I just found out about this fiasco and bash on me from a armchair captain. But if anyone wants the other side of the story then here it is.
I greeted the group the morning before the trip after talking to them over the phone several times about the weather and boat repairs at the time. That's my job so no big deal. Some of the conversations were about the weather and out options for the trip. I told them with weather coming in and that running offshore would not be in the cards. But if I could find some herring we could have a shot in close for tuna. The herring have been on the west side with a few on the east side. I ran east due to weather. One charter ran to the west looking for them and turned back because it as to rough. and he had to run back to where I was on the east side. One inaccuracy is I had no frozen bait onboard. I did 8 rigged ballyhoo from Baitmasters oh which I was not going to cut up for snapper unless I absolutely had to. They were reserved in case we found a line or some dolphin. Even though I didn't think we were going offshore I had the tools to do so. But I did not have any frozen poagy as mentioned. As I have been cast netting my live poagy very easily most mornings. So that was the way we started off. I did throw the net quite a bit not sure if it was three hours but I did throw a 12' way more than my back wanted to. The bait was tough but we had what we needed for the day. The 12 mile rigs had every charter in Venice at them. Why you ask because of the weather. I don't like crowds so I went looking elsewhere. Only to find boats everywhere. On the way to another set of rigs I did find some herring and caught a couple before they disappeared. But by now the weather is settling in on us. And we were short on time to try and make it tuna fishing. So I switched gears to red snapper and mangrove fish. At first the snapper were small. But after a few moves and a storm cell sitting over where I wanted to go. We went back to the original spot and pretty quickly caught a limit of snapper from 10-18lbs. Which was the best box of snapper I saw that day. Actualy had another captain say something about the fish. Now I didn't have a snapper rod for everyone and my excuse is I cant carry that many rods with tuna and snapper rods. They wanted to do it all. So I tried to accommodate them. I carried five snapper rods and my tuna rods. The snapper drill tis to hold upcurrent and drop down to the depth the snapper are holding at. This is best done in heavy current with only two anglers dropping. Less chance of line in the wheels. I could sense they wanted to just tie up and everyone have a rod in there hand so I did just that. After we got our red snapper I switched gears and went mangrove fishing. Now with the missed fish our bait supply was getting smaller. But we still had enough if we made them count. After a couple of jack cravelle I got it figured out and we started catching our mangroves easily. We did have some missed opportunities but that is fishing. In hindsight I should of just went snapper fishing and not trying for most of the morning looking for tuna bait. But I was trying to accommodate their wishes. We ended the day with our red snapper and a handful of pretty good mangroves.
Now for the fish cleaning thing. I explained the way I was going to clean them and why, half of the group was good with it. And I assume the OP was the guy that was not. The cleaning tables down in Venice are not the best place to fine tune your fish. I wont let any fish I eat touch the table to much bacteria. Its easier to portion the fish up and trim out the red in the and take them off the skin where you have good clean conditions. So they borrowed some knives and proceed to butcher the hell out of the fillets I had taken off the fish. At that point I figured if they didn't care about there fish I didn't so I took my knife and took the skin off of them for them. And this is after I had already been paid and on top it off with no tip. So I don't see where the complaint is coming from. Nothing was said at the dock but the keyboard must make it easy for people to hide and voice there opinions. I did thank it was funny that they had complaints about the guy they chartered last year. I didn't get the story when they asked me if I knew him and I told him he was a friend. What kind of bashing was he gonna get. But a side note he did catch the only yellow caught that day while mangrove fishing. Thank you for reading my side.
Capt. Mike

Welcome to Salty Cajun Capt. Mike. Would be great to get some reports and pics from you in the future

And there it is. Thanks for the other side capt

Sounds like your Sports aren't happy with out a trip of a lifetime.......But I'm sure you encounter that a lot Capt. Also sounds like you worked hard to satisfy their needs. Sometimes it just don't work out......

Stick around man, lets see some reports and fish!!!

Top shelf Mike!

There u have it

well there we go.. Sounds like you did your job. Some ppl must not understand that the fish aren't always biting and the weather isn't always cooperating.

Thanks for the welcome to this site. I will start to put my post on here. It looks like a good site.
Capt. Mike

Thats great, thanks Capt!!

Always like seeing them blue water reports and pics. How has the mangrove bite been down that way?

This place doesn't take to bashing to kindly. Jokeing around is okay but not many here jump to conclusions without all the facts in hand.


Welcome aboard!

Weather was brutal in Venice on Saturday & Sunday. 5-7s and 20 to 30 mph winds with the front that came through. No one is going to go tuna fishing in those conditions.

Welcome to the site Capt Mike...glad to hear your side of the story.

3:30ish

Guess this whole train wreck did not go as you planned. The fishing in Venice lately has been hard, it sounds like Mike did all he could and then some. Throwing a cast new for hours is a lot of work and then having to dodge storms is another issue. Before attempting to bash anyone you might want to think a little more about the cards that were dealt.

3:30 and other boats were back too? Sounds like a rough day all around

Just sounds like a tough day fishing. It happens and it is a kick in D/(& when you have to pay big $$$ but its just a fact of life.


"Its Just a Ride "

I have been on charters before where we didn't catch a single fish. Not even a bite, but I wouldn't get on a public forum and bash them. It sucked, but it's called fishing and there are many factors that play into it. I can guarantee you a charter captain wouldn't let a bad day get in the way of his work. Much like my line of work, word of mouth is where 95% of my business comes from. Take it up face to face or phone to phone. Forum flaming is not kewl! Over.....

The only charter I complained about on here was one in Pensacola where we were left waiting in the dock. Captain never showed!
Glad to hear the other side of the story. Ready to see some reports!

Thanks for your side of the story!!
Throwing a 12ft cast net for 3- hours?? I wouldn't call him Capt. Mike, Capt. America or Superman would be more appropriate!!!

Send us some reports Capt!!! With pics!!
We don't see enough blue water reports here!!!

I was in Venice in the day of question , in fact I was fishing the 12 mile rigs. Like he said it was a cluster out there I had boat literally tie up 1 rod length away from us . We ended up putting together a nice box of fish but it wasn't even fun and the weather sucked. Sounds like the customer was warned about the weather n still said screw it . I wouldn't even waste any more time defending yourself to this knucklehead. Kings were thick thick there anyways

I was back at cypress cove at noon ... It was nasty! If u wernt in eastbay or the east side of the river i promise it was non fishable .. West wind 15-25

workin for the public is hell!!!