Your thoughts

 I just had a chats with some friends who had been out recently with a charter. Im not going to say who or where or when, so dont ask. This is only to do with how you feel about what happened.

After an early morning start and travelling out to the grounds, the punters where set up with the gear and away they went. Fish were caught across the boat, as you would hope for after paying out $250+ each for the day.

However, im told, the skipper and crew picked up their own rods and proceeded to jig from the front of the boat instead of attending to the paying customers. The punters had to net there own fish in cases and if a new rig required wait until the crew brought their own line in. One punter got a nice dhuie only to have the deckie get a bigger one then pay out on him over the merits of jigs verses bait. 

At the end of the day the crew had caught two large dhuies, one which they shared with the the paying customers, one they kept for themselves.

Now, is it just me, or is this wrong. These guys seem to look at there job as a day out fishing for themselves that the punters have paid for. 

I know my friends where a bit stunned by the crews actions and they have been on many charters. This is the first time they have treated this way.

I never use charters myself, have my own boat, so I have no knowledge as to whether this is common/normal practice.

As the title says

Whats your thoughts on this practice

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if i was on that boat i would

Wed, 2013-03-27 14:58

if i was on that boat i would be pissed, u pay good money and u want good service, to me thats not good service, i would tell them how i felt about it and see what they have to say... if they said sweet fa i would name and shame to be honest

Justo82's picture

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Date Joined: 17/10/11

 Yeah, that seems a bit shit

Wed, 2013-03-27 15:04

 Yeah, that seems a bit shit to me.

 

deckies are there to cut the bait, rig you up, net your fish, and if you wish fillet and scale on return. I would definitely be having words with the management team (if privately owned you're stuffed). 

scubafish's picture

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$250 of come in sucker.

Wed, 2013-03-27 15:38

I would pass all information on to the owner of the company, as i dont think the owner would run it like that if he knew that was going on.They catch the fish that you should be catching,"bugger that" they should be putting bait on my hook and passing me a beer!

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I have worked on many

Wed, 2013-03-27 16:17

I have worked on many charters over the years and I have been told to drop a line many times by many skippers. The main reason is the skipper is frustrated by the lack of fish coming over the side but the sounder showing good fish. If I get good bites or fish then it shows they are there and its not shit bottom or sand you have been dropped on.Most time I catch my limit  on my bottom species and ended up giving my fish away.Most skippers want to know if the fish are biting or are not interested so they can move on to the next spot.

  Its not as easy to just jump straight on a boat and pick up how to feed line out to compensate for drift and hold bottom to feel bites at the same time It takes time and practice, however  I always give advice if its wanted but a lot of times guys dont want to hear it also.

 $250 for the days fishing I think is reasonable and if you dont ,dont go .I can understand how some may feel pissed off , they should be netting your fish for you and helping out as much as possible I agree with that point.  

 I dont think both crew should be up the front fishing one should be manning the deck and helping out if there is a tangle or something like that,

  As far as getting a rig if your busted off you dont need the rig immediatly as you are already off the lump by the time you have dropped, snagged up and busted off so as long as its ready for when the boat goes round for the next drop I think thats fine .Now if i didnt fish there would have been 3 people who would have went home with nothing so is it better to give % 100 service or %80 service and a fish to take home?, Thats the hard one to answer.

EL SYD's picture

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 when I am  on large boat

Wed, 2013-03-27 15:58

 when I am  on large boat charters I let deckies and captains have a fish but the guys I go with do so to get punters onto fish, they get the hook up and hand the rod round to who ever wants it,  and the fish they catch goes towards the end of the days catch for those that don't catch a fish, but it sounds as if this crew neglected their clients and this is not on

sea-kem's picture

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 Yep it's like hiring a limo

Wed, 2013-03-27 16:03

 Yep it's like hiring a limo driver to take you on a pub crawl and he gets pissed too. Not on. Like Syd said if they are hooking good fish and handing the rod over to the punter then all's good. The deckie is there to assist with bait, tackle and to help land fish. But there are always two sides to a story........

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As George said above, on

Wed, 2013-03-27 16:38

As George said above, on charters one of us would often drop a line, both to see what was actually happening down there and to get a few fish to spread amongst those who had a slow day.

And also due to living in Coral Bay, red meat was hard to get and quite expensive. So best source of protein was a scabby old red emporor or Robbo.

Of course this was also back when a charter was $75 and a skippers wage was $100 a day.

 

Since your story is second or third hand it could quite possibly be any scenario from the crew being useless and selfish, to a personality clash between the passenger telling the story and the crew.

 

I have also read on quite a few reports here about Seasport, where a picture is shown of Whitey with a fish he has jigged up on charter, but noone seemed to complain about that? Perhaps because its first hand?

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 Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...

 

 

The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.

Everyone's just winging it.

 

catchalittle's picture

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Have been on a number of

Wed, 2013-03-27 17:13

Have been on a number of charters in the past where there has been good and bad service I do agree with George in part to the deckie checking to see if they are biting but then should be passing the rod on to a customer,there should be a deckie at the back to land fish/rebait/re rig as some people dont know what they are doing plus from a safety point as well.I have been on a charter where the skipper liked the outfit I was useing and asked to have a go which I didnt mind he caught a fish and offered it straight to me,but in a nutshell you pay good money to go on a charter and should expect good service but at the end of the day that dosnt always gurrantee that you will take home a fish.There are some good charter operators in WA but there are also some shockers that why I fish from my own boat.

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Nathan

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 Yep. I had a similar

Wed, 2013-03-27 17:51

 Yep. I had a similar experience last week.

Referred a mate to a Perth charter with a good reputation. He was desperate to catch a wa sambo. He confirmed with skipper that sambos would be targeted. 

