Bad Taste from Hatteras

[kendempsey]

We love you folks that come down here and blame us for your problems. We never have theft issues till the tourists arrive. Hmmm I wonder why? You were fishing on a trasient boat that does not dock at Oden's but at a private slip. You were allowed to use our fish cleaning tables out of the goodness of our dock manager. These tables are normally for the people fishing out of our marina. I've been cleaning fish on this table for over 20 years and never once have I had any thing taken. It is my understanding that the knives were recovered and it was an honest mistake. No local was involved! I see where this guy is an aerospace engineer and is probably smarter than most but there is a lot to be said about common sense. My advice is to book local boats and you will be supporting our community and thus ensure good treatment. You expect us to treat you like gold when you come to our village and book boats from out of our area. Wrong! Hatteras is a special place but it's not perfect. If you have any problem with this reply you can speak to me in person any day of the week at Oden's Dock. Capt. Ken Dempsey

[BlueH20Boss]

Kendempsey, seeming how abrasive your first and only post on the forum was, I am not really going to let it bother me, but bashing the guy for venting about two misfortunes on one trip to an out of town place because he was ripped off is not really the point of the post. I know you are defending your home town or whatever, but the guy can fish on any boat he damn well pleases and if the fillet tables are FREE to use, who are you to tell him what boat to charter? not relevent at all! I don't feel like getting into the dramatics that I'm sure are to follow with my post, but really your post was pretty rude. Capt. Jake is the hero of this situation, and I think his findings CLEARED The Hatteras name on this situation, minus the scum bag hotel clerk who stole the cash, but as stated before, that can happen anywhere...and does! I'm not going to drag it out any longer, but I felt the need to at least stand up for leftoar here because if you came to the Jersey shore for the weekend and lost 600.00 worh of stuff in a day with no explanations I am sure you would piss on the NJ locals as well. (Just saying) Good job in recovering the knives, and as for the motel cash, just upper deck the toilet next time you are in town. Later!

Just thought i'd mention that every single guy I have met from HAtteras has been a stand up individual. I see where kendempseys frustration lies in someone tarnishing the reputation down there, but it has not been. I think he was simply venting about his gear, and his location was the punching bag. No harm, no foul. Sorry if my post sounded like it was starting a fight, because I am not at all. Case closed on my end.

[LeftOar]

Capt D-

Capt Jake does rent a slip from Oden's, and I went out of my way in this thread AND a separate thread to let folks reading know that everything was made right and I'd like to come back and fish there in HI again because the people involved stepped up and made things good again. Without going into the details which came to light later, it was an honest mistake in the case of the missing knives, and the motel manager reached out and fixed the problem on his end. I have no grudges toward any of the people involved, Capt Jake and the others pitched in to help and I'm grateful for that.

No need to keep the fires burning, everything is worked out.

LO

[bigfishhooker]

At least this thread has solidified who not to charter with in Hatteras.

[capt. jakeg]

We love you folks that come down here and blame us for your problems. We never have theft issues till the tourists arrive. Hmmm I wonder why? You were fishing on a trasient boat that does not dock at Oden's but at a private slip. You were allowed to use our fish cleaning tables out of the goodness of our dock manager. These tables are normally for the people fishing out of our marina. I've been cleaning fish on this table for over 20 years and never once have I had any thing taken. It is my understanding that the knives were recovered and it was an honest mistake. No local was involved! I see where this guy is an aerospace engineer and is probably smarter than most but there is a lot to be said about common sense. My advice is to book local boats and you will be supporting our community and thus ensure good treatment. You expect us to treat you like gold when you come to our village and book boats from out of our area. Wrong! Hatteras is a special place but it's not perfect. If you have any problem with this reply you can speak to me in person any day of the week at Oden's Dock. Capt. Ken Dempsey

I spoke with you on the dock the other day before I saw this post. I did all I could to take the blame off Hatteras and resolve this situation. As he says there is very little crime in Hatteras with the locals.

I did rent a private slip directly from the Odens. Odens dock did also allow me to use the cleaning tables. I am also the owner/captain of a transient boat that fished there for a couple months. I did not advertise in the same markets as Hatteras captains and while I was there I pretty much minded my own business and kept to myself. I know and understand that I am not from Hatteras and the locals dont know me there. I dont want to step on any toes. The reason I rented a slip in the private slips side was simply because when I called Odens #1- they only had a slip available for 2 weeks and I needed a slip for 2+ months and #2 the private slip at Odens was half the price of anywhere else in Hatteras which was a no brainer.

I guess the 15k I spent in fuel while I was there didnt help the locals any. I guess the 30 groups that I brought to town didnt help the locals by renting rooms and eating in restraunts. I guess me and my mate living down there and spending our money before tourist season while the place was a ghost town didnt help the locals any. I tried specifically to buy everything I could in Hatteras even though I could buy the exact same thing in Virginia Beach for half the price and bring it to town but I wanted to be mindful to help support Hatteras rather than use Hatteras. Since I have gone home 4 days ago I have sent no less than 5 groups to local captains who I recommended- pretty simply because they wanted to catch fish offshore now and the fishing is good in Hatteras and has not yet gotten good in Virginia Beach. I referred a group to Jay Kavanaugh and one to Jim Bowman just today. And aside from this reply, everyone else in Hatteras was very thankful for the business I did with them and polite and respectful (including the professional and curteous staff at Odens dock)- as usual. By my estimation in the two months and one week I was in Hatteras, my business and my customers spent between 30 and 40k in Hatteras before tourist season at a time when local businesses there were slow.

Do I expect any special treatment? Nope

Do I want special treatment for my customers? NO

Should those customers be treated any differently than anyone else because they are fishing with someone from out of town? HELL NO.

I'm sorry one of my customers made an honest mistake. I simply did my best to correct this problem in a way that was beneficial to my customer and did not smear Hatteras because I know this sort of thing is not characteristic of Hatteras and that this sort of thing is the kind of thing that steers people away from Hatteras as if there isnt enough there to run people away with the beach closures and all.

Its nice to know though that fishing with a local boat ensures proper treatment of visitors to Hatteras. I will continue trying to treat everyone the way I want to be treated regardless of who they are fishing with.

[austin ensor]

someone needs a good beat down!!!!