Do you keep your catch? (Maalaea: hotel, home, buying)

[JoDan]

Does the boat keep your catch if you're fishing a charter boat? I've read it both ways.

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by JoDan

Does the boat keep your catch if you're fishing a charter boat? I've read it both ways.

It is the general practice in Hawaii. However, you could always try to negotiate that with the captain ahead of your trip.

[hothulamaui]

on maui there is only one that I know of that lets you keep your catch. I think it is strike zone

[lauleahere&there]

A well-known charter here on Moloka'i does catch and release only.

[mdand3boys]

Kinda makes one feel cheated. You pay for the boat and then the boat keeps (and sells) the fish, plus the captain, etc. all want a tip as well.

[nullgeo]

If you think about it, the charter boat system as it exists most places is not a bad one. Since the captains earn some of their living from selling the catch, they are that much more incentivised to provide the most successful trip possible on every occasion. I don't know of any charter captains who are making gobs of money. They just seem to mostly be making a fair living at it -- more often, just barely getting by. Thus they could simply charge more for a day's fishing to earn their living and cover costs of the boat, and not have any overwhelming concern with how successful the client's trip is -- or they can do it the way they do. I'm sure they'd always want to do well for the hire, but this keeping the catch gives extra incentive. And, no doubt, they'd be perfectly happy to sell you as much of the fish you catch as you want for roughly the same price as they sell to market.

[Reivax]

I have gone out of Maalaea, though this is at least 10 years ago.
Both times they were straight up front about keeping the caught fish, but that they'd happily cut up some filets for us to take back and cook at our motel. They weren't cheap or stingy about the beautiful yellowfin filets they cut for us, they wrapped it up nice for us too.
On the other trip we caught so many small dorado that we didn't need but one of them to take home and cook, we happily gave them all to the crew.
As long as everything is up front, and you know going in, I think it's OK. realistically, what in hell are you going to do with 35-40 pounds of tuna while on vacation anyhow? lol.

[winkosmosis]

Seriously? You don't get to keep your fish?

That makes no sense, since the price of a fish is so low in comparison to the dollars of a tourist.

[nullgeo]

A good charter day can bring in hundreds of pounds of fish on a boat ... x $2 -$3 - $4 a pound and more at market ... that's important money in my estimation ... running a charter boat has plenty of expense beyond the living wage for the boat owner/operator, plus crew ...

... and it has been the long-standing observation of charter captains everywhere for generations, that, as Reivax correctly observed above: "what in hell are you going to do with 35-40 pounds of tuna while on vacation anyhow?"... all the more if you catch several tuna . Sure, you can pack for cold-shipping home and pay for that, but you'd be better off buying some back at your local supermarket in Nebraska.

An exception to this is the sport salmon fishing season in SE Alaska, where folks go up and enjoy the recreation and do typically pack the fish for air-shiping back south to Washington State and a few other common states of origin for the fishermen. The costs of the trip and fishing are quite high and the value of the fish offsets that some, if one is a big fish-eater and has a good freezer. But from Hawaii, or Mexico, or the Bahamas, or Florida Keys -- nope.

[Mar0]

I've had guests at my hotel come back from fishing charters with a fillet for dinner