getting skunked on a charter.

Amen to that Barrie! It is all about perspective. A Guides creedo, Never to high never to low. Like a baseball pitcher forget about the last game and move on.
 
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Not much sympathy from this boat owner, the amount people pay on a shared charter is small, compared to owning or operating a boat. It's kind of like complaining to a leafs seasons ticket holder that you got bad tickets from a scalper and the team lost. Bad days happen but at least you got out on the ocean.

Go ahead and give them an honest poor review on Yelp or Facebook. Next time choose a charter from a review site, by asking friends or watch which guides on this forum are informed and generous. There are lots of great guides.

http://m.yelp.ca/search?find_desc=f...63133,-123.38723957869611,100&mapsize=375,517
 
Actually Barrie, I get the feeling, they were not so much upset by not catching, but the guide in question, did not really do his job. Maybe he should have put Salmon belly or herring on one of the lines. At least try a couple different things. He has 5 lines in the water, including one for the guide. I get the feeling the guide was on autopilot. I caught Hali here before on Octopus, that is what I will do today. Lack of effort. I used to work for Texas Instruments and would take an extra day to fish Lake Fork for bass. Guide I used several times was not the first guide I had used there. But he put in effort. As well as decent personality. I was skunked while with him, but was not upset. We tried. Lots of wind, so we fished where we could, not the best place for big bass. He put in the effort. Different setups, etc.
 
Like I said I know fishing is not catching, I'm not a professional but I know when I'm not getting bites something has to change wether it's my retrieve or my fly I understand that changing spots my not be so feasible for hali but with all those rods out why not switch two baits up and see??
 
I have been skunked on charters near Sooke and Victoria a couple of times. Other times I have landed fish that are too big to legally keep(30ish Lb wild spring off the bluffs last year only two days before wilds opened up) and other times during pink years only gone home with a single pink each for only three of the four guys in the boat. I've also been skunked while out on my own or with buddies in our own boats. To say these things don't happen would be a lie. It can be really spotty here, and can happen to the best guides/rec fisherman. You just kind of hope it doesn't happen to you!

I am always seeing other happy groups of people limiting out on some charters' Facebook pages while I have gone home empty the day before, but what charter is going to post a bad/skunk day? None of them! The next time I do fork over my hard earned cash on a charter though, I think I'll really make a trip of it and go all way out to Port Renfrew, or Bamfield and take the family camping as well. You just have to keep reminding yourself that a good day on the water limiting out or close to it, can pay off a few very disappointing skunk trips.

I wonder just how many people buy fishing licenses every year, fish regularly, and still wind up with no halibut(too many dogfish to count) in a season. I can't be the only one lol...

So far, I'm in the same boat as you, no pun intended
 
I totally understand where the OP is coming from. I have had the same experience up at Renfrew before and I found it really disappointing. Obviously Renfrew is different world - got our standard fish on the banks, but then came in to shore with about 2 hours left looking for something big, the guide just put 2 rods down, same piece of bait, I don't think even checked it once in that time. It's fine to not catch, but as a paying client, there is the feeling that you want to see them put in the effort...not just ride it out until times up. FWIW thou, that's only been one charter out of about 7 or 8 I have booked in my lifetime so not too bad. Usually the guys I go with put in the effort, but I am also selective with who I go with now.

I agree moving in that case probably isn't the way to go though - I was out on Sunday with a couple other forum guys - we didn't have a sniff for 3 hours, but just as the tide picked up, bam bam bam, we get our limit. Doesn't mean we didn't check out gear and re-scent though during the dead time - we also had octopus/salmon belly/herring all on the go and salmon belly was the winner. Sometimes, you just don't know what they feel like chowing down on - change it up, make sure you have exhausted all possibilities! THAT I believe is his point here!
 
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I'm sure most of the guides on here can chime in on this, but I think a guy has his goto setup and he is prepared to live and die with what makes him/her feel confident, in my opinion that's the guide's prerogative. You hire him based on his reputation and he earned that reputation by putting fish in the boat with his tackle and bait. Confidence in his gear is everything. If it caught fish the day before and day after then he must have some idea what it takes to catch them. Sure the guy could have run salmon or herring to make you happy, but you charted him because of his reputation for catching fish. Sure it was disappointing they were off the bite at that spot on your day out. I don't know who the guide was and I don't care because that's not important, the guy chose to live by the sword or die by the sword. I do wonder though if you would be on here praising him is you caught your limit?
 
