What Fishing Charter Not to Go On

[Bundymatt]

On August 29th I went on a charter off Southport, Gold Coast named Hooker 1. Weather forecast was dismal to say the least with a strong wind warning & 2 metre plus seas, we were informed from the charter that the forecast had been wrong all week, that was our first stuff up.

After getting some livies, we headed to the 50’s, half way there I think we all worked out that the forecast was ringing extremely true. Due to the fast running current we were told that only half the boat could fish at any one time, we were then somewhat surprised to be knocked out of the way by 1 of the 2 deckies and the captain on their way to the live bait tank. This was stuff up number 2.

There were 15 men on board, 3 of them crew, with another 3 blokes “under the weather” morning tea consisted of:
2 kabana sticks, 1 box of Jatz & 1 tub on Cream Cheese
Lunch didn’t get much better, lucky we had the unseaworthy ones laid out so we didn’t run out of food.
That was stuff up number 3.

The decision was made to head back to the 36’s, but ended up at the 24’s cause we had gone so far south in the morning that the marks were too far away for the time we had remaining. I had one drop, but we all felt so sorry for the sick guys that we headed back to the marina.

I have been on plenty of charters, from all my experience that was by far the most unprofessional charter ever. A few of my mates that were on the charter and myself sent an email to them about our experience and got a half baked apology. So, I figure the best way to make myself feel better is to hit them in the hip pocket and let people know how crap their charters are so, I highly disapprove of “Hooker 1” charter boats on the Gold Coast!

Hopefully, nobody will have to deal with the same stuff up.

Bundymatt

[Chamelion]

Cheers mate, it's always good to know who the crappy ones are!

[charlie09]

Sorry to hear u had a crap time Bundymatt but thanx for the info mate

[bondy99]

Mate, I know SeaProbe is usually good, they will try their best and if nothing much in one spot then they will go somewhere else...They go either North or South of the Seaway based upon the conditions forecast for the afternoon..this is done for various reasons, to have a comfortable trip back and also less fuel spent in heading into heavy seas.

Also they will 9 times out of 10 go to a spot that is out the furthest and work their way back.

However they tend to pool the fish caught and is shared between the paying customers...there may be times when no or little fish is caught and it does happen on occassion, there is never a guarantee that fish will be caught on any charter trip, I've been on quite a few.

If you catch the biggest fish then obviously you keep it but the rest is pooled. Even the buggers that get sick or been on the piss and cant handle it end up getting a feed if all goes well.

That's what I've experienced on most of my charter trips, its best to ask questions in advance than to find out the hard way.

Peter

[Salty_Dog]

Yep, that’s a pretty poor day out Bundymatt.
Some people shine away from negative posts like yours, but I praise you for mentioning it. Just as you would mention a Charter if they were exceptionally good. Everyone realisess these days that bad news travels.... Sure it seems they have mis-read the weather... Weather that everyone else could see?
And I can see the problem, Deckies booked in the night before, people turning up etc etc… Most charters at least let you know the afternoon before you go the next day though.
I just had a similar experience with a different weather dependent sport that cost me about $2000... But that was my own fault.
The Charter Operator could have at least offered you guys a free trip next time or 50% off your next trip…. I have heard of other operators offering this kind of deal when it was a poor day.
Still… by the sounds even if the weather was good, your lunch was never going to be, nor the polite way you were ask to move out of the way.
One drop is just embarrassing.

[bluefin59]

What bondy99 is prety much on the money ,i go with gav on SEAPROBE at least once a month and they always get on the fish sometimes they work a good area early to get some fish in the box then go and explore other territory for other species . And yes tey usually make sure everyone get to take fish home but if you want your fish its not a problem they are a great bunch of guys and know what to target at particular times of the year they also encourage you to take your own gear if you want not that there gear isnt up to it but some of us like to take our own gear . They are also not against trying new ideas and new methods Pplastics ,jigs ,lures give them a call they are great value as far as a day out goes and have a great rep over a long period of time call SEAPROBE CHARTERS ON 0400312330 they also work to the same bag and size limits as the rest of us ..matt P.S check out there web site just google seaprobe charters .........

[uglyfish]

matt jhonson from fish the deep is very profesional and does a great job

[Bundymatt]

Mate, I know SeaProbe is usually good, they will try their best and if nothing much in one spot then they will go somewhere else...They go either North or South of the Seaway based upon the conditions forecast for the afternoon..this is done for various reasons, to have a comfortable trip back and also less fuel spent in heading into heavy seas.

