Chandeleur Islands

[johnpaul]

I also can’t for the life of me understand why they wouldn’t ice down the fish in this heat. Unless you are going to clean them right now it’s a must, not to mention cold fish are easier to clean.

We are going to ice down fish, it I have to do it myself.


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I was on this trip and was shocked at this as well. It's bad enough that they sit in the "livewell" basically dead the entire morning/afternoon but there isn't much you can do about that situation. There isn't room for a big fish cooler on the boat. The fish coolers should have had ice in them before fish were ever put in there to have them pre-cooled. Without ice in there you are basically throwing the fish in an oven.

[johnpaul]

Aside from the fish getting ruined it was a cool trip. Down south paddle tail lures in blue moon 24-30" under a Mansfield mauler in 3-5' of water on the grass beds were the ticket for me. 5 or 6 real quick pops while keep your line tight and bait about a foot below the water worked really well. About half of the time they'd come swirl while you were popping it and the other half of the time they'd hit it on the fall. I couldn't buy a bite on topwater but probably caught 90 fish with this method. About half of them were dink trout.

[rut-ro]

I also can’t for the life of me understand why they wouldn’t ice down the fish in this heat. Unless you are going to clean them right now it’s a must, not to mention cold fish are easier to clean.

We are going to ice down fish, it I have to do it myself.


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You right about that

[rut-ro]

It seems its a common occurrence for these boats to swap crew. Im sure charlie can second this but Ive been on the VI three times and its been a different set of hands each time and a two different captains. The second trip I was informed the previous hands were on another boat only to return the third.

Hate to hear about those fish and even more to hear complaining about a tip. The tip is just that, AND ITS EARNED. I dont care if its a steakhouse or a fishing trip. I tip well IF YA EARN IT.

Been there too. Had Austin and Aubrey as captain and deckhands they were awesome. Next group had different guys and had a terrible trip.

[Quackerbox]

Been there too. Had Austin and Aubrey as captain and deckhands they were awesome. Next group had different guys and had a terrible trip.

I'd fish on any boat that Austin was at the helm of. And Id just about bet we wouldnt have had the issues we did on our last trip had they not swapped captains at the last minute. We remain in contact with Austin and next time I get a trip together Im calling him first.

[SaintBlaise]

Hate to hear about the fish, but apparently y’all caught a good amount.

I would hope Capt Troy gets this under control for his business sake.


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It doesn't seem like Cpt Troy knows how to run a business. When someone doesn't tip enough the warning signs are there, he should have asked a different set of questions. Like, is there a problem with our service, and how can we make it better. You don't blame your cash paying customers.

What was the go to bait?

[rut-ro]

I'd fish on any boat that Austin was at the helm of. And Id just about bet we wouldnt have had the issues we did on our last trip had they not swapped captains at the last minute. We remain in contact with Austin and next time I get a trip together Im calling him first.

If you have extra spots when you do I will gladly fill one or two

[Mayhem]

Aside from the fish getting ruined it was a cool trip. Down south paddle tail lures in blue moon 24-30" under a Mansfield mauler in 3-5' of water on the grass beds were the ticket for me. 5 or 6 real quick pops while keep your line tight and bait about a foot below the water worked really well. About half of the time they'd come swirl while you were popping it and the other half of the time they'd hit it on the fall. I couldn't buy a bite on topwater but probably caught 90 fish with this method. About half of them were dink trout.

Blue moon in the burner shad has become one of my favorite colors lately.


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[gander]

I was also under the impression that Troy captained these trips. I guess he subs that out sometimes.


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Troy is typically the captain but had told us he was going to let Jeremy captain us because between Covid and poor weather he wanted to get his crew some money. We were completely fine with that because Jeremy is who captained is on our last trip and he did a good job both times. I’m not sure that Troy would have done anything to increase the effort by his son because the acquaintance who went with them earlier this year and had the same experience from TJ was captained by Troy.

Again, overall we had a great time and don’t really need incredible service, just the complete lack of effort by the son, the rotting and complete waste of 80+ fish and then potential exposure to coronavirus is what caused me to report this. To top that off, when I spoke with Troy after, he quickly tried to turn it on us and tried to complain about stuff that said we did “without permission “.

Like I said, I was tempted to not say anything and had just planned on contacting him to explain why the tip was so low because he took it upon himself to call out my buddy on it. I felt like he needed to know everything from our side and that if he doesn’t do something to change his son’s attitude and work ethic that he will probably find himself in more situations like we had and with fewer return clients.

