CAPTAIN WILLIAM WICKERS III FROM THE CHARTER BOAT LINDA D V.
A group of 6 of us went out on this charter boat in Jan 2011. Yes we caught fish. We caught 9 kingfish, 3 dolphin fish, and a 25 lb Wahoo. While we were fishing, I told the first mate that we wanted to catch and release the rest of the fish that we caught for the day. The first mate would not hear of it! I was a little pissed because we paid for this fishing charter. If we want to catch and release, then so be it!
When we returned to the dock, the first mate (I think his name was Dan) filleted the fish. He gave us our three dolphin fish and told us that those were more than enough for us. (We had a total of 11 in our party). I asked him about the kingfish and he said it is not that good to eat. He however did fillet one of the king fish for us.
I asked what he was going to do with the remaining fish and he told me that he was going to sell it for 'cat food'. I then said that we wanted to catch and release when we were out fishing and asked why he refused to let us do that. I told him that if he was only going to get $1.50 per lb for this fish to be made into cat food, then I would rather see the fish released after the catch. His response; ""cat's need to eat too."" What a joke!
After this comment I noticed that we still had the 25 lb wahoo that had not been filleted. I asked why it was not filleted for us and the first mate said well you didn?t ask. I told him ?I?m asking now.? He did fillet it and bag it; however when I went and looked it was only HALF of the fish. I asked him what about the other half and he said ?I thought that half would be enough for you.? I then said ?FILLET IT, WE WANT IT.? How much clearer could I have been!
It was a battle to get our fish cleaned by these guys. I?m not sure how aware the Captain of the boat was on what was going on. But I will NEVER recommend these scam artists to anyone. We ALL felt like we were being scammed. I have been on other fishing charters and have NEVER had to ask to have my fish cleaned and bagged for me. It has always just been done and there is never any picking and choosing by the first mate as to which fish get cleaned and filleted.
We had paid them a nice tip prior to the fish being cleaned. I wish we would have waited to give them a tip because they would have gotten ZERO!
We also asked around afterwards about the Kingfish and were told the Kingfish are excellent eating! We were told we had been scammed. I also read this on the internet: ?king mackerel are primarily marketed fresh. They may be sold as fillets, steaks, or in the round (whole).?
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