8/8 - Chartered Fishing Trip

[nctrader03]

Did a fishing charter with Angry Fish Charters out of Destin, Fl. Got to Legendary Marina at 5:45am and on the boat at 6:00am. My dad and two brothers set out with Capt. Gordie Hinds for some offshore fishing for Wahoo, Tuna, White Marlin etc.

$1200.00 later and 9 hours on the water we had:

A BIG SKUNK

We had a miserable time even though we had been told that the offshore fishing had been, "ridiculously good!"

Maybe it was just the charter co.????

-Disappointed NCTrader03

[emanuel]

Wow, that really, really sucks. Just goes to show that having a boat isn't all that it's cracked up to be sometimes. The wahoo and white marlin are out there, tuna are usually overnight trips out of Venice, LA.

[nine ought]

THAT REALLY SUCKS. Do they not guarantee to put you on the fish or what? Just curios cause thats alot of money," what happens after a trip like that do you atleast see half of your funds back?" I mean isn't that why your paying him,to put you on the fish!!! :confused: :mad:

[VICIII]

that sucks...
Ask about some of your funds back or some type of discount or future discount.
I guess it happens to everyone.

[nctrader03]

We got absolutely nothing back and were not even offered such when we asked.

All the captain said, "Sorry I couldn't do better." Needless to say we were not/are not pleased to say the least.

A lot of talk and a sightseeing tour is all it turned out to be.

I would recommend another charter besides this one.

NCTrader03

[lipyanker]

Did a fishing charter with Angry Fish Charters out of Destin, fl

they should be called "angry fisherman charter":mad: if they dont even give a partial refund or a discount on a future charter

[yogai]

I've had the same experience. The big-game fishing like that is often hit or miss. Those ESPN pansy-boys that seem to get hookup after hookup are full of 5H|T.
A lot of times you only get a good $800 sunburn

[nine ought]

We got absolutely nothing back and were not even offered such when we asked.

All the captain said, "Sorry I couldn't do better." Needless to say we were not/are not pleased to say the least.

A lot of talk and a sightseeing tour is all it turned out to be.

I would recommend another charter besides this one.

NCTrader03

I mean damn if you wanted a freakin sight seeing tour it shouldn't of been half that much.. I still think ya'll guys should of gotten atleast a rain check on that!!!!!:mad: :mad:

[bmcox86]

working on charter boats since i was in high school i know its hard to find fish somedays but always give someone a future discount trip, also after the first couple hours they should have taken to a back up plan, ive always had a back up plan for clients

[pbmang]

I think if they told you that you could get tuna in a 9 hour trip, they were crazy.

I did two charters last Friday and did ok on both. We went bottom fishing in the AM and got a lot of red snapper and assorted other bottom fish. Then, that evening, we went shark fishing and got an 8 foot nurse shark. Pretty amazing creature if you ask me.

[nctrader03]

If he had worked hard to try to put us on fish I don't think we would have been as disappointed as we had been.

$1200.00 down the drain is a smack in the face. What makes it even worse is that my mom and dad paid 1/2 as a gift for me and my brothers. Now they don't have a lot of money and for them to do something like this was major. I was sick:--| to say the least when we didn't catch any fish.

Not only that but to walk off the boat at the marina and to have 15 - 20 people standing there cleaning fish or waiting to clean fish that made it even harder for us. Did our Capt. care? Heck no he headed straight to the store at the marina and got him a six pack.

My dad said that he would probably never do a deep sea trip again.

NCTrader03

[John81]

If he had worked hard to try to put us on fish I don't think we would have been as disappointed as we had been.

$1200.00 down the drain is a smack in the face. What makes it even worse is that my mom and dad paid 1/2 as a gift for me and my brothers. Now they don't have a lot of money and for them to do something like this was major. I was sick:--| to say the least when we didn't catch any fish.

Not only that but to walk off the boat at the marina and to have 15 - 20 people standing there cleaning fish or waiting to clean fish that made it even harder for us. Did our Capt. care? Heck no he headed straight to the store at the marina and got him a six pack.

