went fishing for tuna like i said in the last post. caught a yellowtail, two albies, and one bluefin. the yellowtail was the first one i have ever caught. it weighed twentyfive pounds! took me a while to get him in. that was the first bluefin i caught also. it weighed about fifteen. it gave me a run on twenty lb. line. i would have won the jackpot on the yellowtail (about $350), but one of the deadheads on the boat, you know the off duty deck hands who ride for free and overcrowd a limited load boat, made off with the jackpot on a thirty pound albie. dude didn't even pay into the jackpot. i guess one of his homies kept a hush-hush about it because i didn't even find out about it til later in the parking lot. i don't know what you guys think about this, but if it isn't rightfully yours no matter what it is, IT'S STEALING!!

What landing and what boat was this on? I sure wouldn't go there. Plenty of other honest and better boats out there...

Unless you're on a reputable SD multiday, ALWAYS assume the JP is tilted toward the deadheads. That's why they're there. If you think you have a contender, DO NOT go to the galley, head, or anywhere till JP is weighed & over with.

Not much you can do about who's money is or isn't in. That's the way it goes.

Fishslayer

edit: I generally have a look at the "X's" on the names list to know how many are in. Lots of boats skim their "tip" right off the top.

thanks for the info. if i needeed the jackpot money so bad, i would be working overtime, not fishing. so it's not the money that bothers me. it's the fact that you have these freeloaders on the boat and they turn a limited load trip into an overloaded trip. we were runing out of bait also, the on duty deck hand told everyone to soak their bait to make it last. you think the deadheads were doing that?!? hell no. i was watching them go up and change their bait every two minutes. why do you think they caught most of the fish on the trip? to twist a screwdriver into an open wound further, the deckhand at the bait tank was chasing everyone away to conserve bait exept for the "heads." it was so bad that i used the same sardine on six casts for half an hour. is this what you pay good money for?? i used to be a bus driver for a rafting company. i used to be able to go on trips for free also. but i never went or was allowed to go on a trip where my presence would cause overcrowding. it was understood that a free trip was a courtesy as an employee and that the customer came first.

What you need to do is send a letter/email to the landing and pitch a ##### at them.
Or call them and follow up with the letter.

That just ain't right, I've deadheaded boats when there was room and also worked the deck over the years and we never pulled that crap on the customers.

These boats need the repeat business and the way you get that is with satisfied customers.

Tell the landing that you and all your friends are voting with your feet.

Jan

...to the landing, after calling and if it doesn't result in some of the salt being washed out of your wounds, then post a tactful full story WITH NAMES here and at Allcoast(www.sport-fish-info.com, I think?). A little bad press and a complaint or 2 will go a long ways towards fixing most problems. Remember that I said tactful, and apply that to all of the above.

Tight lines,
Wade

There's a lot of things that you could or couldn't do in a situation like that. You sound like the kind of guy not to push the issue, and that's cool. If you ever do get a bum deal on any boat in regards to the jackpot, crew, etc etc the easiest way to get things settled is usually to talk to the captain. Just go up, say hey, and tell the guy you felt like it wasn't a fair shake on the JP because the guy who won it didn't buy into it. Odds are good the problem will be solved for you shortly.

Me personally, if I was in the parking lot, I'd go home too and just say forget it and I'll never be back. Either way, glad you caught a couple :-) Thanks for the report.