Ever have a bad experience with a charter company?

[hotrodmarlin]

Hawaii. We made it VERY clear when booking the charters that we wanted to release ALL billfish.
Ever seen a spearfish tagged and then gaffed? I have. I ended up in an argument with the mate and ended up pissed off the rest of the day. No tip 4 you!

Same trip different boat- I got in an argument with a famous captain over releasing marlin. On the way out I reaffirmed that we wanted to release all billfish. The captain said no problem unless it was over 500lbs then we were killing it. Ended up in another argument and I was pissed off the rest of the day. We didn't catch one over 500 so it didn't really matter. Tipped the mate but not the captain.
No billfish is safe around Hawaii.

The last time I went to Hawaii I said screw it- When in Hawaii, do as the Hawaiians- we killed 2 striped marlin and I had a much better time because I wasn't pissed off.

[Andaman Andy]

Here's another very recent report from some Australians who have just fished on the Gecko. Mr Sander/Nyvquist admittedly promotes his operation quite well on the net, but read the report and draw your own conclusions.

The full link is here: http://www.fishnet.com.au/forums/vie...89&start=0&f=7

Arrived back yesterday. We fished aboard a charter boat called Gecko 40 Footer. Will talk more regarding the boat later.

We fished out around the Similian islands off Phuket. Weather could not have been calmer but the outside temp got as high as 45Deg and water temp was a staggering 31.6 deg. Suprised most fish were not floating on the surface cooked. Cutting a long story short the fishing was not good. We did however hook 1 Marlin in the 4 days which was our only strike other than numerous Striped Tuna smaller than i have ever seen of around 6 inches. The Black we hooked up was short lived as it flew past us on the Starboard side tail walking and shaking it's head to remove the hook. We estimated this as 250Kg, a good fish. There were plenty of Thai Fads which had Zero fish other than the odd Rainbow Runner (Looks like a small King Fish) 40Cm.

We started off fishing about 2 Mile out of the harbour and the lures never came in while travelling. Our whole trip was done at trolling speed. We stopped each night and fished reefs where again it was very quiet other than 3 Finger Marks i got up to 3Kg and 2 Leopard sharks. Ian got one Finger Mark and poor old Steve got Zip. Note the first two nights i fished all night except about 2Hrs.

Back to the Boat itself it was unfortunately infested with small cockroaches so Steve and myself spent the first night out on the back deck and then retiring to the floor inside for bthe following nights.

The boat had 3 crew along with the captain. Crew spoke no english but were determined to try do everything for us. It was hard at times to try bait our own hooks.

Fishing reefs at night was costly on terminal tackle as we lost about 7 sinkers which meant we had no sinkers aboard on the last night.

I know Fishing is Fishing and nothing is guaranteed but it was not what i call the best fishing trip i had done.

Spoke to some Swedish guys a couple of weeks back that went with this guy to the Andamans , Air-con broke, Toilet broke, Trip cut short, Owner drunk there beer / spirits...... sound familiar?

[HOT PURSUIT CHARTERS]

First time in the Dominican Republic, east coast. Really nice all-inclusive resort, book a trip thru the resort. Just easier then finding a marina, and the resort books it. Bad idea. Shared the charter w/a couple from Columbia. Boat looks like a POS. Heading out down the beach to get to the break through the corl reef. Water is smooth as glass and the female from Columbia is already heaving chunks. Strike two. Make it through the break and we're in hugh swells. Time to abort. Strike three. Captain (I use the the term extremely losely) continues on. Troll for an hour, no hits, the Columbian chick heaving chunks the size of softballs. Captain finally decides (waay too late) it is too rough and she is sick. I say,"Sorry Charlie. You decided to fish and not turn around. Sorry she's sick, but TS. We're here. Lets fish." Captain refuses.
" Fine. I have another trip booked day after tomorrow. That one is on you."
"No. I'll give you an extra hour or two".
"Nope. Your mistake. Should have cancelled the instant we broke through the coral reef. Next trip is free."
Captain refuses. Heading back through the break and the captain is trying to catch a wave to surf back in. Full throttle and the boat feels like its gonna break apart, its vibrating so much (bent shaft?) Catch a wave, but it out runs us. Now we are broadside to the surf and get slammed by a ten footer. List 45 degrees too starboard and everybody is holding on for dear life. Women are screaming bloody hell. Make it back alive, no tip, and file a compliant with the resort. Next trip is free. FU captain.
Next trip, different boat/crew. Sharing with Americans (thank you!). Slow day, but land a nice barracuda. Nearing the end of the trip (only 4 hours) and all the crew want to do is get back. Guy from Ohio hooks up with a nice dolphin (40-45 lbs.) Puttin' on a good show. This guy has never been offshore, has not a clue, so I'm coaching him. He's doing great. Captain/crew want to close shop and head in. Unbelievable!! Now I'm arguing w/the crew. Let the guy fight the fish! The captain starts backing the boat (on a dolphin?!) and the mate is grabbing the line while the guy is still trying to land the fish and the fish is still 50 feet out. I'm raising holy hell to let this guy fight his fish, to no avail. I can not believe this! Captain ends up backing over the line with the props and cuts it. Jesus Christ!! Everybody is pissed. Needless to say, no tip, with me being the head cheer leader. Hate to do that being a charter captain myself, but damn. Right is right and wrong is wrong. The day I treat my paying customers like that is the day I quit.

