I have been out on the Bay Princess 3 times so far this year. 2 night trips and a day trip on Thanksgiving. Dave the mate is always great, friendly and helpful. Plus he cleans the fish for $2.00 each, can't beat fishing all day and coming home not smelly. The trips can be very hit or miss. One night trip with about 25 people, the boat limited out, 2 fish for everyone including captain and mates. Second night trip was quite a bit slower. The Thanksgiving trip was a lot of fun. Good turn out, boat did well, Captain Brian took us all over the place trying to find the fish with a crazy fast current out there.
I have spent plenty of time on party boats, and in my experience Winter Flounder fishing up in NY, and Winter striper fishing here, kids get cold and bored very fast. The action is fairly slow most of the time, even when the boat limits out, they may only catch one or no fish during a 4 hour trip. Plus it can get very cold very fast, most of the kids I see out there in winter are sitting in the cabin most of the trip. I say take them out on the boat in the summer when it is 85 degrees and they can catch 50 fish in 4 hours. Maybe even think about Tautog in the spring, still slow fishing, but much warmer out and not as much casting. Casting a spinner bait, or even a rattle trap from the shore is much easier for a little guy than casting a 2 ounce bucktail over a railing they can barely see over for hours straight.
If they are itching for some fairly steady action during the winter, you could always take them over to Lake Biggins in Newport News. Stocked with Rainbow Trout now I believe. Small pond so easy to find the fishes. Remember you need to have a freshwater license and a trout stamp, they can fish for free. When you hook a 12" rainbow trout on a 5'6" UL rod it feels like a shark on there.
