Charter Boat Etiquette

[EsoxHunter]

Going out on a charter for the first time on Lake Ontario.  What is standard for tips for the Captian and the First Mate?  What if there is only a Captian and no mate? 

 

I have heard that you tip the mate and not the Captain, but just want to make sure that we are doing right by the Charter, especially if they are friendly and put us on some fish. 

 

Thanks

[GAMBLER]

99% of the captains and mates work thier butts off to put fish in the boat for clients.  Most mates do not make much $ for the job they do either.  I would tip the mate and the captain $50.00 each minimum. 

[Dandyeyes]

I know thats most mates do make around from 50 to 100 plus tips so the mate actually makes more than the captain because they usually have nothing invested in the rig. A fair tip for the mate/captain is 10 to fifteen percent. As gambler said we will be busting our butts to put fish on for you.

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[Adk1]

I took one charter on Lake O awhile back. was a good boat a good captain etc. No complaints. was interesting though as we met the Captain on the dock next to his boat. we waited for oh maybe 5 minutes. He kept saying "My Mate" should have been here already...said it over and over, then it was the well,  Iwill try calling...nothing..then he says well, we have to head out...I kind of figured that he knew all along that his mate wasent gonna show up..which the three of us on the charter didnt really care. We helped navigate and let lines out etc.. He also got a tip, $100

Edited June 12, 2013 by Adk1

[rdebadts]

Most mates make about 5$ or so per hour before tip. Usually 10-15% (50-100) is a pretty generous tip. The captain often makes more than the mate but not much more after expenses, so good service should mean a tip or them too. Charters in NY are a fraction of what they are down south so tipping is a bit more doable up here. Just my 2 cents

[Yankee Troller]

It really depends on the situation. For example my brother and I run charters together. The boat is ours, and so are the expenses. Everything goes into the same account.

 

If you feel like they did a great job tip them both! I find it awkward when Captains have signs up about tipping. Most mates I know make between 50-100 plus half or the whole tip. It also seems like guys on the West end make more than guys on the East end. When it comes to tipping it's similar to a restaurant. If you are wow'd by the service you tip more. Even if they work their butts off for 4 fish. It's the guys who put out one set of lures and never change you want to resist from tipping.

[Fishy]

I know down on the Finger Lakes I haven't heard of those high tips being given.

[jason]

I tell my clients to just tip my mate...He the one who works hard to make your day enjoyable...I give my tips to my mate plus I pay him 10.00 a hr per trip...Good rule I go by is 10% of the total cost of the trip..

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[Has Been]

My wife & I  both worked in the restaurant industry, My wife for years as a waitress & made great money because she took good care of her tables. We overtip anyone who seems competent & is trying hard,new or not. The Downstate people were the best tippers. A pox on anyone who dosn't tip  a waitress .

 

 Went out on a head boat w/ my young son & neph in FLA on a bad day. The mate wAS Busting his but trying to get my son & neph  on fish. He appologized many times for the poor fishng . I told him thats why they call it fishing instead of catching. I handed him 40 bucks. He said he didn't feel right taking it . I feel he deserved it.

[Day Break]

I think  you have enough information on the previous emails to make a sound decision. Bottom line is you will know if someone is working hard for you no matter what the fish count is. The mate deserves a higher percentage as he should be the guy doing the majority of the work if he is any good even though he does not  have the investment. My recommendation is to pay a bigger tip if you have a super trip as there really is not much profit in this business for anyone. It is more a passion for something you love than a profit making business!

[A-TOM-MIK Pro Denny]

i mate on a couple boats and i work for tips and i work my but off alot and at the end of the day i cant count how many days were i walked away with 20 dollers and i still had to put money in my gas tank.. the way i explain it is this a good mate shows up an hour early to get the rods ready and make sure everything is rigged right and all the rods are in order then we go out for 6-8 hours fishing from then is when im back n forth switching lures and and trying differnt ways to put fish in the boat. then when the day is over we come in and i clean all the fish caught i will not let anyone else clean my clients fish thats just me i like cleaning fish and i know the clients i take out like me cleaning there fish. then im at the boat for about another hour after the cleint leaves taking care of the boat and cleaning.  i put alot of time and work into being the mate. and if i have the money i do buy tackle for the boat and i even bring a couple of my own rods on the boat with me. i take it serious but i know how to have fun doing it. in all if your a good mate and can show your clients a good time well helping them catch fish you will get good tips. my average tip is 100 dollars but i do get the days were you get 20 -30 dollar tips. and i have days were i get 2-250 dollar tips. alot of it is the effort you put in. and how the cleint feels at the end of the day. another way to look at tipping is think of it like this you go out to dinner you see your waitress maybe a total of what 5 mins. and if shes nice and right there for you, you give her a 10-15% tip. well the mate is with you for 6-8 hours. thats along time.. ik the ocean mates make 20-25 %. thats just my opinion.. on the whole thing i guess.. sorry i just kinda rambled on here. haha