My dad said that he would probably never do a deep sea trip again.

NCTrader03


that sucks sorry you didnt have a good time....

[Fisheadgib]

Sorry to hear about your trip. You could have done a little research and asked for some recommendations before you picked a boat. That boat and crew are fairly new to the area and have very little experience around here. Destin has the biggest charter fleet in the state and that boat is towards the bottom of the barrel. The fishing has been pretty good and theres quite a few boats that could have put you on fish, unless you were adament about tuna, wahoo, or sails. King mackeral are a no brainer right now as are dolphin offshore. Snapper and grouper are pretty easy to come by also. You could have spent 75.00 a head on Swoop (a party boat) for an eight hour and probably caught a few snapper, grouper, and amberjack.

[nctrader03]

Sorry to hear about your trip. You could have done a little research and asked for some recommendations before you picked a boat. That boat and crew are fairly new to the area and have very little experience around here. Destin has the biggest charter fleet in the state and that boat is towards the bottom of the barrel. The fishing has been pretty good and theres quite a few boats that could have put you on fish, unless you were adament about tuna, wahoo, or sails. King mackeral are a no brainer right now as are dolphin offshore. Snapper and grouper are pretty easy to come by also. You could have spent 75.00 a head on Swoop (a party boat) for an eight hour and probably caught a few snapper, grouper, and amberjack.


Thanks for the info. but according to our captain/owner they are the "premier" fishing charter company in all of Destin. That they have the largest fleet blah, blah, blah. I think it was more of a trip to tweek his ego than to catch fish.

NCTrader03

[Team Buddhahead]

Should have been here yesterday, tomorrow is going to be great.......

[jmacgray]

dude, sorry you had a bad trip, but having just returned from the Florida panhandle and fished offshore for three days straight on a 61' Viking, (at a LOT more money than you have mentioned), I can tell you that our sum total was one white marlin, one mahi and about 5 giant bonita. Almost 40 hours of trolling with not the grandest of results. I don't blame the Captain, the crew, the boat or even myself. They felt bad enough. That's fishing.

I have been skunked in Hawaii, Costa Rica, Mexico and a couple of places in the Caribbean as well. I have never, not once, been given a discount nor offered a refund. Nor would I expect one. Anyone who has fished offshore knows the gamble that it can be; irrespective of how on fire it was yesterday, last week or an hour ago.

As the poker players say: 'if you can't afford to lose, you can't afford to play".

Btw, when I have had a bad day at the office, it's not unusual for me to bury my face in a beer or other adult beverage either. I certainly wouldn't blame that guy.

[emanuel]

I think that the major issue is that he paid alot, for nothing. A good charter captain would have at least offered to make it up somehow.

[nctrader03]

dude, sorry you had a bad trip, but having just returned from the Florida panhandle and fished offshore for three days straight on a 61' Viking, (at a LOT more money than you have mentioned), I can tell you that our sum total was one white marlin, one mahi and about 5 giant bonita. Almost 40 hours of trolling with not the grandest of results. I don't blame the Captain, the crew, the boat or even myself. They felt bad enough. That's fishing.

I have been skunked in Hawaii, Costa Rica, Mexico and a couple of places in the Caribbean as well. I have never, not once, been given a discount nor offered a refund. Nor would I expect one. Anyone who has fished offshore knows the gamble that it can be; irrespective of how on fire it was yesterday, last week or an hour ago.

As the poker players say: 'if you can't afford to lose, you can't afford to play".

Btw, when I have had a bad day at the office, it's not unusual for me to bury my face in a beer or other adult beverage either. I certainly wouldn't blame that guy.


Well the truth is I would only give you 9 cents for what you said because it's not worth a dime!

I'm a business man and I know that if I don't make customers happy BY ANY MEANS that can mean trouble down the pike, i.e. dissatisfied customers who tell friends, who tell friends.

