Fish dive fishing charters, airlie beach = con artists!!!

[the gecko]

I think most customers experiences line up with the questions they ask before they book. What species are we chasing? HOW are we going to target them, what bait, etc......I also took my own rods and tackle box.

I went out with Fish n Dive charters a year ago and was very happy. I paid about $150 for a seat with 4 others on a 6m centre console, and the skipper went right up the back of a creek to catch live bait. He was very happy to reef fish around bommies for jacks, or follow the birds for pelagics. I also met the skipper on the other boat. It seems to me that the skippers had not been employed there that long, and are probably gone by now, due to the low wages. They were not getting enough tours due to rain. I only got just legal cod, but thats fishing and wasnt the skippers fault.

The problem seems to be your high expectations and low research. So you got a lazy skipper. Do you think you have been fair to the charter operator in your desire to do damage to their reputation?

cheers
Andrew

[warti]

Gecko, if the charter operator did their research on this fellow there wouldn't have been this problem. In saying that, i do hope all the information is true. Unfortunately when you spend money for someone to take you fishing I think expectations will always be up there. Definately a tough job when the fish aren't biting, the wind/weather may not be helping and a clash of personalities may also make things difficult. Plenty of good skippers out there that love their jobs though.

[Shark Poker]

I would have thrown an incompetent skipper over the side and not hauled him in until we re-established and updated the objectives.
See if he mentions THAT to his employer.
Just sayin...

[Jonny1]

Trust me guys I did my research before hand(i actually wanted to go with sea fever but hes up in cairns for the month chasing marlin) I didn't just go book any old charter, I also made it very clear what type of fishing I wanted to do and was told it wouldn't be a problem, I no you can't always make the fish bite but you've got to at least make an effort to try and get a bite and this is where it went wrong, no effort what so ever by the skipper!!!!!!!

[the gecko]

Trust me guys I did my research before hand(i actually wanted to go with sea fever but hes up in cairns for the month chasing marlin) I didn't just go book any old charter, I also made it very clear what type of fishing I wanted to do and was told it wouldn't be a problem, I no you can't always make the fish bite but you've got to at least make an effort to try and get a bite and this is where it went wrong, no effort what so ever by the skipper!!!!!!!

No worries Johnny, sorry if I jumped the gun. So if you had chartered the whole boat, that gives you the right to tell him how and where we will be fishing. You need to be fairly firm in your instructions during the day. Sounds like a clash happened, and you decided to back down?

I do sympathise with you, Im just saying my day worked out OK, and they arent all bad skippers.

[ranga7]

Yep i agree with spaniard king, $750 is a budget charter, $750 for a 6 met console sounds about right. My mate runs a successful charter business, his boat is twice the size of the 1 you went on the gear is great and yep its double what u paid and you don't get lunch. Basically u get what u paid for. In saying that if what u say is true theres no excuse for his budget attitude.

cheers range

[Eric Frei]

think that's me done with charters now, better start saving for my own boat!!!!

Jonny1,

You have started two threads previously about buying a boat. This one in 2009 with a $15K budget and this one in 2013 with a $25K budget.

It appears you have not bought a boat yet.

I too once fished via charters but I bought a tinnie first and fished Moreton Bay, never ever looked back. My advice would be that you get anything that floats and goes, then get on the water ASAP. Your first boat will be just that, and you'll want to evolve with boat, gear, methods etc. Moreton bay is great with a tinnie, my tinnie cracked 45km/h and the sounder worked well at all speeds, in no time I knew that place like the back of my hand pulling snapper, cod etc even sleeping out at night. Once you get sick of Moreton Bay or your ambitions get larger then you can move up in boats but it will cost more. 4 or 5 in a small boat fishing, well frankly it sucks and hats off to charter operators who endure such from novice clients unless the boat is huge.

You live close to the water, there's a lot of good fishing ground nearby, for as little as $5K you'd be killing it in a decent tinnie.... just buy 2nd hand.

[Jonny1]

Hi Eric, yes your right about my previous threads, I've not got round to buying a boat yet as back then I was a little bit ambitious with living beyond my means, as for the 2nd boat thread well I've been working away in WA and now my circumstances have changed so I'll be looking to get my boat back end of next year, I started that thread a little early as I've been doing alot of research on boats and I want to make sure I get the right one for what I want to do, as for this thread well I went up there on my honeymoon and wanted to get 1 good day of fishing in, it's not often I'm up there in them waters and I clearly stated to them I wanted to use lures and live bait, there were shit loads of live bait around you could see them, so when the skipper tells you there's none when you've seen them over the last few days and when you ask how the jacks are going and he says quiet, you kind of get a bad taste in your mouth especially when you go out with another guy 2 days later and he can actually be arsed to throw a 12ft net around and bag a heap of bait and 4 jacks were landed in the morning session, that's what I'm getting at, as I've stated in previous comments on this thread I'm just trying to help out other people so they don't get conned like I did, by all means if you want to throw out an old prawn on a hook with a small sinker then use these guys but when you specify what type of fishing you want to do and they say they can do that but they don't even make an effort to try and get the fish your targeting that's why I'm pissed off.

[Eric Frei]

I believe a charter is only as good as the skipper and deckie of the day, it's the dude behind the wheel that delivers not the business name or brand.

Waiting a year would kill me, I'd rather buy in cheap and fish than wait. I ended up selling my tinnie for more than what I paid for it and I learned a lot about both fishing and boating from it. The used boat market is great at the moment, some really nice bargains to be had. You've got hot summer nights to fish, last year Christmas eve was an absolute cracker, I fished the southern end of Peel near the marker and it was on, I mean all night long, fish after fish .... sweetlip, cod, snapper, bream .... all using no sinker just a hook with half a pillie, lordy knows what could have happened using livies!