4 hours or 8? How long a charter you actually need

The most common mistake: booking four hours and asking to go offshore. The run out and back eats the trip and you turn around right when it gets good.

Here's the honest mapping, same one on the fishing calendar:

• —4 hours — inside Banderas Bay. Roosterfish, jacks, snapper, sierra. A complete trip, back for lunch.
• —6 hours — the outer bay and the Marietas start to work. Sailfish and dorado when they're in.
• —8 hours — comfortable offshore day. El Morro, real blue water, time to actually fish it.
• —10–12 hours — Corbeteña and El Banco. Marlin and big tuna. This is the autumn trip people plan vacations around.

Price follows hours, not fish: four hours from $1,250 whole-boat, eight from $2,100. So the question isn't budget, it's target. Tell us what you want to catch and the month — we'll tell you the minimum hours that make it a real trip, including when four is genuinely enough.