dana point for private boaters? what a JOKE!

oceanjake · May-21-2005, 07:37 PM

this morning my father and i decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather we've been having by spending a day on the water out of dana point on his skipjack. growing up, my family had a boat in that harbor and we had nothing but fond memories. unfortunately, the day started out in a poor light thanks entirely to the fine folks at dana wharf sportfishing paired with the poor management philosophies of bait receiver in dana point. here's what happened...

we launched with no problems at all and headed over to the bait receiver to load up on ammo for hammering the fish. there was a cattleboat already at the dock so we figured we'd be in for a little wait, since they typically take on a lot of bait to accomodate the passengers. no biggie....i just began to rig my rods. ahead of us in line was another private boater and behind us was a nice looking parker. as we pulled up to wait in line, the dana pride meandered over. all four of the boats floated in limbo while waiting for the current charterboat to finish business.

then instant that boat pulled away, the dana pride in all its glory jumped in front of everyone...pretty much pushing the three private boats waiting ahead of her out of its way. that pretty much sucked...but what are you gonna do, right? as we waited the fifteen or twenty minutes it took for the dana pride to bait up, another boat--Helena-- pulled up behind the line of waiting private boaters, which now was about 7 or 8 boats long. let me just say that helena didn't skip a beat in pushing right in after the dana pride, and when protests were heard from some of the waiting private boaters, the skipper actually started to laugh. what a complete lack of professionalism!

another fifteen minutes or so passed, and helena was finally done. wouldn't it figure that there was yet another dana wharf boat ready to skip in there. this time, even though the bait receiver was ready to take it, we headed in for OUR turn. all we wanted for this particular was was a measly half scoop. while talking to the hands on the bait dock, they informed us that dana wharf has a special contract with them that gives them priority over all other boats. while relaying this info, a very small bit of sympathy was heard. it's obvious that the situation just plain sucks. he went on to say that no amount of letter writing or complaints to the owner of the bait facility would make a difference because dana wharf does $80,000/month of business with them and private boaters obviously do not. simple economics, right? WRONG. cutting in line is flat out NOT ok to do. it's a basic concept that is taught very early on in life. just because you CAN do it without getting in trouble doesn't make it right. it's the same thing as if a big kid cuts in front of a smaller kid in the lunch line just because he can.

here's where things are really twisted: cattleboat skippers are constantly complaining that private boaters don't respect them. private boaters follow them around to locate fish. private boaters crowd them. private boaters steal their chumline. the list goes on and on. all of the complaints allege that private boaters somehow don't show any respect for them or their business. well GUESS WHAT???? you have to show respect to get it in return. we all know the dana wharf boats....they have their names slapped right on their bows for all to see....from this point forward when i see them they will get zero respect from me. i'll follow the letter of the law when it comes to navigation, safety, and the like...but any sort of professional courtesy is out the window.

i'm going to forward a copy of this post to the owner and/or management of dana wharf in hopes of drawing some sort of professional response from them. if no concession is made on their behalf though, i'd urge other people to remember this post the next time you cross paths with them on the fishing grounds.

rather than just have this post be a whining session, i offer these solutions to dana wharf if they would like to be a stand-up company:

1)bait up the night before, thereby staying out of the way of others AND saving your paying passengers time sitting at the dock when they could be fishing

2)before loading passengers in the morning, head over to the dock and wait like everyone else....returning after baiting up with nice warm engines ready for a day of fishing. this would require the skippers to take extra time out of their days to actually be polite though...not what most charter skippers are known for. note: dana wharf sportfishing is located about a hundred yards from the bait dock. this is not an outrageous idea.

3)install your own bait reciever located at your own private dock.

thoughts and comments welcome....the ocean is a shared resource though. there will always be private boaters, and to every hundred private boaters there will always be a charter boat. we can either be respectful towards each other or we can handle ourselves in the fine example set by dana wharf.

dana wharf: we'll wait for your reply.

Par · May-21-2005, 07:47 PM

How was the fishing?