Plus your smug response about Hawaii, Costa Rica etc. because you visit those places is that supposed to lend any credibility to what you have to say.

Real business men and women know how to treat customers. Angry Fish Charters failed miserably.

NCTrader03

[R3d]

Sorry to hear you had a bad trip. I guess fishing bussiness just like any other bussiness, some manage by good people and some manage by bad one. Angry Fish Charters can't afford to have clients go home empty hand, the words mouth like wild fires.
After reading the report from nctrader03, how many of you guys here willing to takes a change spent over thoudsand $ to book Angry Fish Charters ?
I won't

[jhmorgan]

Captains and Mates want the customers to catch fish as much as the customers do...A fishing trip is a lot more fun for EVERYONE involved when fish are caught...TRUST ME....They obviously know where fish are most of the time, but even if you are right on top of them, they can not guarantee that a hook up will happen...Just because you are on a boat does not mean fish will be caught like wildfire...people always assume that as soon as you get on a boat, fishing becomes easy...this is not true, and we all know that skunks do happen to even the best fisherman/captains/mates/hot girls/etc....Now he definately should have been nicer about it and apologetic to you (the customers) but I would not have expected him to refund any money....it is a business for him and that would open up a nasty oppurtunity..if people heard that they were in the business of refunding people after allday fishing trips imagine how that could be abused...what if his next customer only caught 4 tuna when they had 5 people fishing?...would he have to refund them because not EVERYONE caught a fish...All I am saying is step back from the situation and imagine that it was not your personal money involved, would you feel the same way?

[Fisheadgib]

I've lived here and fished out of Destin for over 30 years and I understand NCTraders frustration. Unless he specified billfish (which I'm sure the 60 Viking was hunting for), the capt of that boat should have been able to put him on something. Granted, no one can guarantee fish, but he was here during a period of good weather and good fishing. Most of the more skilled and reputable captains will at least stop on some of the bigger reefs and let you stretch your line on smaller amberjack and snappers to keep the trip from being a skunk. That boat isn't in any of the phone books or even a member of the charter boat association. Dang near every charter boat in Destin enters the October Fishing Rodeo, but I didn't notice that one entered. I did see a beat up white S-10 pick up truck with a cheesy magnetic sign that read "angry fish charters" in Destin the other day. I've never seen the boat but I hope it's in better condition than the captains truck.

[gordiehinds]

Ok now that the good Reverend Pastor Everett Brewer, (ncstrader), and others have weighed in, I am hoping that we can get the facts straight here.

Obviously, I remember this trip and I agree with him that it wasn't good. It was awful. We had several different emails back and forth determining what sort of fishing we might do and it was determined by the client, subsequent to discussing the possibilities of bottom fishing and king mackerel fishing, that we would make an attempt at the pelagics trolling offshore.

The bite had been, up to that point, (and subsequent to), very consistent and we made a plan to start at the Nipple and troll in a SSW heading toward the spur. We had a couple of knockdowns and some apparent wahoo bite-offs, but after a couple hours we made a move back to the SE along the 50 fathom mark. Didn't find a lot of bait and we switched lures, depths, speed and location several times. Ultimately finding nothing other than a couple of bonita and some undersized mahi. It sucked. We moved south to the Squiggles and along the 100-fathom curves looking for weeds, bait, blue-er water, hit our offshore FADs, and even hit the wrecks on the way back toward the docks, etc.

Ultimately I determined that it just wasn't going to happen and I polled the cast so that I didn't waste any more of their time and money. This was just before 3PM where the clock stopped. We arrived back at the dock at 4:50 (according to the harbor master's records) where I was asked for a total. I didn't charge them a dock-to-dock rate, which is customary, and apologized for the day. They did not ask for a discount, nor was there any discussion about the rate. In fact, I don't recall them uttering a single word. I didn't think it was necessary to explain that a discount had been given at this point. Apparently I was mistaken. However I had, in fact, given them a 2-hour discount in an effort at an 11th-hour bite and to somehow make it up to them.

