Bad charter

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by salty wambsgans

I made a trip to Venice this past weekend and went out with Mike Ellis with relentless charters. The only thing he was relentless with was excuses. We went out with not one piece of bait, we had intention to catch tuna but he made fifty excuses why we couldn't go. I've never met a captain that didn't ask you how you wanted your fish cleaned this guy left all of our snapper on the half shell, ribs, belly meat, and some fins. It was the worst experience I've had with fishing by far.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. All the GoM guides I've used have been excellent. Even if a guide is planning to catch bait, most guides will bring some frozen bait for backup.

It sounds like your guide was having a particularly bad day. Sometimes folks forget how much $$$ their fees are to most customers and they forget that a guided trip is something we can only afford once a year or so. If they let their bad day take away from what should be your best fishing experience of the year, then they have robbed you, and there should be some discussion of your displeasure before settling up.

Some people like it, but I've always sort of suspected that "on the half shell" is sometimes promoted to make fish cleaning easier rather than because it is a superior way to prepare fish. The customer is always right regarding how they prefer their fish to be cleaned, and customers on a guided trip that includes fish cleaning should have a choice, and the fish should be reasonably well trimmed. A guide is a professional, and the fish cleaning job should also be professional, that is, more careful and thorough than the average recreational angler. That said, I prefer to clean my own fish, because I have learned that care, cleanliness, and handling are very important to taste, and my family complains when it is not done right.