Calico · May-21-2005, 08:17 PM

Well said but the bottom line is $$$$$$$$$.

oceanjake · May-21-2005, 08:24 PM

fishing was ok. got the typical bass action. pulled a nice leopard shark and released of course. made a couple macks and trolled unsuccessfully for the threshers that are out there.

the bottom line for the bait receiver is $$$$$. no argument there. i wouldn't fault them at all for what THEY do. the bottom line for dana wharf however is respect, especially since charter skippers NEVER quit whining about the injustices inflicted on them by the evil private boaters. hypocracy....

Swazi · May-21-2005, 08:27 PM

Don't hold your breath....

This kind of thing has been going on in Dana Pt. for as long as I remember. If you just have to fish out of Dana Pt. get there early and bait up.

Had my own run ins with the Embarcadero and I simply refuse to launch out of Dana Pt. ever again.

?? fisherman · May-21-2005, 09:07 PM

as much as I would like to side with ya I cant as your arguement just doesnt hold water. Sure we are taught as kids not to take cuts and so forth, but you also learn from a young age that in certain situations there are certain privlages and this by all means is one of them, think about it for a minute, its the same as the paid for diamond lane on the freeway where someone pays a fee and gets the privlage of balzing by those who dont have the special card, or those who get a VIP pass at a event and get in the door ahead of those who dont have one, or when you call and make reservations at a restaraunt and get seated before those who didnt.

There is absolutely no reason to be pissed at the sportboat owners for what they did as they have an agreement with the bait barge and do buisness with them on a daily/weekly/monthy basis.

I belive you have a right to be pissed and angry but just not towards the sportboat owners.

The bait barge owner is who you and the other private boaters should bitch too as they should have a seperate line for the sporties and private boaters at the times when the sporties load up on bait.

Sorry about what happened to ya but comming from a perfectly honest outside opinion I see no wrong by the sporties in what was done and feel your anger should be shifted towards the bait barge operater to handle the situation a little better at the times when the sporties line up for bait.

EDIT- Then again I dont fish out of Dana so maybe this bait barge isnt capable of doing what I suggested.

The unknown fisherman :p

tail slapper · May-21-2005, 09:08 PM

You may want to send that letter to E bros bait company in La Mesa. I think the land would give a rats but how you feel. Remember its a sportie and you and competeing with his check. Just me 2 cent worth of da bling bling.

Double Z · May-21-2005, 09:18 PM

Same. If I was on a sportie (not going to happen anytime soon!!!!!!!!!!). I would want them to have priority. They are limited on time and need to get out. I would get there before or after them if you don't want to wait. If I got hosed like you did I'd probably think about not leaving at that time EVER again. How can you expect a business to push an account like that aside for a $5 tip? And I tip everytime. I have a lot of respect for the bait guys. The more the sporties pay, the better my bait is.

shinerunner · May-21-2005, 09:25 PM

We had 3 sportys and a forth swing in at EB's in MB this am they did a great job of taking care of all. I was impressed.

Par · May-21-2005, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shinerunner

We had 3 sportys and a forth swing in at EB's in MB this am they did a great job of taking care of all. I was impressed.

yup. we were there at the same exact time this morning. They were super fast making sure everyone got bait.

kelppaddie · May-21-2005, 09:53 PM

i go out of dana all the time on sport boats mainly cause i dont have a boat but it is a tough situation because these boats are on a tight schedule as zzsdad said. but waiting to get bait for almost an hour while the sportys fill up bait is such a pain in the ass. i also think u have a good point where they could be more professional i have been on the pride several times and the deckies are very unprofessional. The captain is a nice guy but i have seen him be unprofessional when PBers skim our chum line. but anyways thanks for making everyone aware of the problems up here at Dana

garza951 · May-21-2005, 09:55 PM

Fellas the fact is dana is a joke, and that starts with the parking lot much less the harbor area itself,and as far as respecting the sporties they get exactly what they give in or out of the harbor ,that being said for the most part they have been relatively courteous in my expierience, however I have been tempted to wait at the dock to introduce myself once or twice.