We make a point of trying to work toward fishing extra time should the fishing be less than satisfactory. And always take care of our repeat customers especially after they have had a poor trip previously. Pastor Brewer would have known this had he asked.

No one felt worse than I did. Thankfully it is an all too rare event and while we all spend more than 200+ days each on the water/year, it does happen. This was one of those days. I did have a back-up plan, plus three or four (and more)others........we ended up utilizing up to Plan 8.........or 9 even. I used the radio, sat phone and contacted several boats who were in the vicinity and the reports were no better with those guys. Like us, many had been fishing these same areas in the previous days, only to shake their heads as to the lack of success on that day.

The Pastor is also correct about the fish-cleaning station being occupied as it was one of our guides who had just returned from a 12-hour bottom fishing excursion. 5 anglers and two captains, but not quite 15-20. Yes, they had some fish, but comparing bottom fishing to offshore trolling is hardly a fair, nor accurate effort. The other captains were also complaining of a slow bottom bite. It was a very unfortunate punctuation to our day. But that too happens and I have been on both sides of that equation. I suspect every other angler has as well.

To be fair, I don't doubt that this gentleman sees this episode as genuinely as he has described. It is simply distressing to find that he has chosen to vent his previously unexpressed feelings here instead of directly with me. Obviously, he had the means to contact me directly, but unfortunately elected to present these events via the message boards. Added to this the obvious personal and quite visceral attacks of lack of effort and remarks as to beer-drinking, (btw I don't drink, but thanks for asking. Actually the 6-pack purchase was for our bait guy who brings our bait to the dock for the fleet), and the "tweaking of ego"........I am not even certain I understand what that means.......but I can assure you that being a charter captain could hardly be considered the best means for nacissistic forays.

Brought to our attention through outside venues, we offer only our side of the story.

That day I did the best that I could do for my clients. It doesn't always work. It's that simple. Like big game hunting, big game fishing has the same hit-and-miss properties. In retrospect, would I have changed the float plan? Probably not. The day previous, we boated 3 good wahoo, two sails and several decent mahi. This happened in the same area and under largely the same climactic conditions as the trip in question. Having now had the opportunity to view some of the Reverend Brewer's posts, I would have likely persuaded our trip to be more of a bent-rod venture as opposed to a bluewater trip. I will accept that lack of perception and apologize for the misconception. Communications, like most things, are often much clearer in the rear-view.

It has been suggested in follow up commentary that we lack the basic skills and rudimentary business accumen common to all but the phone company. Given that this particular party was out of NC and had allowed that they didn't frequent this area, it seemed all but pointless to offer them a return trip. And, given the fact that we had put in some substantial miles and fuel behind us I gave them what I could allow on that particular day. A discount of approximately $300 and my apologies. Subjective, I grant you; but a return discount seemed, at that time, an insincere gesture at best.

Having said that, we have always made it a standard procedure to grant substantial time elements on future trips. That offer stands. Such as it is. Our return customers have always known this as a standard with us.

Subsequent follow-ups here have been largely missives directed with little or no basis in fact. I am deeply hopeful that they aren't based on abject rants, but it is difficult to view these otherwise.

Nonetheless and for the record, I do not own, nor do any of our charter captains own an S-10, delapadated or otherwise. And I can assure you, that none of us has signage of any kind; cheesey or not. I would love to know where or whom this post-er viewed, but I can assure you, it wasn't us. I don't know that is makes any difference what vehicles we drive on the highways, but our boats are all 2005 or newer, Contenders, Regulators and Grady Whites ranging from 32' to 35'. They too, bear no signage. Some of our boats enter the Destin Rodeo, and several of our captains have won the divisions in the past. No we are not a member of the Destin charter fleet listings. We are listed in the Destin directories, multiple times.

Realizing that having only been in business for 10 years and with captains that all have 20-30 years experience, that this places us squarely in the ranks of 'newbies' and 'bottom of the barrel'. In spite of this and the good Reverend's missives, we remain.

