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]

Originally Posted by 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?

#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]

Originally Posted by 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

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!!