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Lake Erie Charter fishing

Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,172
201
NW Ohio Tundra
Tougher day out there today but still managed 124 lbs of fish. 2 boats, 10 guys. We got a 27 and a 31 inch fish off my boat today. Blue and chrome was the best color all day for us.

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Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,172
201
NW Ohio Tundra
Had 3 days in a row booked for a YEAR with Wisconsin guys that have been fishing with me for the previous 2 years and have had some awesome coolers of fish. Well they completely stood me up and I lost 3 days of fishable weather in the prime month of April on Lake Erie. They never called or made contact with me saying they weren't coming. A little over a month ago I was told they were coming. Pretty damn shitty of them to do what they did. And I didn't get a down payment from them because they fished with me 2 years in a row and I considered them stand up guys. Complete bullshit. I text one of the guys and could see that he read my message. Not even a response apologizing. :cautious: never had this happen in 7 years of running this business.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,691
177
Ohio
Sorry to hear it. Courtesy never costs anyone anything. It is really shitty that they didn't even give you a heads-up so you could try to fill in the time. People just suck, mostly. I've been fucked like this a couple of times, and it cost me thousands of dollars with no real recourse. It is the price you pay for being too trusting in business. What I learned was that with certain circumstances, certain amounts of my time at stake, and the amount money involved required a tangible commitment from folks, no matter how much I trusted them. In some cases I'm sure I offended customers by demanding a non-refundable monetary commitment. Sometimes people have to wait several months to get work done by me, and a whole lot can happen in that amount of time. It has been my position that if somebody is reluctant to give me some piece of mind, then fuck them. They can find some other sap to take advantage of. You have to cover your ass when you're in business for yourself or you will get fucked once in a while without a kiss first or proper lubrication.
 

Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,172
201
NW Ohio Tundra
My policy is a 200 dollar down payment from people that I've never booked before to hold the date. And almost always get it from repeat customers as well. I learned my lesson here. Down payment 100 percent of the time to get on my calendar. I dont mind giving a refund if the weather doesn't allow us to fish.
 

Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
Part of business that we try to protect ourselves from. I was once trying to collect $32k from one of my customers. I showed up at his front door. As I entered the office he runs out the back door, gets into his truck, and drives away. It took me a year to finally get paid in installment payments meanwhile he finally went out of business. One of my more memorable business episodes. I had to chase down money for job successfully completed. It sucks but reality.
 

Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,172
201
NW Ohio Tundra
Fished both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Was the toughest 2 days so far this year. Managed 15 fish Saturday with some nice fish and 22 Sunday. Weather conditions were not good either day for the most part. We had 1 good hour of biting Saturday when we boated 10 of out 15 fish between 2 and 3 pm. Other than that it was a slow day. Yesterday started out with heavy rain and wind and ended up with some breeze and sun.

Here are a few highlights from Saturday.

I did not take any pictures Sunday. Back at it again this Friday with a trip, a double on Saturday, and another on Sunday to close out the week. Hope the weather straightens up by Thursday.

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Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,172
201
NW Ohio Tundra
20 fish today. Tough bite. Full moon. They started biting at 1130 this morning finally. Typical full moon bite. Got a 6 man again tomorrow. East / northeast winds all weekend dont seem to help. Tons of fish out there. Just gotta be there when they decide to bite.