Chandeleur Islands

[BLACKFINTURKEY]

Well our week is here, we will be leaving out of Biloxi Thursday evening. Our weather was looking less than ideal at the beginning of last week but has appeared to improve a bit. I'm no stranger with having to reschedule because of weather as we had to do that twice the first time we went. Spoke with the captain last week and he hasn't been going at all the last few weeks and said none of the other fleets have had very good reports so I don't know what to think. Guess their has to be a first good report at some point, I'm more than willing to be a part of it.

Any last minute suggestions of things ya'll will be bringing on your upcoming trip?

Good luck! Bring extra casting fluid in case it’s tough fishing you may need to just focus on catching a buzz!

[SaltwaterSlick]

Bring stuff you can fish in floating grass with... With all this wind out there, there will be PLENTY of grass!

[SaintBlaise]

Was today your fishing day? Looks like the storms were on island.

[Mayhem]

Was today your fishing day? Looks like the storms were on island.

I think they were leaving today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rut-ro]

Anyone looking to car pool there?

If you want to hop in with us in sugar land your more than welcome to

[BLACKFINTURKEY]

If you want to hop in with us in sugar land your more than welcome to

10-4 sounds good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rut-ro]

Think we plan on pulling out between 9-10. It’s a good 6 hours to the golden nugget from my house

[panhandlehunter]

I’m getting a little prechandy trip next weekend. Me and the wife are headed to the Grosse Savanne Lodge for trout fishing.

[rut-ro]

I have only fished the salt 2 times this year. However, I’ve been stocking up for the trip. Just none more trip to anglers anonymous when the bart bays come In

[Mayhem]

@gander y’all should be back to the dock. Very curious to see how the trip went.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gander]

@gander y’all should be back to the dock. Very curious to see how the trip went.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve kinda been hesitant to post this as I would hate to effect anyone’s business in times like this but I just don’t think I can’t not post it. The trip was a mix of disappointment and a lot of good fishing with good friends. To preface this, we went with the same captain that we went with last time, Jeremy. Jeremy was outstanding and a lot more open and talkative than he was the time before. We didn’t have the same two deckhands that we had last time which was a bit disappointing because we enjoyed them so much. This time we had TJ, the owners son and another college aged kid, Chad. Chad was one of the hardest working kids his age that I’ve been around. TJ on the other hand was rarely seen and when he was seen it was the sight of him pointing Chad to do something else.

The first day we boxed about 70 trout and ten reds by 2 pm and took a quick break and went back out immediately. When we got back that evening almost 6.5-7 hours later and they started to unload our catch we were surprised by a horrible smell when they opened up the mothership fish cooler. You guessed it, they had neglected to ice down the fish from earlier. We all sat around dumbfounded and I eventually called out that they had spoiled those fish as they were trying to load our new catch into there. They said they were fine and still loaded our fish into that cooler after several of us told them not to.

The next and final day we doubled both fish numbers and ended with right at about 200 trout and 40 redfish or so. With 80 of those being originally ruined and then another 20 or so that they added to the rotten fish ghoulash that was now forming in that cooler. On the way back in they start to pull the fish out to clean them and the smell is almost unbearable, I likened it to my alligator bait I rot in a bucket for two days. The fish out of the original cooler from the first day had almost turned white. They started to clean them and my brother went out on the back deck and told them not to put those fish in our bags of fish, they just laughed and kept cleaning. They would throw the ones away that would “mash” in their grip.

By this point I was furious. We get back to the dock and put our money together for a tip. We all had agreed that no money was to go to TJ as he literally did nothing but direct Chad to do things and put the precooked meals in the oven. We tipped right at $700 as we would usually do between $1k-$1200. We had a place to stay in Gulfport so the majority of us left the boat except for 4 guys who had t paid for the place. My friend who organized this trip stayed on the boat and called me yesterday to tell me that Troy, the owner had confronted him at the end to let him know how disappointed he was in our tip amount. My friend went on to give him a brief synopsis on what all occurred, Troy eventually apologizes and says the tip was fine then but goes on to say that he smelled those fish filets and he says the were fine.

