Originally Posted by
Fishfinder
Thanks for all the kind comments guys. Good to hear from Turkey feeder, I hope everything is going well and I hope you get down to do some fishing. Good to hear from you Gradyfish! I hope everything is holding up for you this spring? Reel life, I can understand what you are up against as well. You do have to start somewhere. I believe what Deep C is saying , after you have put in your time fishing and working as a mate and hanging around the docks and tackle shops and really getting good with all the ins and outs of fishing, it comes down to going for it or not. I know that it is a very hard decision to go ahead and jump into full time charter fishing, especially in this day and time. But one of the things that the full time charter captains look at is the large number of part time captains that are possibly taking business and income away from the full time guys. Many are qualitifed to be captains, but there are even a larger number of captains that are not so qualified, and those are the ones that hurt the most. These are the ones that just want to pay for their boat and fuel by undercuting prices so they can say they took a charter fishing. There is nothing that will fire up a full time operater than a customer calling them and letting them know that there is a guy down the street that is running for half the price that they are and is telling them that they will have just as good an experience as they would if he was carrying them. Now here is where part time captains that are just charging for fuel and boat payments will say that it is their right to charge whatever they see fit to charge and that it is none of anyone elses business! This is true. This is the USA and you can charge whatever you want to charge. But this is where trying to make a living from the water comes in. I have run up against this for the last 24 years. I have my prices set where I can make a profit everytime I leave the dock. If I can't make money, why go! This is a business. It is like a lot of people will say, you are lucky, you get to fish all the time, this is a easy way to make a living. First off, I hardly ever get to fish, yes I am running the boat and on the water all the time, but you are supposed to be the one fishing if I am doing my job correctly, not me. There are some exceptions to that rule where I do get to fish occasionally, but not very often. If I charge $600 for a trip and the guy down the street charges $400 for the same trip, I know that he is just covering his expences and not making any money, because if he was making money, I would be charging the same as him! I think what Deep C and alot of other full time captains are trying to get out there, is that yes sometimes you will have to do some other type of work when time are hard to supplement you charter business income, but make your charter business your main source of income. Take other work to supplement you charter business, not take charters to supplement you other income. This is one reason that I have started my lure company, I am getting older after fishing small boats for the last 24 years, I am getting pretty banged up and need something else to fall back on as I get older. I only run 3 to 4 trips a week now, and I pick my days when I will take someone or not. Back when I was younger, I went whenever someone wanted to go. If they wanted to go, even if the weather was bad, if I recommended that we stay at the dock, yet they still insisted and wanted to go, I took Em. Not any more! The charter business is not peaches and cream all the time. This is a dog eat dog business that takes a lot of very hard work. There is alot of up keep and expences if the business is run right, and there is a tremendous amount of promotional work, pounding the pavement, writing articles, doing TV shows, doing seminars and trade shows to have a sucessful business now a days. One thing that you will see is the respect and admiration that full time charter captains and guides show for one another. You will end up meeting guides and captains for one end of the coast to the other. I don't regret the last 24 years and I hope that I still have a few more left in me before I have to quit. I you don't love being on the water, or think that your are going to make your fortune charter fishing, give it up and do something where you can really make money. There are no retirement in charter fishing. You just fish till you can't go anymore, then you die!
Good Luck & Good Fishing,
Capt. Joe Shute
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