with large stripers jumping all the way around the boat. We also had small bait fish and birds all participating in the frenzy. At multiple times we had 3 or even 4 fish on poles at one time! When we landed each fish, another pole was prepared and tossed out and within seconds we had another fish. Captain Phil and his mate Anthony then brought out lighter tackle and started casting into the hungry stripers and we were able to land numerous fish after exhilarating and exhausting fights. Within a period of about 45 minutes we limited out on stripers and we had multiple fish of 40+ inches. This...again.....was a day that our family will never forget.
I originally found Lady J charters by searching online and continued to go with Captain Phil each year because our experiences on his boat have been perfect for my family each time. I have really enjoyed talking and learning from Phil on each of our rides out to the fishing areas.

Thank you Phil for the experiences and the memories!

We didnt catch a single fish, it took us 1hr to get to the fishing spot, even though captain phil said it would only take 10 mins. He didnt even give us a discount, and was extremely rude

This was the best fishing trip I have had to date, and I have had many trips in the Cape Cod area. Capt. was fabulous and right on target, every time!

Bringham Clan

Although I grew up on the Cape, I had been absent for over 30 years. Having returned for the funeral of a dear friend, I sought some diversion through a spur of the moment fishing trip. Luckily, my Godson was able to join me at the last minute.

Fate alone put me on the Lady J this beautiful morning late in July. We left Barnstable Harbor at sunrise to a flat calm Cape Cod Bay. It appeared as if they day ahead would offer nothing more than a nostalgic sightseeing trip.

While still enjoying my wake-up coffee, the young mate (it was his first trip) anxiously announced, “Birds working.” Try as I may, these old eyes couldn’t pick anything out of the haze. I chalked it up to the wishful wonder of youth. However, from topside Capt. Phil turned loose the full power of the Lady J. She lept to the throttles and my adrenaline soon outpaced the caffeine. Just maybe?

Soon I too could see the great Herring Gulls diving on a surface all a boil with great swirling tails and the tell tale mirrored flashes of big Stripers. My departed father had been an avid surfcaster. He had told stories of seeing such a sight just a few times during his pre-war days. I had since written that off as just an enticement to a reluctant son. Here it was every bit as real as ever retold. As Capt. Phil coasted the Lady J into the midst of the frenzy a similar scene erupted on deck. Poles, lures, coffee cups and orders flying everywhere at once. Capt. Phil just grinned.

Soon the pandemonium was replaced with shouts of “Fish On.” I had chosen a light spinning rig opting for the thrill of the fight rather than a quick trophy. It took three casts with a rubber sand eel before I hooked up. The first strike ran off about 75 yards of line. It took 45 minutes for my first fish to come to the gaff. By that time most everyone else had their two-fish limit. The biggest weighed in at 43 pounds.

If the thrill of big bass wasn’t enough for one trip, Capt. Phil suggested we spend the rest of our time hunting Blue Fish. The “rush” of limiting out on Stripers was still hanging in the air when a school of feeding Blues was spotted. We caught and released until our arms grew tired. It seemed that not too many were as fond of a fresh Blue Fish fillet sizzling on the charcoal drenched with butter and lemon as I.

As we motored back into the harbor, I wondered if that young mate thought all his coming days were going to be like the one I had waited 60 years to experience. If it was to be, he was on the right boat!