[Captain Carl Bish]

Fished a charter in the keys this last spring....tipped both the mate and the captain $100@

[Hookedup]

I know down on the Finger Lakes I haven't heard of those high tips being given.

All depends on the boat like stated above.  We bust our a$$ on my boat on the Finger Lakes and treat people the way they want to be treated.  I have walked away from several trips with a tip bigger than what the trip cost, some folks are big tippers.  Just give what you feel is right and have a great time.  Like Yankee said watch out for the guy who puts out a few riggs and dosnt look back till the end of the trip had that happen to me out of Sodus once.  Most of the guys do a great job if they didn't love it they wouldn't do it long.  Sean

[Shade]

It all depends on the Charter your on. I fished Lake O in the 70's and when we came back in 2006 we did 4 charters to see what changed. I took 2 charters out of Olcott and both were ugly. The one was lucky he got paid. When they say 1/2 a day...means 1/2 a day. It was a 45 minute ride to his spot and 45 minutes back. We left at 7am back in dock at 11am. NO TIPS.

Then we did 2 charters at the Oak. Both on the same boat. This captain does not make you pay for a ride. Fishing started when the last pole was set and ended when the last pole came out. Boxed out both times and had ball. Friendly, funny and talkative. This guy and his dad worked their butts off. Bagged every fish and took pictures for us and Fished 4+ hours. These are the charters you tip and recommend.

Shade

[lakebound88]

Tipping is a touchy subject to some boats.. I have clients ask how much should they tip the mate. I do not give a number. I say like stated above, if you feel like they deserve a nice cut, by all means have at it. Lately, I have had to do many trips, sometimes without a mate. Not preferred but helps. I work my butt off out there just like any other captain. If a client feels they have had a great, safe enjoyable trip, the tips show.....

I see someone said captains make out great.. for some of us it barely covers owning a boat!

Nick

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[John E Powell]

One recommendation on tipping, I suggest you give the mate their tip directly, but do so in the presence of the captain. This keeps things on the up and up between you and the captain and their mate and avoids any hard feelings in the future if you return for another trip and one of the crew held out or lied to the other.

Last summer I took a trip out of Truro and had some fantastic fishing. The captain was a cranky sob but the mate was fantastic. We had such a good time we gave the captain his charter fee plus a modest tip (due to his abrasive demeanor) and a separate $200 tip for the mate who was back at the boat cleaning up (we were at the car loading up).

We had such a good time we later decided to extend our trip and take another trip with them. When we arrived, we found the mate in a decidedly poor mood. After a couple hours of a comparable cold shoulder from the mate I inquired if something was wrong and after a little prodding found out that the mate was disappointed with the twenty ($20) tip he got from us on the last trip. That's right, the captain skimmed 90% of our tip and told his mate that we only have him twenty and that the captain being a good guy have him another twenty out of his charter fee money.

The captain was stiffing his mate at clients' expense and then giving money supposedly from his pocket to keep his mate happy thinking the captain was looking out for him.

As you might imagine, the day was not too much fun and it all blew up once we returned to the dock. Shouting, F bombs, etc. mate quitting, being told by Mr. Personality (the captain) that he'd blackball us with every captain he knew for talking to the mate about the previous trip's tip.

What we hoped would be another great day of fishing turned into one of the ugliest experiences of my life.

[devilfishIII]

Come fish with us John! $200 top wow..as a mate 40 seems to be average and im more than happy with it. I get 20 a lot which hey cover my gas on my hour drive to the boat. Getting nothing sucks but happens. 60 is very generous...save the 200 to book another trip that'll make em happy too

[Absolut40]

The Captain we fish with every year gets a $100.00 tip between 4 guys.He has no mate and cleans and bags our fish at the end of the trip.Some years we box out and others we dont but it doesnt matter because each year he works his butt off for us and hes not afraid to burn some gas and head off shore if thats where the bite is.