On the day the operator told him they would fish some inshore grounds on the way out wider but keep jigging because they occasionally showed up.

By the time they got out to the wide mark there was 1 drop. Then told up lines, too much drift, too many tangles, time to go home.

Understood that sometimes there are off days but would of much preferred to go elsewhere if the operator really didn't want to chase his preferred target.

(operators mates were jigging from the bow without decent success as well, maybe same boat)

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tangles's picture

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wrong!

Wed, 2013-03-27 18:08

id be pissed! when I worked with Robbie RIP! on the reef walker we would fish as well but I would always look after the customers first and even bait their hooks for them. If we caught fish they were all given to the customers. I can get a fish any day. Was always good to have a few extra fish on the boat just incase a Cpl people wouldn't catch anything! If you don't look after the customers you don't get repeat business pretty simple!!

Geoff78's picture

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I think I've been on with the

Wed, 2013-03-27 18:29

I think I've been on with the same charter operator. My brother and I invited our brother-in-law along. He is not a fisherman,  but having heard our tales of jigging for sambos, thought he'd like to give it a try. On his first drop he got a bit of an over-run when the jig hit the bottom. The skipper left the helm, came "to the front of the boat" where we were fishing and gave the poor guy a massive dressing down: shouting, swearing and insulting him. Anyway,  my b-I-law was too afraid to try another drop. I felt bad because I invited him. It was disgraceful.

In terms of the deckies fishing, I think it should only occur at the invitation of the paying customer. The fact that the deckies more or less helped themselves suggests to me they  may not be getting paid and are there for free fishing and to "help out a bit".

carnarvonite's picture

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Top Marks

Wed, 2013-03-27 19:00

Top marks to you, you've hit the nail right on the head.

The deckies are usually invited out for a days fishing if they do the "decky"thing, like cut up a bit of bait and do the occassional re rrigging after someone gets snapped off or badly tangled.

Most times they are not getting paid and have no qualifications to get you back in if the skipper chucks a wobbly

 

tangles's picture

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name n shame

Wed, 2013-03-27 18:33

name n shame em cos they are the ones that give the good industry a bad name! got a feeling I know who they are! we were asked to take a charter out cos the boat was being used for something else and they crew that came with us from their boat were very unprofessional! and that didn't go down too well on our tub!
as I said, we would throw a line in as well but that was 10 years ago now and it was different back then but all the fish went to the customers and I was payed very well for my work!

cudbfishn's picture

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 Personally i dont care i the

Wed, 2013-03-27 18:51

 Personally i dont care i the deckie/skipper drops a line. Ive been out on many charters from mandurah to kalbarri, probably 30-40 times. As in seasports case with Whitey and crew as soon as someone hooks a fish or needs help they crank their lines in as fast as they can to assist. Also everyone is in awe at Whitey hooking up every 5 seconds and wants to learn his secrets lol.

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Not here to name and shame

Wed, 2013-03-27 19:13

 It was more a question about how you guys feel and what is the norm on charter boats today.

My friends where part of a group that felt a little under serviced by the skipper and crew because they just grabbed rods and fished themselves. 

Having to take fish off themselves and wait until a crew member stopped fishing to get assistance was what they where dissapointed in.

No complaints about the fishing or quality/quantity of fish caught. They just felt that the skipper/crews job is to put them on to fish not be shown that they are better fisherman because they caught the better fish. Who's paying who to fish here.

They never asked if this group minded if they fish too. Maybe that would of been better. Maybe at least one crew should of stayed with the group at all times.

I dunno. I wasnt there. I can asked them more tomorrow when I see them.

 

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tangles's picture

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barri

Wed, 2013-03-27 19:15

when you coming back up to barri NOHA?

NOHA's picture

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Was coming up this year

Wed, 2013-03-27 19:26

 For the Classic. But went to the abrohlos instead.

Its been a few years now. Last time I was ther the river was in full flood. Like the year before that.

I think you kicked arse that year in a tinny at the river mouth on big mullas and snapper

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tangles's picture

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daniel

Wed, 2013-03-27 19:30

nah that was Daniel. we have a funny rivalry going when we go fishing!! abrohlos is the go mate! I stayed well away from it all this year! had tours on!

tangles's picture

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nth island

Wed, 2013-03-27 19:31

should org a trip to north island best fishing ive ever done round that island in the shallows!

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 Usually on whiteys boat the

Wed, 2013-03-27 19:58

 Usually on whiteys boat the skipper will fish and the decky will help out and then they will swap roles, they're always making sure you are fine and always watching if guys get tangles 

the fish he gets goes to the people at the end of the day who might of got nothing 

 

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Date Joined: 24/12/10

Never been out on a charter

Thu, 2013-03-28 04:51

Never been out on a charter but I reckon if the skipper/crew are fishing too then they could end up catching a fish that a customer would've loved to catch.Leave that trophy fish for a paying customer -- unless the customer(s) have said it's okay to join in.Of course living in Victoria it may be a bit more of an issue ie less fish so give the customer a greater chance at that trophy snapper for example.

Just an opinion.

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All about learning

Thu, 2013-03-28 07:01

 Remember, these blokes are fishing most days of the year, if they do decide to drop a line or jig, watch them and learn. You can't put a price on he things you learn from them. If they are catching most of the fish, ask them what they are doing, then in the next drift do the same. 

Being on a few charters in my younger days, I've taken what I've learned from the charter operators to use on my own boat today. Many times I've seen first time fishos bait not even touching the bottom on charters and they wonder why the boat ain't catching or too lazy to rebait and using bits and pieces left from the last drift for the next. Then they blame the boat for being crap. So they are just showing you how it's done in their own way.

but also there is fine line between good service and crap service, paying 250 bucks now adays I would expect more than the good old days paying 50 bucks.

cheers