[jmacgray]

Well the truth is I would only give you 9 cents for what you said because it's not worth a dime!

I'm a business man and I know that if I don't make customers happy BY ANY MEANS that can mean trouble down the pike, i.e. dissatisfied customers who tell friends, who tell friends.

Plus your smug response about Hawaii, Costa Rica etc. because you visit those places is that supposed to lend any credibility to what you have to say.

Real business men and women know how to treat customers. Angry Fish Charters failed miserably.

Wow. I was trying to give you some perspective is all. Nothing smug about it.

Must be nice being a 'fisher's of men' as opposed to just fishing. You never really know when you get skunked. Eh, Reverend?

[jhmorgan]

i respect you for comin on here and saying all that....of course i was already "on your side" so not sure how much it means....however, i think you spoke eloquently and with conviction

[Fisheadgib]

After reading how inteligibly written capt. Hinds' reply was, I felt that I may had misjudged the situation and looked for him on the internet. Initially, I had asked around the harbor and none of the captains and mates I spoke with knew of him. Now that I see that he runs a trailerable boat outside of the traditional charter boat circles, I understand why. I had assumed that he was a one man operation. I was wrong there also. I learned that there are in fact five captains in Angry Fish Charter Co. and I am familiar with two of the three that operate in this area. Along with capt. Hinds, Bubba Harris and Jason Woodham run charters in this area and captains Harris and Woodham have stellar reputations around here. I have nothing but respect for either of them. If they entered into a partnership with capt Hinds, I suspect his abilities may be worthy of respect also. Captain Hinds did move to this area fairly recently and the company is fairly new to this area and pretty well unknown, but capt hinds brings a very impressive resume. I won't recite his list but I will say he is very accomplished.. He also appears to be a talented artist, and a pretty good writer.
Judging by the routes listed in his reply, I suspect that he was trophy fishing for his fares rather than meat fishing. Now that he told his side of the story, I feel I owe an apology to capt Hinds and Angry Fish Charter Co for any dispersion I have cast on their abilities and reputations.
I still understand NCTraders frustration about the "skunk", but now I know the whole story. When chartering a trip, one occasionally has to choose between trophies or meat.
And Gordie, the tattered truck had a scowling fish skeleton and said team angry fish. Not the wahoo picture that I see you have.

[nctrader03]

It's funny you know how everyone I've talked to mentions how lowsy Angry Fish Charters are and what a reputation they have for "ego" boosting their "ridiculously good" trips. AND WE SHOULD HAVE CAUGHT FISH OVER THE TARPS THAT HE SPOKE SO HIGHLY OF.

Should have done more research before going with this one. WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN.

And by the way I am a Pastor, a loving father and husband and a devout Christian. THIS DOES MEAN THAT ANYONE CAN WALK OVER TOP OF ME.

Enough said.

[HuskyMD]

I'm a business man and I know that if I don't make customers happy BY ANY MEANS that can mean trouble down the pike, i.e. dissatisfied customers who tell friends, who tell friends.
NCTrader03

Here's to hoping you weren't referring to being a pastor in the quote above...:cool:

[nctrader03]

Of course NOT.

I am a bi-vocational Pastor. I own my own business.

The point of my originally posting was the fact that we were extremely disappointed in our trip. Captain Hinds had boosted the fishing up really high and in his words, "the fishing is ridiculously good." I've found that if you are going to make statements about business you better be ready to stand behind those statements, he wasn't. Further, if he couldn't provide for his customers SOME HOW then it should have been his loss not ours.

Additionally, as for "hook-ups" there was only one. The bonita? Don't recall ever seeing any bonita or even any mention of any. Further, we do recall the good captain speaking to other boats that were out near the nipple and best I recall they were having some pretty good luck; i.e. white marlin etc. From what we saw there was plenty of bait in the water including, but not limited to, flying fish which according to the good captain is a favorite of the sails.

