accuracy in fishing reports..

[bulletbob]

First off let me say, there will be NO names, places, boat, captain, port or any other information given other than what I personally witnessed.
I would just like the person I am writing about to read this, and perhaps rethink what he relays in his reporting.
I like him, and was a customer over the years albeit only once or twice a year.

I am rethinking that.

I went out 5/18/21 for seabass with high hopes judging from the great reports I have been reading..

We were fishing in 90 FOW after a ride of about 75 minutes or so out to the rough stuff.

After the first half hour without a hit, and seeing very few fish come up anywhere, I realized it might be a bad day... I was correct in that assumption... There was enough guys on board so there was a decent turnout but still good room to fish..
It was pretty much dreary fishing all day from the first horn to last.
A few smallish to medium Ling, and someone would catch a seabass maybe every 20 minutes or so... High hook had 3 sea bass, I was right next to him.

Everyone had from 2 to 4 Ling, with one or two guys having 5 or 6... Most were "small mediums" if that makes any sense.

Besides the old guy that was high hook on sea bass , one guy had 2, a few guys had 1, and a bunch of fares, had none at all, just a few Ling.. I personally had 1 fairly nice sea bass and 4 "medium small" Ling at days end.. We drifted on the same rough patch all day, never moving more than a few hundred yards off that spot... Just several repositions/redrifts that were as dead as the drift before it.
Really quiet all the way around. No dogs, only a few pout, no eels, No flounder , a skate or two, one small Whiting, and a keeper Cod, rounded out the boat catch... We were plagued all day with the non stop pecking of tiny bergals..

Only a small handful of short sea bass on this trip... They just were not around this day, which was odd. The sea bass that were boated were all decent fish.

So yeah it was just a really slow day... Here's the reason for this post however.
The report from the trip I was just a few hours earlier a part of bore NO resemblance to what actually transpired.. It was "good fishing", "limits" etc.. You know the superlatives, I don't need to mention them all.

I like the boat and the cap, been sailing with him for years, but this needed to be called out so perhaps the reports will reflect what actually happened on that given fishing day in the future... There are bad fishing days-it happens all the time...

Simply tell it like it was like so many others do- right on these pages..
The customers as well as potential would be customers are pretty bright, pretty forgiving too when the fishing stinks.

Its simply natures way. Fish don't always eat when we want them to.

Conveying "alternate realities" does not help gain new customers long term, and might lose some old customers...

I hope the right eyes see this and reconsider their reporting.

Its not even the first time I noticed this, but last time it happened , I just let it go, and figured, "well they all do it"... They don't...

If its good, PLEASE tell us all about it.
When its bad, please tell us that as well... We'll be down to fish with you next time anyway,, unless you lose our trust..... bob

[howardrf]

Also out on the 18th .Few Ling and bass. The old saying "should have been here yesterday". Good fishing reported Monday and Wednesday. Sadly not my day. Your comments are correct.
THANKS

[skippy]

That's why I fish with Rob of the Sea Hunter (sponsored boat) always tells it like it is. Just reads his reports on his website.

[Duffman]

“The customers as well as potential would be customers are pretty bright, pretty forgiving too when the fishing stinks”

#1 No they aren’t
#2 Isn’t all advertising a lie?

[bulletbob]

“The customers as well as potential would be customers are pretty bright, pretty forgiving too when the fishing stinks”

#1 No they aren’t
#2 Isn’t all advertising a lie?

#1- I am now and have always been very naive', and probably a little too trusting of human nature. I do think a lot of people embellish reality, and polish it up.. I do it myself, and stand guilty all too often.

#2-perhaps it is... However, it shouldn't be...

bob

[damnyankee]

@buletbob did it also seem like the captain didn't try very hard? I'm asking based on your comment about working the same drift within a few hundred yards of 1st drop

[bulletbob]

@buletbob did it also seem like the captain didn't try very hard? I'm asking based on your comment about working the same drift within a few hundred yards of 1st drop

Seemed that way to me.. However, he knows a lot more than I do, and we were pretty remote-No other charters/party boats around, just a smattering of larger private boats..

He may just have been too far from anywhere else to get to and try.

He may also have seen a lot of life down there and the fish just would not cooperate on that particular day.. However, thats not really the point... The report was good, and the fishing was awful, thats the problem, and he may want to re evaluate that practice is all.

I like him, nice enough guy,thats why I go on his boat and have been for a while.. Distance keeps it to only a trip or two a year, but next time, I will go elsewhere.

The mate said we were going to fish deep to stay off the small pin bass that were swarming in shallower water... Maybe that wasn't the best plan on that day, who knows, but they sure know better than I do where the fish are.

It wasn't the fishing that I had a problem with, it was the way it was reported.. A turd was polished into a gleaming diamond. No need for that.. Just say it was slow thats all.....

The customers know there are slow fishing days interspersed among the "slaughter" days... . bob

[mako28]

Still waiting for your black friday report lol

[howardrf]

Took the words right out of my mouth.....

Thanks Bob

[Detour66]

Now you have us wondering what boat it was!!

[Ol Pedro]

Bullet, I hope that the Captain in question reads this thread. If he has a pm on this site maybe you should let him know that he didn't get away with it.