[Squidnation]

I dont think this guys runs charters anymore but it was out of OI with my buddy, dad and 3 hispanic friends. I told the guy we wanted tuna and I also said that I wouldn't fish with anyone besides the owner. Also the builder if I am not mistaken. He came highly recommended but also I was warned that the mate will sometimes run the trips and this is not a good plan. We show up and there is no sign of my dad or his friends. For anyone that has ever known any paraguayans you will know that timelyness is not very important. No big deal since I have a few bones to pick with the crew. They have out two 50's, 2 tld 25's and 2 spinning rods. Nice tuna spread you got there capt. Oh -we're not tuna fishing. There is a hell of a billfish bite. Oh no. I don't think you know that these spanish guys ain't gonna release anything. They would rather sell their mother then release a fish. Well, were billfishing and releasing them. That is not what I discussed with you on the phone. Well - I never spoke to you on the phone. You spoke to the owner. he ain't coming today. This sucks! I didn't expect this from the OI fleet. Well you don't have to go, said the new capt. But I am going to keep your deposit. I didn't know any better and should have complained to the fishing center but I held my breath and lied to my dad. When he finally showed up - I told him that tuna fishing was slow so we have the lighter stuff for dophin but if we happen to see a marlin we would have to release them. He said fine, but we need to pretend we lost it at the boat and get pissed. cause you know how us parguayans get about releasing fish.

Luckily we caught 2 tunas right off the bat. But only becuase we saw them bustin and got lucky. had we had a full tuna spread out we probably would have gotten wolfpacked but we only had two big rods out. We then went back to marlin fishing. Caught 1 for two. I spotted a log and told the kid to go to the log. He said no because there was a good marlin bite. I put my foot down and told him that there would be no tip if we didn't at least attempt to catch dolphin at each log that I spotted. We ended up with 10 peanuts.

I really think the captain used his keen eyesight to avoid the wood becuase every piece of wood I spotted was off the transom about 100 yards behind us.


The point is we caught fish and had a decent time - But I hate lieing to my dad and his friends. The capt took the charter knowing he wasnt coming. The new capt was a young punk that couldn't stand being on the boat with spanish people, he would not target what we paid to target. Never again. I have learned to walk away if it don't smell right.

BTW - this was the only bad experience I have ever had in Oregon Inlet. Usually the captains and mates are extremely courteous and accomdating as well as world class fishermen.

[SeaBiscuit]

Long time ago my father (who like Pino's dad thinks releasing fish is a sin!) was visiting from Greece, so I decided to take him and my father in law fishing. We had a little get together in Ocracoke NC so I booked the best offshore boat there, well in advance. Memorial weekend, Ocracoke Island, good weather, what could go wrong?

When I arrived at the island, the day before the charter, I went to look at the boats returning from fishing. Good catches of tuna, dolphin and even a couple of bilfish got my hopes up! Walking up to the boat I had chartered for the next day, I noticed that the pit looked like a construction zone. "Engine trouble" I was told. Whether true or not, I had just found out that this big comfortable Carolina fish catchin' boat was not taking us fishing tomorrow. Trying to hide my disappointment and in my best "good ole boy" Greek accent, I asked the captain what the plan was. Two options, he said, call if off (full refund) or go with his "brother" on another boat. Sounded OK and although disappointed not be fishing with the best, I figured we'd still be fishing.

When we showed up next morning we discovered that the brother's boat was a twin I/O 28 - 30 foot island built express. My two brothers in law, father and father in law in combination with the captain and mate were a tad crowded on that boat. I have no complaints about the captain or mate. Nice folks. We caught 1 gaffer 4 pnuts and a 3 lb yellowfin! We cruised slower that the fleet and stayed in shore of them. We fished 20 - 25 miles offshore while most of the fleet was about 35 miles off. On the way home, I finally figured out why when we run out of gas

We had to get a tow through the inlet and to the harbor and make arrangements for another boat to pick up one of my brothers in law so that he would not miss his ferry out of the island!

I charter for safety, comfort and to catch fish. This experience just did not meet my expectations. That was a long time ago when paying for a charter trip myself was a luxury. I used a credit card to pay for it. I tipped OK, but could not help but feel a little let down.

Lesson learned, if a deal appears not to be what was agreed, take a pass because it WILL NOT be.

SeaBiscuit