Had a great experience with Captain Dave of Dr Bugs Charters for our recent mid-October fishing trip. Will definitely do business again. My father, brother and I recently decided to do a last minute (literally the following day) fishing charter boat trip on Lake Erie. We have done many charter boat trips in the past and understand that you typically want to book far in advance. After searching aimlessly via Google, I called about ten different charter businesses and found them either to have already shut down for the season, were rude on the phone, came across very shady and used-car-salesman-ish, were discouraging of catching fish this late in the season, or simply straight up laughed and said no when I asked about such a last minute trip. Finally, we got to Dr Bugs Charters, spoke with the very friendly and helpful Captain Dave. We were looking for a last minute trip for 3 adults to get out on the lake, have some fun, and catch lots of fish. Dave was very agreeable and understanding and assured us that he could help us out. We showed up the next chilly morning at the beautiful Huron Boat Basin at 8am to find a very polite and friendly Captain Dave along with his very clean, safe, and well equipped 30 foot fishing boat named Dr. Bugs. We were given a handshake, a safety briefing, and immediately headed for the water. Because of the season and the recent poor walleye fishing reports, we went after perch that day. We spent about 8 hours on the lake, stayed in one location, and caught our limit (for all 4 of us) of perch (120 total) along with one accidental walleye (22 inches). We had great success and had the luxury of throwing many 6 - 7 inchers back. We caught many 10+ inchers, the largest being 12.75 inches (almost a fish Ohio). Myself and my family are a very quiet people. Dave seemed to read this and play off if it very well. He stayed close by, fishing along with us and helping us any time we caught a fish and couldn't get the hook out, or got a line tangled, or needed bait help. We kept it quiet all day and just relaxed, catching fish all day long. Speaking with Dave at days-end, I asked him about his experience. He explained that he's retired and has been doing charters for over 20 years now. I said "you must enjoy it?" and he responded "i love it. ... i just like to see people catch fish." Simple, but that's why I enjoyed the experience. It was simple and we had fun and caught a ton of fish. I will most definitely be calling Dave the next time we want to do a charter. Note, he works out of different areas depending on the season and where the fish are. Don't do what we did, call ahead. I'm sure Dave would appreciate that. read more

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We hired Dr.Bugs and regretted our choice. It was basically a very expensive boat ride. Worst fishing guide we ever used. After a few hours of catching zero fish he threw a different jig on the cooler and said "try this". He did not assist in any way with baiting, changing lures etc. On the final day of our trip we knew the weather was questionable and he told us to come and we'd try it. After 1.5 hrs he said " well we aren't going to catch anything today so if you want to quit I'll only charge you half price" so we still paid a half day rate for a 1.5 hour fishing trip that netted us ZERO fish! When we asked if he saw any fish on the locator his reply was " I don't know, I never look at that thing! " Seriously?? ! I will never again hire this charter, nor would I recommend him to anyone I know. read more

Our first charter on Lake Erie (and we did make sure that he knew that before going out). The people in our group are experienced fisherman - just not the method this guy uses. He trolls with 12 rods in different positions. The method is a bit complicated for the uninitiated, with many steps.. He instructs you once on how to set up the rods and get lines in the water, set hooks when a fish is on, reeling in, how to see if you have a fish on, and then expects you to be a pro at it. If you forget a step or had a problem, he had no patience for it. Our heads were spinning after the very brief tutorial. He seemed very irritated during the whole trip, and made a day that should've been enjoyable very uneasy. Not helpful at all - no patience for any mistakes - was extremely grumpy and not pleasant to be with. We did catch some fish, but it wasn't fun with him constantly griping and telling you you're doing it the wrong way. If you're not experienced in charter fishing on Lake Erie I definitely would not recommend going out with this jerk. read more

Worst day on the lake I have ever had, offered to end the charter early because my Son and I felt uncomfortable and the fun was gone out of it, why you are probably wondering?? visible frustration from the captain because a fish got off(there was little doubt he thought it was rod handler error) more frustration from him when a fish got off close to the boat and the rig came shooting out of the water(I'm sorry but that happens when a fish comes off literally a foot below the surface) it wasn't intentional but it might as well have been from his reaction, me getting scolded because I grabbed the wrong rod when we had a bite, me getting shamed/guilted into helping him set rods when I didn't feel comfortable doing it(what am I paying you for??) then being told I wouldn't like having to pay for one of his rods because I was bending the tip to much in the process of getting it set, having him get visibly upset because we have 5 out of 6 rods on the deck because of swarming white bass/white perch and all the while he is on his cell phone, watching him slam a sheep head into the water because he cant get out of the trash fish(yes the trash fish are frustrating I have no doubt of that but a good captain responds to that by figuring out a way out of them) by this point he is not even communicating with us even though I am trying to talk to him and offer encouragement, so I offer to end the charter early even though I have 1 1/2-2hrs left and we are only 1 maybe 2 fish short of our limit, we do eventually get our fish and head in, once we get in he further cements my feelings that this is my worst trip to the lake by doubling his previous price for fish cleaning, by that time I just wanted to point my car towards home and be done with it, this trip happened 4-5 years ago, the one positive out of it is that I found out there are far better captains on Erie. read more