Does the skipper catch his customer’s fish?

[JB]

While standing on the quayside at Whitby the other day, I was greeted by an old friend/customer, a man who has fished from Whitby for many years. Due to work commitments, he has been unable to take more than one day off work at a time; and because of the unpredictable nature of his work schedule, he cannot book a fishing trip in advance, so has to phone up the night before a possible trip in the hope of a short notice booking. Consequently, I had not seen him on board the Chieftain for quite a while.

 

He has been going fishing with me since the seventies, when we were both much younger men. He has always been a good angler and caught his fair share of fish. We chatted about the old times in the ‘Guide Me’, and the boatloads of fish for all. Basically we agreed that, in the past, catching a reasonable amount of cod from Whitby was just a case of keeping your terminal tackle in good contact with the sea bed. Unfortunately, nowadays, as cod has become increasingly scarce, the rate of catch is less equal amongst anglers. So the better anglers by far out-catch the rest.

 

Then he went on to tell me of his recent fishing experiences, on other local boats. Some of the boats had skippers who continually fished alongside their customers, some did not. His theory is that nowadays he catches many more fish himself when the skipper of his chosen charter boat DOES NOT fish himself. In fact, he became quite angry when talking about the skippers who constantly fished for themselves.

 

I can understand his point of view. If a particular wreck or piece of rough ground has twenty fish available to be caught on it, the best angler may catch ten or twelve of them. If the skipper is the best angler - which is usually the case, given all the practice he gets - his customers suffer. My friend was not saying skippers should not fish at all, he was saying that if they fish constantly, on every drift, they catch fish their customers would otherwise be able to catch.

 

In my long career as a charter skipper, I rarely had time to fish; neither did my crew. Positioning the boat correctly, so that all the anglers had equal chances of catching; looking after twelve anglers; gaffing, unhooking fish, clearing tangles etc., was always a full time job for myself and my crewmember (who also gutted, filleted, washed and placed all the customers’ fish in the chiller.) Because I don’t fish while skippering the boat, I have not had to deal with anglers’ possible disapproval of such practices. However, I cannot help thinking that if I was an angler booking a fishing trip nowadays, I would insist that the skipper did not continually fish for himself.

 

I would be interested in your views and experiences on this subject.

 

JB

[barry luxton]

While standing on the quayside at Whitby the other day, I was greeted by an old friend/customer, a man who has fished from Whitby for many years. Due to work commitments, he has been unable to take more than one day off work at a time; and because of the unpredictable nature of his work schedule, he cannot book a fishing trip in advance, so has to phone up the night before a possible trip in the hope of a short notice booking. Consequently, I had not seen him on board the Chieftain for quite a while.

 

He has been going fishing with me since the seventies, when we were both much younger men. He has always been a good angler and caught his fair share of fish. We chatted about the old times in the ‘Guide Me’, and the boatloads of fish for all. Basically we agreed that, in the past, catching a reasonable amount of cod from Whitby was just a case of keeping your terminal tackle in good contact with the sea bed. Unfortunately, nowadays, as cod has become increasingly scarce, the rate of catch is less equal amongst anglers. So the better anglers by far out-catch the rest.

 

Then he went on to tell me of his recent fishing experiences, on other local boats. Some of the boats had skippers who continually fished alongside their customers, some did not. His theory is that nowadays he catches many more fish himself when the skipper of his chosen charter boat DOES NOT fish himself. In fact, he became quite angry when talking about the skippers who constantly fished for themselves.

 

I can understand his point of view. If a particular wreck or piece of rough ground has twenty fish available to be caught on it, the best angler may catch ten or twelve of them. If the skipper is the best angler - which is usually the case, given all the practice he gets - his customers suffer. My friend was not saying skippers should not fish at all, he was saying that if they fish constantly, on every drift, they catch fish their customers would otherwise be able to catch.

 

In my long career as a charter skipper, I rarely had time to fish; neither did my crew. Positioning the boat correctly, so that all the anglers had equal chances of catching; looking after twelve anglers; gaffing, unhooking fish, clearing tangles etc., was always a full time job for myself and my crewmember (who also gutted, filleted, washed and placed all the customers’ fish in the chiller.) Because I don’t fish while skippering the boat, I have not had to deal with anglers’ possible disapproval of such practices. However, I cannot help thinking that if I was an angler booking a fishing trip nowadays, I would insist that the skipper did not continually fish for himself.

 

I would be interested in your views and experiences on this subject.

