It's simple, I have seen it a lot. Some guy gets a 21-26 foot boat that runs for 5-10 grand. He is fishing, then sees how much guides charge. All of a sudden, he figures he has found a gold mine, and starts taking people out. Then something goes "BOOM" and he is looking at a multi-thousand dollar repair. Not to mention an already old boat really showing the wear and tear. Lets do some math for a standard issue morning Sooke charter at that price point:
4 Hour Charter - $300.
Gas - $50
Bait/Tackle $30
Gross Profit $220
That is bareley a good wage for a profesional tradesman for a days work. A 4 hour charter really does take a 6 or 7 hour bite out of your day by the time you get to the boat early in the AM, warm it up, then get back to the dock, spend an hour cleaning fish, boats, and seeing your guests on their way. And factor in to that price that somewhere, you are responsible for people on your machine that could quickly turn into a life and death situation.
And the kind of people that shop for the lowest price charter are usually the most demanding. Who knows, maybe the guy can fish.. I can count on one hand the number of trips in my life that I have taken people out when the pinks are in, where they were excited about catching pinks, usually it is a case of me throwing 8 flats of anchovies over the side of the boat to weed through the pinks to get a spring or two.
But hey, maybe he can catch fish, and maybe he is making money and having a good time! At the end of the day when guiding, it's what happens to the bank account. That's it.