Block Island Blackfish

What was he doing that you guys were not?
Was he offering encouragement and looking to hone your skills?

I think it is up to the charter how that would be handled. Long winter coming, last trip of the year, folks at home that will eat the fish and not be an ice ball found next June, I would not mind a little help. 🙂

It's all relative to me. Crew putting out rods so the boat limit is hit early and they have to go in is not cool. If fishing sucks and the crew are only catching fish, and you get to fish until the end of the day for a full length of time, I can't really complain about that. But hey that's just me.

You paid you catch the fish

What was he doing that you guys were not?
Was he offering encouragement and looking to hone your skills?

I think it is up to the charter how that would be handled. Long winter coming, last trip of the year, folks at home that will eat the fish and not be an ice ball found next June, I would not mind a little help. 🙂

I tend to agree with you, Longcast, as this issue does come up on some of my charters. First of all, I always view my first responsibility is to my customers. If they need anything, bait prepped, rigs untangled or replaced, fish landed, etc. that gets my full attention. However, on some trips with really experienced anglers there are brief windows where I can drop a line and will contribute to the clients take home catch. Having said that, I will always try to ask first if anyone objects and if so, my rod is immediately racked.
I do have customers on both sides of this issue and can respect either position.

Worked deck on a top bottom fishing CB in Montauk back in the 90s. I could always tell after the first drop if the customers were going to need help catching. If they were struggling, I would drop a line to show them there was life but I would only help fill a limit if it was the end of the day, guys were seasick, etc. My first priority was always to help THE CUSTOMER catch the fish not me!

That said, BI tog respond well when you bounce the sinker......some guys never get that.

This subject is a double edged sword.........First off not every person that comes aboard a charter or party boat can fish.....black fish are tough to catch for someone that doesn't know whats going on .....that being said.....As a customer you pay to fish for a determined amount of time....now here comes the kicker.......on these so called trips YOU are not guaranteed fish.....everyone hopes to catch fish.....but its fishing......wouldn't be nice to walk off the boat with a bag of fish for your family even if you didn't have a good day catching rather than going to the fish market as long as you where able to fish for the determined time frame.......

It's a tough call. Captains want to advertise with the money shot of a pile of fish and want to proclaim a full boat limit by whenever it happens, but i think the thrill for the fares is catching their own limit. On the other hand, the captain can help figure out if that day, the fish want whole, half, back off, back on, bouncy sinkers, still sinkers, etc., but personally, I could do without it for more than a few minutes here or there if things get slow.

Bitter sweet taking home the captains charity

But his report will say they got a full boat limit

Did the boat come in early because the limit was reached?

Boat I worked on gave an 8hr day. If fishing was good, we'd spend time trying to find a trophy for the customers. Never came in early unless the weather turned or the customers requested it.

>
Exactly!

nothing wrong there...

Hooked up and passed the rod on 9 of the 12 keepers on my last charter. As others have said, if you’re inexperienced at tog fishing, you’ll miss a lot of fish. Its really a no win situation for a Captain…..

FWIW, I was at Block on Friday too with a Montauk charter (Elizabeth II) and we killed them.

Hooked up and passed the rod on 9 of the 12 keepers on my last charter. As others have said, if you’re inexperienced at tog fishing, you’ll miss a lot of fish. Its really a noSaw

Saw Todd's video. Good day on the water!

Hooked up and passed the rod on 9 of the 12 keepers on my last charter. As others have said, if you’re inexperienced at tog fishing, you’ll miss a lot of fish. Its really a no win situation for a Captain…..

FWIW, I was at Block on Friday too with a Montauk charter (Elizabeth II) and we killed them.

Way to go on John your Tog trip with Capt. Paul. I told you he is a solid guy who knows his stuff.

I agree that when you have an inexperienced crew for a challenging fish like Tog, we walk an extremely fine line. Although I too have helped out at times hooking fish and handing a rod to the guy who is struggling, some might find that even more humiliating than trying and failing on their own. I believe the best we can do in those situations is to ask the individual angler what their preference is.

And I also agree that when the crew pays for a given number of hours to fish, we don't return to port early just because a limit may have been reached. That's what "C&R" and "fishing for the camera" are all about. Everyone deserves to get what they pay for.

I don’t have a problem with this. I am paying to enjoy the outdoors meet people and to bring home fish. I had a day like that this year everyone on the boat was catching stripers and I got skunked but the boat limited out and i was able to bring home fish so the day was a success.

Always a good time fishing with Paul!!

Check out Todd's last trip.

People hire a charter for many reasons.

I have hired a charter to LEARN. Some Captains are better teaches than others. I remember once I was on a charter and the captain wanted to live line a Porgy. I went over to watch. He asked me to “go somewhere else”. But I stayed and he didn’t make an issue of it.

The one thing about this that bothers me is the Captain in the OP is obviously a talented, experienced black fisherman. Instead of giving fish away, I would have said, show me what I’m doing wrong and what you are doing right. It is NOT acceptable to answer, “I just know”.

I have had captains teach me something new. Snap jigging is a good example. When I got the basics down the captain started to fish, yet kept and eye on my to offer corrections to my technique. When he caught a big bass, he offered it to me. Being there to learn, I declined, and the fish was released.

Throughout my fishing experiences which began when I was 7 yrs old, I fished with some very experienced and knowledgeable people, I am not afraid to ask question or take advice.
My grandfather owned a house in southport Ct that was right on southport harbor, during the summer he would rent out 16 foot skiffs to people who came in from NY city, I was tasked to get the bait, clams and sandworms.
There were two guys' in particular that I called the fisherman, they were local guys, they always came back with fish wrapped in cloth and in a basket. I would always ask them how they did and they would show me their catch and what they used to catch them with, this was back in the late 50's lol.
I learned a lot from them, my father took me fishing one time, he was never into fishing even though he grew up on the water. He passed away 38 yrs ago from leukemia and his death had a profound effect on me that we never got to fish more than that one time. One year before his death my brother and I talked him into going fishing, although he was unable to walk we drove him out to beach with my brothers 4x4 and put him in a chair to watch us fish, he was happy to watch us and regretted that he never took us fishing, I made it a point when my sons were born that I would take them fishing and do it often, they are both as passionate as I am about fishing, my younger son especially who passed the bug on to his sons.
You can learn a lot by just observing other fisherman who are catching and your not, ask questions, don't be afraid to try something different.
I myself don't have a problem with mates or Captains fishing along side me, in fact I love the company and the competition, many times fishing offshore I have had captains and mates ask me what and how i'm catching tuna when no one else is, I don't have a problem telling them as I feel everyone came out to try and catch a tuna to bring home, It makes me feel good that in some way I was responsible for someone catching their first tuna or a fish of a lifetime.
With the fishing stocks the way they are today, I see a lot of guys keeping their spots and techniques to themselves, if that's your bag so be it, I personally will offer up any info if I am into fish, what i'm using, it's just the way I am, I feel that over the years I caught so much fish thanks to other people that I need to pay it forward.
Sorry for the long post.
Stay healthy and safe.
Tight Lines
Jay