[Mayhem]

Troy is typically the captain but had told us he was going to let Jeremy captain us because between Covid and poor weather he wanted to get his crew some money. We were completely fine with that because Jeremy is who captained is on our last trip and he did a good job both times. I’m not sure that Troy would have done anything to increase the effort by his son because the acquaintance who went with them earlier this year and had the same experience from TJ was captained by Troy.

Again, overall we had a great time and don’t really need incredible service, just the complete lack of effort by the son, the rotting and complete waste of 80+ fish and then potential exposure to coronavirus is what caused me to report this. To top that off, when I spoke with Troy after, he quickly tried to turn it on us and tried to complain about stuff that said we did “without permission “.

Like I said, I was tempted to not say anything and had just planned on contacting him to explain why the tip was so low because he took it upon himself to call out my buddy on it. I felt like he needed to know everything from our side and that if he doesn’t do something to change his son’s attitude and work ethic that he will probably find himself in more situations like we had and with fewer return clients.

I appreciate the honesty. What do you need permission to do???


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[gander]

I appreciate the honesty. What do you need permission to do???


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We were shark fishing off the back of the boat and hooked a keeper size shark. We usually just cut them loose but one of the guys had never had shark and wanted to try it. We were trying to figure out how we were going to dispatch it and the same guy said he had his carry weapon in his bag. So he asked the captain in front of all of us if he could shoot it in the head with the .22 mag before pulling it on the back deck. He said sure, just don’t shoot a bunch and only straight down. It was dispatched and that was the end of that. All the while TJ was standing on the back deck as well watching and laughing.

Troy used that as his argument that we weren’t following rules and things he didn’t allow on his boat. The only reason the pistol was on the boat in the first place was the guy didn’t want to leave it in his truck in the parking lot and we asked and given permission by two different crew members before it ever left his bag.

[Mayhem]

We were shark fishing off the back of the boat and hooked a keeper size shark. We usually just cut them loose but one of the guys had never had shark and wanted to try it. We were trying to figure out how we were going to dispatch it and the same guy said he had his carry weapon in his bag. So he asked the captain in front of all of us if he could shoot it in the head with the .22 mag before pulling it on the back deck. He said sure, just don’t shoot a bunch and only straight down. It was dispatched and that was the end of that. All the while TJ was standing on the back deck as well watching and laughing.

Troy used that as his argument that we weren’t following rules and things he didn’t allow on his boat. The only reason the pistol was on the boat in the first place was the guy didn’t want to leave it in his truck in the parking lot and we asked and given permission by two different crew members before it ever left his bag.

Pretty safe to say Troy is taking TJ’s word as the gospel.


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[rut-ro]

Hey Gander, anyone else from your trip get sick or just the Capt?

[gander]

Hey Gander, anyone else from your trip get sick or just the Capt?

Funny you should ask that. Come to find out when the Captain came to see us off Thursday and shook all of our hands and wished us good look that weekend, he had just before that gone and gotten tested for Covid himself but still came and interacted with us? I ended up having to take an additional 3 days off of work waiting to hear back about his son's test. Both apparently tested negative although I don't think they would have told us had they tested positive or not from how the trip had already gone and what was at stake if they had knowingly done that. I understand that this virus has effected many people financially, me included, but I don't think there is any excuse to put two people in contact with a group of people (paying customers for that matter) that may be infected with a virus like that.

Good luck to everyone going with them in the near future. The Chandeleurs are an incredible place and the boat is a beautiful, nice boat. Hopefully for him he can figure out his "crew/son". I know he's aware of this post and maybe it will be eye opening to not only him, but his son. He's in the service industry and there's about a dozen other companies out there providing the same service that I'd assume don't conduct themselves in the same manner.

[rut-ro]

Funny you should ask that. Come to find out when the Captain came to see us off Thursday and shook all of our hands and wished us good look that weekend, he had just before that gone and gotten tested for Covid himself but still came and interacted with us? I ended up having to take an additional 3 days off of work waiting to hear back about his son's test. Both apparently tested negative although I don't think they would have told us had they tested positive or not from how the trip had already gone and what was at stake if they had knowingly done that. I understand that this virus has effected many people financially, me included, but I don't think there is any excuse to put two people in contact with a group of people (paying customers for that matter) that may be infected with a virus like that.

Good luck to everyone going with them in the near future. The Chandeleurs are an incredible place and the boat is a beautiful, nice boat. Hopefully for him he can figure out his "crew/son". I know he's aware of this post and maybe it will be eye opening to not only him, but his son. He's in the service industry and there's about a dozen other companies out there providing the same service that I'd assume don't conduct themselves in the same manner.

Thanks for the update. I just saw where he posted a crew position