<center><font size="1" color="#ff0000">LAST EDITED ON Jun-07-00 AT 09:58 PM (PST)</font></center><p>LAST EDITED ON Jun-07-00 AT 09:57 PM (PST)<P>Well, since rob hasn't posted it yet, i guess i'll do the report. It's not like he's busy or anything. He's only graduating from college, i don't know what he could be doing... Ok, Rob and I drove down to Ventura to jump on the Ellie M out of Capt. Hook's Sportfishing in hopes of some monster sandbass. When we got there we had to wait at the gate for 45 minutes AFTER we were supposed to have left because they were repairing some catheaad or something that had broken during the day's trip. So, with only so much as an apology, no money back, no soda/beer... we FINALLY left the dock. There was a pretty heavy wind blowing with good sized swells. This boat was worse than the seahawk as far as running skuppers under. Water was constantly sloshing up through the skuppers (those that weren't plugged with burlap sacks, which is VERY dangerous). When we got to the spot the captain motored around for at LEAST 20 minutes before dropping anchor. It was like he didn't know where the spot was. It was ridiculous. Then he left the motor on while we were in like 50 feet of water which of course scared all the fish away. I think he had the motor off for like 15 minutes the whole trip. Not much came of this spot. I think Rob got a calico bass. Next spot, same ordeal with the captain's constant running of the motor. What Rob believes is that the captain would anchor up current of the spot and then thrust the boat from side to side causing the boat to swing over the spot and then he'd hold it there with the motor, which was totally ludicrous. Not only did that scare fish away, it tangles everyone's lines, gets people's lines under the boat... Man I was enjoying that 9 ft. rod in that situation though. About the only thing they had going for them was a few live squid mixed in with the sardines/anchovies. You'd have to wait with the net at the bait tank for a squid to come up and then net it since the cook/deckhand guy that wasn't really a deckhand yelled at people to not dig around for squid on the bottom. So, on one occassion Rob was taking his turn at the bait tank waiting for a squid when this jackass cook guy comes up and starts giving Rob ##### about waiting for squid and how he's already had enough and all this crap. So as soon as Rob turns around the guy nets himself a squid. What an @$$. This guy was the cook but whenever we stopped to fish he'd leave the kitchen, pick up a rod and fish. There was no deckhand. If he was supposed to be it, you wouldn't be able to tell him from an angler besides the fact that he was the only jackass yelling at everybody. Rob got a small sandbass at this spot and we both broke off nice fish. I've been in like a huge slump lately, so I don't want to talk about it. Anyway, I rate this landing an F-. It was terrible. I would strongly reccommend going out of Cisco's if you're going out of Ventura and avoiding this landing if at all possible. Granted this is just my opinion of this landing and I'm sure there have been people who have had very enjoyable trips on that boat, but not me. As far as I'm concerned, I'm avoiding that landing from now on. Terrible.<P>

Just so we are clear, the name of the boat was the Ellie M, not the LEM although you can see how it would be confusing. Yeah overall the trip sucked big time, the cook/deckhand really was a grade A a-hole, and the captain really did leave the motor running for most of the night. It wasn't like it was just bad because of the poor fishing, I caught 2 calico, a sandie and a rockfish, it was just a really lousy boat with a really grouchy crew. Makes you appreciate the nice boats they have running out of SB like the Stardust and the Seahawk.

What a bunch of pricks. Why would any company negatively promite itself. Don't they know about the internet and all of the message boards out there?<P>Not only that but one morning a couple months ago we were going to fish off my uncle's center console and they PROMISED us (phone call) they would be there before 5:00 am so that we could get bait. Well - they weren't and didn't show so we went (I believe) to Cisco's. Didn't matter much to me and my cousin as we used plastics the whole time and did pretty good.<P>Pete<P>You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

The Ellie M was my favorite boat to the point that it was the only one I fished. Val, the owner, and his son (Paul?) almost always put us on fish. The deckhand, Raymond, was always very polite and a good teacher of fishing. Since getting into kayak fishing and with the rockfish moratorium, I haven't been on the Ellie M since last summer. It is an old boat and yes, there were times when on-the-spot repairs (minor) were necessary. For a while they had a rented generator strapped on. When the management was under Gold Coast, everyone was a happy camper. Under Capt'n Hook, no one has a smile. Thanks for the report; looks like unhappy owners lead to unhappy crew lead to unhappy clients who stop fishing there and slam 'em. At Cisco's they don't even recognize your presence when standing at the counter. Rudeness seems to rule at Port Hueneme. Need to try S.B.

Had a similar experience on the Lenbrooke 2 weeks ago. The captain couldn't find the spot and just hovered over areas for long periods of time. We fished in spots for 1hr without getting one fish on the boat.<P>We were fishing smack in the middle of Santa Cruz. <BR>When we weren't catching fish the captain spent 30 min. cruising further towards the Northern point. We spent about 10 min. there looking via the fish finder. Seeing nothing, the captain turned around and spent over an hour going to Anacapa Island.<P>To top it all off, when we did fish we had to compete with the skipper himself for a spot at the back of the boat. He just jumped right in and pushed people out of their spaces. He jumped in front of people for bait.<P>THE BRIGHT SIDE: The food was very good. The deckhands were very helpful.