[John E Powell]

Come fish with us John! $200 top wow..as a mate 40 seems to be average and im more than happy with it. I get 20 a lot which hey cover my gas on my hour drive to the boat. Getting nothing sucks but happens. 60 is very generous...save the 200 to book another trip that'll make em happy too

Yah sounds like a lot, but was 5 guys at $40 each so not that much considering this was a $1k all day offshore trip that started well before sunrise and we arrived back at the dock a bit after dinner.

[rolmops]

I have a hard time understanding why either a mate or a captain should be dependent on customer's moods to get proper pay for a hard day's work. They deserve a decent income without being dependent on somebody's good or bad moods. The tipping system makes it possible for the captain to pay his mate less than minimum wages and also encourages tax evasion. Neither is a good thing.

I would suggest that the price for a charter includes all expenses accompanied by a receipt. If on top of that you wish to give a tip you are more than welcome to do so, but nobody's income should depend on it.

Cornelis.

[John E Powell]

I have a hard time understanding why either a mate or a captain should be dependent on customer's moods to get proper pay for a hard day's work. They deserve a decent income without being dependent on somebody's good or bad moods.

 

On our trip described above, the curmudgeonly captain got his "proper pay" - his charter fee. Out of good will, we added in a modest tip on the first trip. The mate on the other hand arrived at the boat about one-and-a-half hours before the trip (as we did) and invited us aboard and got us settled in. Without asking, he slipped away into the cabin later to produce hot coffee and his wife's home-made from scratch cinnamon buns warmed drizzled with melting glaze. Throughout the day, he regularly anticipated our questions and needs in a way that rivaled MASH's Radar O'Riley. On the way out, he casually interviewed us to determine our experience levels and then coached the novices among our party in the various techniques we would be using that day. He had us practice tying up some rigs, taught us how to rig our baits, and coached us on the operation of the various rod/reel combos we would be using. He dried the morning dew off of every surface we might touch (he literally had a large plastic tote of towels he brought from home each day). In the few slow times between bites, he'd sing one of his fishing songs in Portugese to "regain favor with the fish gods". These were just some of the small things he did every day as part of his routine to make his captain's customers feel welcomed aboard and at home. It was his nature to be a gracious humble host and by the end of the trip we all felt like me had made a new friend in him.

 

Considering his day started 90 minutes or so before the captain arrived (and literally walked on the boat and left the dock without even saying good morning to us) his day probably lasted 16-17 hours, 14 of which were on the boat with us making every effort to make our trip enjoyable as possible. That works out to be $12-13/hour.

 

We would have paid him that even if his attentiveness and service to us was more basic and in fact we gave him the same tip on the second trip - though that time directly to him. I should also clarify that the five of us decided and agreed well in advance that our mate's tip would be $200 based on the length of the trip, and the captains tip, would be treated like we were being invited out on a friends boat and we'd cover the expenses, (like if we lost a lot of tackle that he would have to replace, or he had to run all over the place to find and keep us on fish using up a lot of extra gas). His charter fee would be his professional income. This has always worked well for us. One of us will ask the mate what he feels the expense was for any lost gear or tackle, and as fisherman we have a pretty good idea of what it costs to operate various boats. Any above the basic expenses will always get recompensed in the captains tip.

[rail bird]

On the charters that I have gone on I have tipped the mate directly at least 15%. Most of the time more. I have only tipped the Captain once when he kept us out for extra time. If the captain was alone acting as the mate then of course he would get tipped as a mate would but otherwise the captain sets the price of trip and should be able to decide what he is willing to go out for.  

[YodaMage]

Generally if you price a product, you price it with a margin. If you didn't, your fault. 

 

While I give a bonus (preferred language to a tip, as I don't believe most professions deserve a tip) for many reasons to almost anyone from the guy who works on my car, to the girls at my sons daycare, it should have nothing to do with being needed to make a living.

[brucehookedup]

I run a autopilot like most of the guys i work with. My clients usually tip 20$ a man on a four man trip. Yes there are much better tips, but that is the average. That is for a 5hr or a 8hr trip. Do i bust my balls to get bites? Yep, sure do and they know it.

[screamin_reelz]

As a mate I would say tip according to service.  Just remember its fishing.  If you see us changing rods consistently but the fish are not biting we are still doing our job.  I know when i go to dinner i give a generous tip if my service is great.  We remember good clients but always remember the bad ones...  And as per pay, many of us are paid min wage. we ALL work for our tip.  Don't forget to ask too if the tip is being split with the Capt.  That was the mate is not being f$%$ over.