The charter/party industry...

[sportfishingusa]

Originally Posted by Treble Hook Jim

I did not waste my time reading all the pages of responses but here is my 2 cents...when all things are equal, all prices can be equal. Not all boats are equal and either are captains or crew. I would gladly pay more to be on a boat that will get me to the grounds faster and has a crew that works hard. I was recently on a sponsor boat that was open for the day and the boat never went more than a couple miles from the marina, never burned any fuel or got the boat more that 8-10 knots and all we caught were short fluke and all the mate did was fish the entire time. Where as I fished the Mad Gaffer, and captain ray burns fuel, goes wherever necessary and will keep you out late, billy the mate busts his ass and as a result, I have since chartered his boat several times.bottow line, you are comparing apples and oranges... You are not going to pay the same price for Hyundai as you would a Lexus would you???

I wouldn't buy a hyundai. hahaha kidding.. Your right in that aspect, but what i am trying to say, if that if your trying to get into the business, trying to get started, starting at the same rates as most boats in the area will put you in their market and allow you to make more money doing so. Market research has shown and proving countless times throughout the ages, that if you take the same product, be it a 5 dollar apple corer, and charge 10 instead of five, more people will buy at 10 because they think it is a better product yet it is the same crap 5 dollar product.


People can go on a cheaper boat, might get just as good if not better quality of fishing and service, but why not optimize your potential to earn and profit then ride the tide and hope to build your business. I am a cheap guy, not extremely frugal but cheap, but i know what i am willing to spend. I do not fish near as much, not because i dont want to, but i dont have the time and yes i admit, it is hard to continue to pay the 125 plus a head plus tip more then a few times a month, or my wife would really take my man hood away, i can only hide so much money. hahah

[LegalEyes]

Save a few bucks, buy your own airline tickets and skip the timeshare hard sell.

Cross threading... both issues solved

[rumster]

I wouldn't buy a hyundai. hahaha kidding.. Your right in that aspect, but what i am trying to say, if that if your trying to get into the business, trying to get started, starting at the same rates as most boats in the area will put you in their market and allow you to make more money doing so. Market research has shown and proving countless times throughout the ages, that if you take the same product, be it a 5 dollar apple corer, and charge 10 instead of five, more people will buy at 10 because they think it is a better product yet it is the same crap 5 dollar product.

I find the apple corer analogy a little insulting. As a consumer it doesn`t take long to realize who is doing a good job for you and who is not, regardless of price. As a pb operator or pc operator if you were getting gouged on the price that you pay for gas or bait you would be the 1st one to complain. So here you are openly looking to have an entire industry raise prices on a forum that a large number of your customers are derived from regardless of the service or knowledge of that particular captain. That is not very smart.

[Ol Pedro]

Could it be that there are so many part timers with 6 pac tickets ? We all know at least one guy in our Inlet that does it because It's an extention of his hobby . He just wants to write off his boat/expenses and fish when he wants to . Carry a few charters/open partys break even. Most of the part timers that I know are good people who fish hard and need the money. attrition doesn't work if it's not a major part of your Living Expenses .

[sportfishingusa]

Originally Posted by Ol Pedro

Could it be that there are so many part timers with 6 pac tickets ? We all know at least one guy in our Inlet that does it because It's an extention of his hobby . He just wants to write off his boat/expenses and fish when he wants to . Carry a few charters/open partys break even. Most of the part timers that I know are good people who fish hard and need the money. attrition doesn't work if it's not a major part of your Living Expenses .

That is what i am getting at here and mostly everyones comments are falling into the same area. I have brought this up before.. why do people sell themselves short? If you are charging 100 per man for a 6 pack and the guy next marina over is charging 125-140 why would you not charge more and be up to par with everyone else? The answers is simple, they do not need to do that much per day to cover their costs since likely they are either not looking at a full time gig or they are not looking to do anything but fish. So why do it? Take cape may for instance, used to be one of the largest striped bass fleets down there, everyone did it and for good money, then the little part time and even some full time guys came in and took a dump on the industry, now it was the old "why fish with boat 1 for 130 a guy, when i can go and fish with boat 2, for 60 bucks for 5 hours.. the difference is clear i most eyes yet some do not see it.

I also see pretty good fishermen come into the industry and sell themselves short. why charge 100 per guy for an inshore trip when you can get 125-140 or whatever all day long? why not make the most you can out of our short shitty seasons up here?

Same with offshore, why charge 2500 for an overnighter when you can charger 3300-3800 and make more money and be up to par with everyone else?

[Flukinator]

What about the full-timers who charge more than everyone else and are still booked solid all season-long? All the part-time captains could charge 20 bucks a head for a tuna trip, and the Canyon Runner would still be booked solid all season. Don't blame some guys with low prices for "ruining" an industry. The local fishing industry has WAY more issues stacked against it, including non-sensical regulations, a changing society where fishing just isn't as popular as it once was, more environmentalists spreading anti-fishing non-sense, etc.

Price-fixing is certainly not the answer to saving anyone's business.

[sportfishingusa]

Originally Posted by Flukinator

What about the full-timers who charge more than everyone else and are still booked solid all season-long? All the part-time captains could charge 20 bucks a head for a tuna trip, and the Canyon Runner would still be booked solid all season. Don't blame some guys with low prices for "ruining" an industry. The local fishing industry has WAY more issues stacked against it, including non-sensical regulations, a changing society where fishing just isn't as popular as it once was, more environmentalists spreading anti-fishing non-sense, etc.

Price-fixing is certainly not the answer to saving anyone's business.

your comparing apples to oranges throwing a name like that out there... might point is not that, my point is why charge less for a service you could get more for? what is the reason? it sure as shit is not because anyones costs are less, and if they are that much less, then why not try to make as much as you can. And you can sure blame guys who charge out of control low prices for ruining an industry.. The bass fishery in cape may has not changed, but try to find boat that does not have to run open boats and go with a few guys here and there to keep busy.

[MrAC1980]

What do you think is better? Going out with 3 guys paying $125 or 6 guys paying $100 bucks? Some of the captains need to have a better understanding of business. Give the guys who sign up a break saying if we fill the Charter it'll be cheaper and actually hand money back to them! Or run cheaper rates during the week vs weekend rates. That'll get them to entice their friends to maybe join for the cheaper rate as well.
I'm a private boat owner so haven't run the numbers for insurance and slip fees, but it can't be costing anywhere near $750 to run inshore fluke, seabass/blackfish trips...?

[sportfishingusa]

Originally Posted by MrAC1980

What do you think is better? Going out with 3 guys paying $125 or 6 guys paying $100 bucks? Some of the captains need to have a better understanding of business. Give the guys who sign up a break saying if we fill the Charter it'll be cheaper and actually hand money back to them! Or run cheaper rates during the week vs weekend rates. That'll get them to entice their friends to maybe join for the cheaper rate as well.
I'm a private boat owner so haven't run the numbers for insurance and slip fees, but it can't be costing anywhere near $750 to run inshore fluke, seabass/blackfish trips...?

think it is better to not sail then go with 3 at 125. lol


You got to take these costs.

Fuel
Bait
Oil
oil filter
insurance
slip
payroll (mate)
tax
boat cost (if any payments)


There is a lot of dollars and sense... i understand not everyone can sail every single day with 6 guys at 125 or 140 bucks a head, but if you can sail with 6 guys at 100 why not charge "industry" standard and make some more money for the days you sail or the days you have to sail light?

[sportfishingusa]

and finally it took one post like this to liven up the crowd hahahah