 

JB

 

 

Hi John, after many years on charter boats up and down the channel i don't look at it as them and us indeed more often then not i ask the skipper or the mate if he wants to grab a rod. I have never seen it as an issue or problem, quite the reverse i do like to see how they do it. I have never been on a boat where a skipper or mate would fish say every drift. Equally so i don't mind getting me hands dirty by netting, gutting, filleting, untangling lines and helping other anglers on the boat as i see it as the angling experiance. I do like to see a skipper or mate catch one as again it is not often that they would get the chance. I think it's great to be able to fish along side them in particular where they get out of the cabin drop down and get a fish immediatly, magic.

Edited May 13, 2007 by barry luxton

[iggy]

hi.

the one thing when the skipper fishes, is that if you get crossed lines hes never about to sort it out same as gaffing the fish, they put there rod down and look at you, as if to say do it yourself, al that said skiper was ok with me as if i caught nothing he would let me help meself to his catch which was not bad as happened a few times

[mr motorola]

Why should the skipper fish alongside you??

You pay good money for the trip and the skippers knowledge of the area to put you on some fishing marks (which he thinks ) would hold fish.

In this day and age (with the PC brigade shouting "there's no COD") you are relying entirely on the skippers choice of marks.

All you need then is your skipper dropping a line in the water and targeting your fish......... THE SAME MAN THAT YOU HAVE PAID TO FIND THESE ELUSIVE CREATURES!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't deny that most if not all skippers of charter boats WILL be better anglers than their clients.These lads have the local knowledge and inside knowledge , so it stands to reason that they will catch more fish than you , in an already scarce environment.

Edited May 13, 2007 by mr motorola

[Toerag]

I believe one of our local skippers only fishes if it's a slow day and he needs to prove to his clients that there are actually some fish down there!

I would personally object to the skipper fishing if the fishing was being done on the drift and the punters had to wait longer for the boat to return uptide because the skipper was sorting out his fishing tackle or fish.

AS JB suggested, if the fishing's good then the skipper and deckie should be busy with gaffing/netting/untangling etc.

[mr motorola]

True mate , but there are some people who like to brag that the fishing is great and fish!!!!!!!!

So are the anglers getting a bum deal????????

[iggy]

what i hate is being told what bait to use by the skipper, once took whole squid only to be told be him , what u expecting jaws lol, hw had no clue whatsoever

[iggy]

john sorry to interupt your post, but been wanting to tell you this story for months, i went on your site last yr, i read everything from top to bottom, loved it then i got to the cod catching tip part. i thought to myself fishing lures without bait added? any way i went fishing last yr on boat, forgot bait, so thought to myself what do i do ?? i used a 4oz jigger in silver and got myself my 1st ever double figure cod, only 10 llbs but funny enough your information was dead right, and i,d not go back ever to using bait on a boat unless i,m close in shore

[Elton]

Personally, I've never had a problem with the skipper fishing. They usually fish towards the front of the boat, away from their customers, and it's nice to see that they have a great understanding of boat fishing.

 

In fact, didn't Bob Cox invent uptiding in this manner? I was led to believe that he did.

 

I'm not sure yet if this is a genuine topic, or yet another bit of Whitby back-biting, but anyone who thinks that a skipper's 'job' is just to steer a boat has lost the whole point of the 'brotherhood of the angle'.

 

It's a shame that, after so many years, you still had to teach anglers how to unhook fish and untangle their lines, John. Even a part-timer like me can handle the basics I can imagine that the South Coast boats offering 4-hour mackerel trips would expect to attract novice anglers, but I'm surpirised that a skipper offering multi-day trips did. I think I'd have sold up in that situation, too.

[mr motorola]

john sorry to interupt your post, but been wanting to tell you this story for months, i went on your site last yr, i read everything from top to bottom, loved it then i got to the cod catching tip part. i thought to myself fishing lures without bait added? any way i went fishing last yr on boat, forgot bait, so thought to myself what do i do ?? i used a 4oz jigger in silver and got myself my 1st ever double figure cod, only 10 llbs but funny enough your information was dead right, and i,d not go back ever to using bait on a boat unless i,m close in shore

EXACTLY!!! Another example of the skipper doing his job (all be it on the internet) , but thats what they're there for , thats why we pay £40 a trip ,,,,,,,,and not to see the skipper fish all day and leave the anglers to fend for themselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

All i need to know now is what the skipper(s) do with all that fish , if they are fishing themselves EVERY TRIP then that makes for a whole lotta fish fillets!!!!!!!

Edited May 13, 2007 by mr motorola