Then he goes on to let my friend know that his son, TJ, does a lot of things behind the scenes that we don’t see and cooking is an all day thing. These are pre cooked meals, or boxed jambalaya. He then goes onto say that TJ hadn’t been feeling well at the beginning of the week and now was running a fever and he was going to have him get tested for Covid. So he put his son on the boat at a time like this when he is potentially sick. So now I’m sitting at home, waiting to hear back about his results, and can’t go back to work until I do, because I did what should have been done and informed my employer that I may have been potentially exposed.

Despite the way that the owner and his son handled the entire trip, we had a blast. We are all younger guys in our late 20s to early 30s so we drink and carry on and have a good time. We are all experienced fisherman so we were successful. Both Jeremy and Chad were phenomenal and busted their rears. I will continue to fish the chandeleur islands but it will not be with that outfit.

[SaltwaterSlick]

I’ve kinda been hesitant to post this as I would hate to effect anyone’s business in times like this but I just don’t think I can’t not post it. The trip was a mix of disappointment and a lot of good fishing with good friends. To preface this, we went with the same captain that we went with last time, Jeremy. Jeremy was outstanding and a lot more open and talkative than he was the time before. We didn’t have the same two deckhands that we had last time which was a bit disappointing because we enjoyed them so much. This time we had TJ, the owners son and another college aged kid, Chad. Chad was one of the hardest working kids his age that I’ve been around. TJ on the other hand was rarely seen and when he was seen it was the sight of him pointing Chad to do something else.

The first day we boxed about 70 trout and ten reds by 2 pm and took a quick break and went back out immediately. When we got back that evening almost 6.5-7 hours later and they started to unload our catch we were surprised by a horrible smell when they opened up the mothership fish cooler. You guessed it, they had neglected to ice down the fish from earlier. We all sat around dumbfounded and I eventually called out that they had spoiled those fish as they were trying to load our new catch into there. They said they were fine and still loaded our fish into that cooler after several of us told them not to.

The next and final day we doubled both fish numbers and ended with right at about 200 trout and 40 redfish or so. With 80 of those being originally ruined and then another 20 or so that they added to the rotten fish ghoulash that was now forming in that cooler. On the way back in they start to pull the fish out to clean them and the smell is almost unbearable, I likened it to my alligator bait I rot in a bucket for two days. The fish out of the original cooler from the first day had almost turned white. They started to clean them and my brother went out on the back deck and told them not to put those fish in our bags of fish, they just laughed and kept cleaning. They would throw the ones away that would “mash” in their grip.

By this point I was furious. We get back to the dock and put our money together for a tip. We all had agreed that no money was to go to TJ as he literally did nothing but direct Chad to do things and put the precooked meals in the oven. We tipped right at $700 as we would usually do between $1k-$1200. We had a place to stay in Gulfport so the majority of us left the boat except for 4 guys who had t paid for the place. My friend who organized this trip stayed on the boat and called me yesterday to tell me that Troy, the owner had confronted him at the end to let him know how disappointed he was in our tip amount. My friend went on to give him a brief synopsis on what all occurred, Troy eventually apologizes and says the tip was fine then but goes on to say that he smelled those fish filets and he says the were fine.

Then he goes on to let my friend know that his son, TJ, does a lot of things behind the scenes that we don’t see and cooking is an all day thing. These are pre cooked meals, or boxed jambalaya. He then goes onto say that TJ hadn’t been feeling well at the beginning of the week and now was running a fever and he was going to have him get tested for Covid. So he put his son on the boat at a time like this when he is potentially sick. So now I’m sitting at home, waiting to hear back about his results, and can’t go back to work until I do, because I did what should have been done and informed my employer that I may have been potentially exposed.

Despite the way that the owner and his son handled the entire trip, we had a blast. We are all younger guys in our late 20s to early 30s so we drink and carry on and have a good time. We are all experienced fisherman so we were successful. Both Jeremy and Chad were phenomenal and busted their rears. I will continue to fish the chandeleur islands but it will not be with that outfit.

Which boat did you go out on?

[gander]

Which boat did you go out on?

Compasss Rose

[BLACKFINTURKEY]

That’s extremely disappointing to hear hopefully that was a one time bad experience sorry for yalls group.

[gander]

I forgot to also mention that another guy on the trip was talking to one of his acquaintances who went with the same outfit earlier this year. He was giving him a report on our fishing and the guy asked completely unprovoked about TJ and how he was. Went on to explain all our problems and he had almost an exact experience, minus the potentially being exposed to covid part. Said he didn’t do a single thing and just bossed around the other deckhand.