Barrie I like your leaf analogy! Lol. Most leaf fans are probably happy that tickets are never available for those games in TO, saves them having to deal with that skunked fealing when the game is over! Lol
 
I would like to hear from other guides aswell, do you sit on the same bait and wait for a bite? Or do you change it up and try to make it happen?? In all honesty If we limited out I wouldn't have praised him here I would a posted a review on his fb page or.
A few others have hit the nail on the head it was not the no fish part that bothered me the most, it was better then not fishing at all, but why be dishonest about catching fish here yesterday? Why not try to make a bite happen?? How about giving your clients a realistic expectation for the day??
 
I have been fishing for close to 50 years and when I read these threads it makes me respect guides more than ever. Enough said ☺
 
Well, I went out with one of the top guides in Kona for a full day charter off the Big Island. This guy hold a number of State and IGFA records.. Guess what? We caught bait !!! It happens. Life aint always fair.
 
But did the guy put in effort? Change rigs, etc.? That is the point. If one bait worked, why do we have so many in the tackle box?
 
Califbill,
You know fishermen and Golfers will buy anything if they think it will help. I know cause my tackle boxes are full of useless stuff and now I don't have any money left to try golf.
 
But did the guy put in effort? Change rigs, etc.? That is the point. If one bait worked, why do we have so many in the tackle box?

Yes -- we tried deep water jigging first-- then trolling and finally live baiting.. nada worth writing about-- but he did work hard to try to find fish. The daay before it was on fire of course!!!! ( I saw the yellowfin being offloaded the day before I went out)
 
Are we still all talking about a discounted April halibut charter out of the Victoria area???

Get over it. Water under the bridge so to speak. Learn from it :).

Even the best guides get skunked. Again, it's call fishing not catching :cool:.

I've never seen so and so catching charters............just sayin'.
 
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Well, Everyone are trying to help and good points. We are fishing and trying to catch salmon or halibut or others but no guarantee for 24h/7/365. Depend on what fish are decide to eat or not.

We have lot of good guides on the forum and out there.

I was a professional aquaculture teachincal to working with live fish. The mature fish do not always eat food in every hours. Its a mother nature could affect to the animal behaviour will not eat maybe they are stress or something reasons.

My buddy knows about fishing at Bamfield very well for many years. he said that there were very hot and lot of fish. He showed me his lot of pictures with his lot of big springs. I trusted him.
He took me out fishing for big springs but I caught one high teen and 3 coho .There were about hundred boats and no fish in the boat. I was very lucky I had one spring .
My buddy has lot of friends know about Bamfield . They suspect that the weather was under pressured cause the fishing was very poor. I could agree with them about the weather was under pressured cause to poor fishing.

I always want to catch some halibut, but I had never been catch one. I always keep trying to catch one in one day.

Fishing is a game!
 
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I very seldom change locations when Hali fishing unless I have somehow misjudged a current swing and ended up way off of where I want to be or I'm getting hammered by dogs. Pulling anchor and gear, moving and resetting is a waist of fishing time and you may be moving from the fish you have attracted.
Stick and stay. Make it pay.
Hardest part of Hali fishing is accumulating some proven go to spots

I remember the painful learning curve of Hali fishing on anchor on the South Island.
Started catching way more fish with way more consistency when I stopped overthinking it.
Go to where you know they are and do what you know works.

I do very well. But everyone gets skunked here and there.
It's not like salmon fishing.

Many guides won't offer 1/2 day Hali fishing. Only full day.
There are reasons for this.

If you did not like the guide. Don't hire him again.
If your bitter about the skunk try fishing Thriftys seafood dept.

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Thehook
Answer this... If you had caught 2 Hali in the last half hour of this charter, would you have thought this was a great trip with a good guide?

This answer will tell you if you are bitter with this guides performance and effort or if you are disappointed that you did not catch fish.

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