My son-in-law and I went on a make up charter Thursday morning. They crammed 8 of us on a 42 foot vessel that must have been built in the late 60s.  The  gear was bare bones and old. We trolled for 5 hours and had one bite. I did get my first bull dolphin. It was between 40-50 lbs. I thought I'd be able to take it back to the resort and have it prepared and shared for dinner. When we anchored, I was informed that the fish belonged to the boat and would be sold to a local restaurant. I don't think I'll make the effort to fish there again..............The positive thing is that the resort we stayed at was very nice.

Wow, that stinks. I don't think I've ever heard of an arrangement like that where the day's catch was owned by the boat. That's a heck of a way to make sure you don't get any repeat customers

Believe me , Chris, there were some long faces as the folks disembarked. I was the last off the fishing boat and there was a total of $11 in tips in the basket. They had better gotten a good price for that fish.

That is $11.00 too much in tips IMHO!

Sorry Stitch.  But a Dorado that size sure is a nice one!  Sucks about not being able to keep it, because Dorado that fresh are the best!  You get any pics?

 

Jeff

Yes, Jeff. Actually; John caught most of the battle on one of those fancy cell phones. When we get these pics downloaded I'll try and post it.

Awesome. Look forward to seeing it!

Jeff

You got the shaft on that dolphin, great fighting fish too, I actually think they give a better fight than sailfish.

It  made three nice  jumps. Got it close to the boat and it went straight down. It took almost all the line I'd gained getting it close. I wanted to get some good photos before it lost it's color but they refused. It was a strange outing , for sure.

Well that kinda sucks Stitch. Glad you were able to get a trophy bull. I have heard about crews doing that for the money by selling the catch.

I have had something similar to this as well, bu was always at least offered a side of the fish, or at least a big enough steak to feed how many people we had.  Not the norm, and totally not cool.  Make sure to go on Trip Advisor and do a review.  Also whenever someone asks, speak up!

 

Jeff

Out of curiosity, which charter? I was considering going there this summer.

The only unfavorable opinion I had on charter was right here in Florida.  Myself and my 2 son inlaws went on a sail fish charter out of W. Palm, the mate insisted on setting the hook and he lost few sails for my son in law.  He was on vacation so I was perturbed, quite often when I'm on charter I take my own gear, no one touches it but me.

Out of curiosity, which charter? I was considering going there this summer.

I can't even give you the name of the boat. There was no name on the transom. We were loaded into a skiff onshore and dropped off at two different boats. If I still had my receipt, I could tell you more. Sorry about that. I'd consider doing something else with the money spent on that fishing excursion. The two mates weren't very fluent in English. Thank God there were two Canadians onboard that were much better at Spanish than I am.