[1captainron]

Just curious Bob, if you have been fishing with him for years, is this the first report that was off the mark or has it happened before?
If so, why have you gone back?

I remember when people would complain about Al Ristori or any of the Old school, call in your report guys....People forget, they were only writing what they were told and had to take it as true!

Today, anyone can type out a Report, color it any way they want, problem is someone is always watching & reading. Actually surprised more folks don't get called out with some of the crap I read.

[John D.]

BB,

Here’s one for you. Awhile back I did a sea bass charter in late May with a boat that won’t be named. About 2 miles off after we rounded the point of the hook, the Capt says “btw all my gps and sonar aren’t working but we will be fine as there is no fog and it’s lights out fishing”. Ummm...ok. 2 guys demand to go back and the Capt says no and gets angry.

We fished in sand all day never feeling hard or sticky bottom. The 6 of us caught 8 seabass tons of dogfish and a handful of ling. The other boats crushed them. A call to the primary Capt/owner resulted in him defending his Capt of the charter and saying “that’s fishing”. I am curious if there was fog if we would have still been forced to go out. I guess the Capt was clairvoyant that fog wouldn’t occur 5 miles off the beach or 20 miles from port.

[TopRod]

Lame post.

[Prowler 5]

How about the party boats that advertise bottom fishing and they only know how to put one anchor out and then they report about the great fishing. Those are the boats you have to watch out for. 95% of the captains know who these few boats are when it comes blackfish time.

[bulletbob]

Just curious Bob, if you have been fishing with him for years, is this the first report that was off the mark or has it happened before?
If so, why have you gone back?

I remember when people would complain about Al Ristori or any of the Old school, call in your report guys....People forget, they were only writing what they were told and had to take it as true!

Today, anyone can type out a Report, color it any way they want, problem is someone is always watching & reading. Actually surprised more folks don't get called out with some of the crap I read.

Yes, a time or two during blackfish trips years past.. This time was just kind of annoying, and I hoped he would read it..

I went back because I like the cap, he's a nice guy, and I like his boat..
He just should report the facts as they were is all.

You know how it is as a pro. One day your fares do a bail job on all big fish all day on all stops.. Word gets out, your boat is full for days after and then a front passes through and the fishing dies dead for days. It happens.

I have seen your reports for years, and thats how you would relay it to your fares..
Water got cold, fish shut down, bite died off..
Thats all a cap needs to do, just say whats going on.
When the fish bite again in a day or two, we'll be on them again.
The customers understand.... for the most part.

In this case, another guy was out on the same boat on the same day.
He read my post, named the boat, and said, "thats the same trip I was on".. He had the same experience, and was annoyed as well..
With the net these days, word gets around, and this sort of thing should not happen as an otherwise good business can be hurt rather than helped by inaccurate reports...
Lots of guys have PM'd me wanting to know the boat, but I don't think thats a good thing to by any means... You guys have it tough enough.

This post has had a lot of good replies, and I appreciate them all.

bob

[jigmup]

That’s why a picture is worth a thousand words,,,,ever notice what boats don’t show any pictures?

[Capt. Debbie]

With time and experience you know which reports you can count on. And which ones are meaningless glory stories. Never hear someone talk down it was worse than it was.

I've been on party boats on and off since the 60's and you take it with a grain of salt. Almost all say you should have been here yesterday to get novices to keep chasing.

With time you also know Captains who reports their failures too. In the old days of Al Ristori and APP's Geiger just write what was said to them. They didn't go down to the docks to verify.

And like all occupations some provide better products than others and last longer.

[frugalfisherman]

I don't know where you were fishing but it certainly wasn't out of Brielle.

[AndyS]

I remember reading the Al Fish-story reports in the Star Ledger, seemed like there was never a day when they weren't killing them out the Highlands. Then the internet came around and all that changed very quickly.

[bulletbob]

I didn't want to start a shit storm, just wanted a good, likeable cap to rethink the reports he posts.
Info is too fast and furious these days, and its tough to dance around the edges of reality too much.. There were others that emailed me that were there as well on the day in question and saw the report that didn't line up
They are going elsewhere next trip..

Its just not worth losing customers over, even non regulars....

Gerry , put this one to bed if you'd like.
bob

bob

[flyersnfluke]

Years back several of us on a boat were asked to fish another boat as there were not enough to head out. Lo and behold the boat that stayed tied to the dock put out a report that afternoon. I’ve also seen my photo and others I’ve fished with included in a report but wasn’t out that day. It doesn’t deter me if I want to go fishing I’m heading out regardless of the reports

[WhaleFart]

Thanks for posting this. I went out seabass fishing opening day on a popular sponsored boat who posts a lot. I will not name drop as I respect his business and lively hood. Fishing wasn’t good at all, not for lack of effort, however when I read the report he posted he said we limited out. For the 12 guys on the boat we had maybe 40-50 keepers in total. It is what it is, just as a paying customer who sailed with him I don’t get why not just say “south wind shut the bite down” but scratched together a respectable catch. I probably won’t sail with him again, despite me really liking my time on the water talking and enjoying the day on his boat.