I wonder if the good Captain Hinds ever thought that maybe possibly why we didn't say anything was because we were totally utterly disgusted, I was; to the point that I was sick at my stomach.

True, what would the precedence be if he started giving refunds for every trip that didn't turn out as expected. He would go under. BUT, the point is don't build something up to the point where you will say anything to make some money.

Venting yes. A warning to others YES. Don't always take people at their word, especially when they are trying to make a buck.

I know I've learned some valuable lessons from this experience.

And anyone need not think that I am the only person that has ever been disgruntled with this charter company. I should have asked the locals before making any decisions and also I will make it a point in the future to check with the Better Business Bureau first.

[HuskyMD]

That's good to know you aren't selling salvation. :eek:

[jhmorgan]

I just read this thread again, and it still makes me laugh at nctrader's perspective. Unreal, "I paid so therefore I demand to catch fish!" is basically how it sounds. I wish it wasthat easy. Every time I pay for gas or bait or tackle, I would be guaranteed huge fish!!

[New Kent Newbie]

A discount on a charter that makes me laugh i have several buddies who are mates and or captains and they never give a discount on getting skunked its all part of the game offshore fishing can be a boring boat ride but when you see a billfish that makes the whole trip worth it even if you dont hook up being out there is part of the experience and remember
A BAD DAY OF FISHING IS BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY OF WORK

[Shooter]

This is why I always say "There is 3 sides to every story, the 2 parties and somewhere in the middle is the truth"

If anyone ever tells you they always catch fish RUN the other way.

I just put out $30.00 in gas and $20.00 in eels just to watch a screen full of Stripers all day without catchn any :mad: but thats why it's called FISHING and not CATCHING

[auburntigerfish]

As an employee of one of the Destin marinas I get a front row view of all the charter boats that come in and out on various charters. Capt. Hinds is not only one of the most professional, courteous and approachable people around the docks, he is consistently one of the most productive fisherman we see. I am not surprised that there may have been an unproductive day, but I am surprised that one of his clients was given such a vehicle, apparently supported by the moderator no less, without so much as an email (by the initiator's own admission) or a phone call or even a word. The fact that so many other responders chose to cleave themselves to such ignorant rhetoric without so much as a cursory investigation of both sides, says little of their intellect and speaks volumes for their obvious lack of the most basic knowledge of fishing.

It seems as if Gordie defended himself well enough that he certainly doesn't need me to do so for him. However this comment string alone should be a caution to those who would believe anything of what is written here and certainly devalues the knowledge that can be imparted to such a forum.

Kudos however to those who publicly admonished and ultimately apologized. Those people are to be commended. The incredible audacity of someone who would attack a man's credibility, not to mention his business, from a source whose knowledge was, at best, not well-founded is appalling. It certainly seems as if his soul desire was to personally attack someone from the abject anonymity of his grandmother's basement. I am surprised that the moderator of this forum did nothing to stem the tide of such an unabashed and one-sided event. Perhaps that should say everything that needs to be said, however one would hope that such an entity would find it within his position to at least get the other person's side of the story. (to the moderator: if you had, or have done so, I apologize, but there is nothing posted here to confirm that).

As for the bi-vocational reverend-day trader......wasn't it the money changers that were chased by Jesus from the Temple?

Good luck with that.

[ECL]

I won a thousand dollars on a quarter machine the first time I went to Harrah’s in New Orleans. Since then I’ve probable lost five thousand trying to do it again.....

[GR8TNGLR]

Samuel Clemens was once quoted: "nothing should make you run faster, or more immediately in the opposite direction than a person who is compelled to inform you that he is a Christian. Unless he is a banker, in which case you should hit him squarely in the jaw before running."

[Metallica20687]

I won a thousand dollars on a quarter machine the first time I went to Harrah’s in New Orleans. Since then I’ve probable lost five thousand trying to do it again.....

sounds like me and my scratch-offs. 150$ the first one i ever bought....been playing them almost daily for 2 years since then and havent won more than 52$ on a single card since that first one.