Also they will 9 times out of 10 go to a spot that is out the furthest and work their way back.

However they tend to pool the fish caught and is shared between the paying customers...there may be times when no or little fish is caught and it does happen on occassion, there is never a guarantee that fish will be caught on any charter trip, I've been on quite a few.

If you catch the biggest fish then obviously you keep it but the rest is pooled. Even the buggers that get sick or been on the piss and cant handle it end up getting a feed if all goes well.

That's what I've experienced on most of my charter trips, its best to ask questions in advance than to find out the hard way.

Peter

All the charters I ahve been on operate the same way Peter.
I did not have any dramas with the amount of fish caught.

What questions do you ask to find out if the food is going to be crap and if the skipper and 1 of the deckies are going to fish etc.

Bundymatt

[ThePinkPanther]

Yep, Fish the Deep off Southport is hard to beat!

Matt will spend every drop of fuel chasing 'em to get you a feed!

[Chamelion]

Yeah, that was the case when I went out with them back in 2005 and is the reason I've chosen them for the charter trip I'm organising with other ausfish members... I've requested that Matt skippers the boat we'll be on.. Fingers crossed. That said, I'm sure the person he's hired to run the other boat is good too, otherwise Matt wouldn't have employed him, right?

Matt.

[PinHead]

Mate, I know SeaProbe is usually good, they will try their best and if nothing much in one spot then they will go somewhere else...They go either North or South of the Seaway based upon the conditions forecast for the afternoon..this is done for various reasons, to have a comfortable trip back and also less fuel spent in heading into heavy seas.

Also they will 9 times out of 10 go to a spot that is out the furthest and work their way back.

However they tend to pool the fish caught and is shared between the paying customers...there may be times when no or little fish is caught and it does happen on occassion, there is never a guarantee that fish will be caught on any charter trip, I've been on quite a few.

If you catch the biggest fish then obviously you keep it but the rest is pooled. Even the buggers that get sick or been on the piss and cant handle it end up getting a feed if all goes well.

That's what I've experienced on most of my charter trips, its best to ask questions in advance than to find out the hard way.

Peter

that is the only fair way to operate..saves the arguments over who got what or do you write your name on the fish?

[bondy99]

G'day Pinhead,

Read your post, it seems fair enough to me. I've been on a few charters with SeaProbe and there are occassions when fish won't cooperate.

Also been up at Hervey Bay in the past..different again. they use coloured twist tags and at other times they would nominate what part of the fish would be cut so you can identify your own catch...e.g righ or left pectrol, top tail, bottom tail etc etc.

You have to keep telling the deckie what cut to make otherwise it could be someone elses. This only operated on charters that have a motto "You keep what you catch".

Peter

[RAT-KING]

Mate thanks for the info i have bn on a few bad charters up nth so i feel ur pain, but atleast yhey've had a great boat and decent feed thats an absolute joke wat u have reported they have a duty of care to make sure everyone is safe, ignoring a weather report to score some extra cash jst isnt right, it definately isnt a charter that i will b going on!
Thanks Simon

[legsy11]

only been on one and thats the keely rose off rainbow.
great price
great skipper
great fish caught
great staff
great boat
excellent lunch and drinks
we went out in really shite conditions both times and never felt unassured one little bit.
although not many fish caught second time i still will be going back for sure.
he ha d a catch what you keep system and i wouldn't go if it were different.not because i'm selfish but because i wouldn't except a fish that another battler caught.we had our own pec fin that was cut for each fisher and i cant see any problems with this.
any way i guess thats why he is always busy?
by the way the skip and deckie both fished and gave everything they caught[ed caught all the biggest fish]to the guys who were sick or didnt do to well on the day including throwing us a 7kg snap that was in bush in beach earlier in the year.ed also taught everyone a thing or two on offshore plastic fishing.

[bondy99]

Nio worries legsy11

They are all good and most skippers and deckies would look after the customer by catching a few also. You can have the best system employed irrespective of what system is developed, (shared catch, keep your catch, etc, etc)...You can have fish on the sounder but if they are not hungry or not interested in whatever is thrown to entice them.....then that's the way it goes, that's fishing in a nutshell I reckon.

Peter