I was on the Lenbrooke with Tree a couple weeks ago. I concur that it was one of the most pathetic fishing experiences that I have had out locally. The skipper was very incompetent although the only gripe I had with the deckhands is that they didn't keep the bait wells stocked. Cook was great though! You know it's a bad fishing trip when you rave more about the food than the fishing! I'm just lucky that I managed to pull in a sculpin and rockfish at the last spot of the day to avoid the skunk (resorted to meat fishing).<P>It really is a shame that all the sportfishing landings in Ventura Harbor have gone under. Apparently, that rockfish moratorium earlier this year just killed them. I can understand the intentions of the DFG but I'm not so sure they were targeting the right folks. After all, sportfishing boats don't have nearly the same impact on the fishery as the commercial boats do. I used to really enjoy going on the Coroloma out of Harbor Village in Ventura. Now it's sitting somewhere in Long Beach, chained to a dock...

Just so you'll all know, I printed out these postings regarding Capt. Hooks and mailed it to them. Maybe some negative feedback would get them to re-evaluate how they treat their customers......

maybe that will turn them around. i don't know about that place. it was my first time out of there, and sorry to say my last. i can strongly reccommend both boats out of sealanding here in santa barbara. rob and i were discussing how jason (captain of the stardust) would never do some of the things that the captain of the ellie m was doing, like having everybody reel in so that he could re-anchor. that's just plain and simple the captain's fault. he made a mistake on anchoring and has to do it again. i have never ever seen jason do something like that. i can honestly say that the stardust is the BEST 1/2 day boat around. i'm not really that strongly affiliated with the stardust or anything, but just in my honest opinion, it kicks @$$. excellent crew, excellent boat and most of the time you'll be put on fish, no matter what it takes. i've never had a problem with the competence of any of the captains at sealanding and i've been fishing on those boats for years. really a quality operation.<BR> -Brian

<center><font size="1" color="#ff0000">LAST EDITED ON Jun-08-00 AT 01:46 PM (PST)</font></center><p>I've only been on the Stardust once and it was a great trip. So I can honestly say that I've been pleased with the Stardust 100% of the time. When I say "great trip" I don't necessarily mean the fishing. As good fishing helps what really makes trips on these boats great is the overall courtesy and knowledge of the entire crew. I've been on some boats with some real idiots (some of them charters) and even if the fishing was good the trip kind of sucked because I was just so annoyed.<P>You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

Well, I am going to give the 3/4 Lenbrooke one more shot this weekend. I think if the captain actually finds a spot where there is fish I might be happy. If it is a repeat episode of my last trip on that boat I am moving on. It might not be so bad if I don't have to wrestle the captain to get to the live squid again.<P>I'll report my findings/fishcount on Monday.<P>

So I ended up going out of Hooks again this weekend - not on the Sumo as it had been chartered.<P>I have only good things to say about the skipper and the deckhand - his son. Lance, the deckhand was most helpful. The skipper came down on numerous occasions to cut bait and to keep the anchovies flowing. <P>The Sumo is an older boat but sounded like it had a good engine and seemed pretty fast - although it tended to wallow on a sharp turn<P>The yellows and the whites weren't biting but the skipper at least made sure that everyone got their share of whitefish. <P>Hey - even if I got skunked this weekend I wouldn't have minded because the skipper and deckhand were competent, friendly, and helpful

That's great. Maybe it was just the Ellie M then. I'm glad to hear that at least one of those boats is decent. As stated in a few earlier posts, it's the crew that makes the trip. Maybe we should re-direct out bashing toward the Ellie M instead of Capt. Hook's.<BR> -Brian

As an owner of Capt. Hooks...We welcome the feedback of anglers that ride ANY of our boats. You see, we don't know there is a problem until YOU let us know.....Unfortunately they created message boards for people that don't know how to pick up a phone or come into our office to let us know there was a terrible trip on one of our boats. We work really hard to provide the best customer service. I would bet anyone that a message such as Capt. Hooks trying to make good a trip that was horrific won't show up on this message board or any other. We did have an angler from this trip come in our office today and tell us what happened. We immediately gave a free pass to come back and try again....I also can assure you that this information will be going to the owner, captain and cook. We would hope that this won't happen again.....as far as mechanical problems.....well machines break.....what you hope is that it doesn't happen on a trip you're on......as far as Pauls ability as a captain.....he is probably one of the BEST fisherman I have seen. I've seen Paul catch more fish than all other boats combined......Maybe in addition to expressing your unhappiness with a trip....you might also try posting a great trip!!! I normally would never respond to things posted on a message board, but felt compelled to because I have watched the crew on the Ellie-M and the Lenbrooke work all night long to make sure that they have great bait for fishing their trips. Thanks again for all your input.....We will just keep on trying :)
Debi

I'm sure most of your customers do "know how to pick up a phone." The point is, we shouldn't have to.