This thread reminds me of all the reason's I am no longer a full time mate.
I worked part time (3 days a week for my last 2 years of college) and then full time for about 4 years out of the Atlantic Highlands fleet. Happily I (for the past few years) now have another full time job, that although doesn't really pay as well as my best year on the boat, it has turned me back into the civil minded person I was before I started working deck. I still fill in a trip now and then just for a little extra cash or to help out a captain or mate that needs a hand for the day. Here are just a few random thoughts, points, and counter points to what I have read so far in this thread.
Over the course my best season Early April until Late December I made $9,800 from the captain. That was with me leaving my house at 5:00 am and getting home at 8:45 pm on a good night during half day sailings (april-mid October) late fall was better 4:45 am to about 5:00 pm. Days I didn't sail I still spent about $14 dollars in gas to and from the boat as well as $2 in tolls. If I didn't get out on the morning trip (During which I spent 6:00 am to 8:00 am on the dock without getting paid, I then had to wait around for the afternoon trip to see if I would get out then, another 1 1/2 unpaid hours at the dock.
Trip where we did sail, but with only for enough fares for one mate it depended on whether or not it was your day to know if you or the other mate was being sent home, or you could split your already low pay with the other mate and both work.
Anyone that thinks that the mates are splitting 15-20% of the fare money on a relatively crowded boat is out of there mind. Honestly I would always do best with about 15-18 guys if I was working by myself or about 30 guys if two mates were splitting the trip. It allowed us to give better service to all aboard.
95-98% of the best tippers out there require VERY LITTLE in the way of help from the mate over the course of a trip. Yes, they do get the best of the bait, and I would respond to their call for a net or gaff before someone that I didn't know, but that is about it. These men and women know how to tie their own rigs, bait their own hooks, stay out of tangles before they begin, cast their own lines, and swing shorts and marginal keepers without any help from me. Of course help was always offered, but normally I was told to go help someone else, or simply they got it.
Some people say tips stands for To Insure Prompt Service. The problem with that is you know some of your regular customers that will give you very little to nothing in the way of tips. In this day and age with fewer people coming to the harbor a mate cannot afford to give them any less in the way of service, otherwise the captain and crew might lose them to another boat. I worked a trip earlier this week where I was the only mate. I went out with somewhere between 12-15 fares. I knew 10 of the fares (that I can remember) from my past working in the harbor. I can honestly say that of the 10 I knew, I removed every single short and sea robin from every hook, netted every "close" fish that was asked to be netted, measured every fish that needed it, untangled every tangle in the group, and filleted every keeper that the 10 caught. I did this even knowing what i had coming. The group of 5 gave me $10, the two groups of 2 gave me $5 each, and the 1 guy gave me $10. I could have told you that that is what I was going to make from each of them before the boat left the dock, but I still gave the best service I was able. Assuming a $60 fare if 10 were all seniors (which most of them were not) that would mean for the 10 I knew I made $30 out of $600 (in fares) or exactly %5.
The sad reality of being a mate at this time is that most of your money will come from a select group of people you already know. Most new fares will tip well below 20% Fares are now expecting more and more from mates and are not willing to tip accordingly. If a mate wants to keep the boat in business and his job he better be able to take all the S#%T every day with a smile.
All that being said, I do fish whenever time allows on party boats that I both know and are new to me. I have met many great mates and I have met some not so great mates. I can honestly say I have never walked off a boat without tipping at least 20% OR letting the captain and mate know exactly why I didn't tip at all or up to my normal standards so that the everyone knew what I perceived as wrong or not up to snuff.
