CTFishTalk.com: Central Florida Bass Fishing - The good, the bad and the ugl - Connecticut Out of State Reports ( CT Out of State Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

Pappy · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 125 Location: Derby, CT

Took two good trips and one really bad one while down here for vacation this week, hence the title.

The first was an artificial bait only trip on Harris Chain of Lakes, with Shawn Carptenter from BassOnLine.com on Tuesday. It that failed to produce. (THE BAD). But Shawn was a great guy, who I really enjoyed fishing with and I didn’t learn a few things from watching him and his instruction. He told me fishing had been tough over the last couple of weeks. The temp has been very warm down here for the past two weeks and in talking to a number of guides prior to booking they all said it's caused major problems with the fishing. Air temps are in the 80's and water temps in the low 70's. Normal temps are much lower. As a result unlike the normally long spawning period which the fish should be in, many fish have spawned and should be in post spawn. This looked like it was the case as we saw quite a few empty beds.

Had a 2nd trip scheduled for Friday this one on Lake Toho. Again it was supposed to be artificial only trip and again the guide said fishing was off. In this case so was the guide. He was as even more rude, obnoxious and condescending in person than my dealings with him after paying my deposit and prior to showing up at the ramp. After having two call him at 9:00 p.m. the night before the trip to get directions because he insisted he didn’t know where we were going to fish, although he claimed to have sent them 3 hours prior, which somehow never materialized in my email anywhere. I finally get to bed about 10:00 p.m. in order to awake at 4:00 the next morning and travel two hours to meet him at the launch. He gives me an address of 100 Lakeshore Blvd and when I pull into the ramp the plaque says 250 so I walk with my wife up to a Marina to use the facilities which they tell me is #101. We were there 15 minutes early but by the time I walk up and back and use the facilities I'm 5 minutes late. I proceed to tell him "we'll be right there." He proceeds to ask "who's we" I tell him me and my wife. He says “I only brought one set up”, which wound up being a lie. So I said that's ok she doesn't fish. He then proceeds to tell me that I shouldn't bring her because it is unfair to her to be on the boat for the whole trip and not fish. My wife really wanted to go. She loves being on the boat when I fish. I found it pretty amazing that he, a single guy, is telling me what my wife of 37 years wants. On the way out he stops twice complaining about his engine and saying he might have to cancel the trip. He gets to a spot that we fish for about 90 minutes. I start out fishing a baitcaster with fluro and am doing fine. He switches me over to braid to switch out the bait and I am nesting the thing about every third cast. He tells me how I need to cast, etc. all of it to eliminate the birdnesting. I do my best to follow his tips, but it keeps birdnesting. After about 15 minutes he doesn't switch me back to the fluro set up but asks for the braid, looks at it and says "oh a smart guy huh" as he loosens the casting knob so the bait will fall freely instead of not dropping at all. I told him I didn't touch the set up as he insinutated I had. I told him as the guide I was expecting that when he put the new bait on he would have adjusted the reel properly and therefore never checked it. For the remaining hour I do fine, but catch nothing. He catches two shorts. Yet when he hooks up he never even attempts to pass the reel back to me to land the fish. In addition I’ve been fishing completely from the back of the boat for the the entire trip so far as directed. I fished from the front all day with Shawn on Tuesday. When he finally decides to move out of the area, he still complains of the motor running poorly, calls off the trip and brings us in over very choppy water (the wind was 20 mph +) and he doesn't slow down for the waves bumping my wife and I all over the boat at points. He tells me he'll refund my deposit and drops us off at the launch about 90 minutes into the trip which is less fishing time than driving time. He says he's had his engine treated "last week" and it's been getting worse every day since then and didn't want to get stuck out on the lake. First I’d heard of it. But I try to just chalk it up as a UGLY experience. I ask him if he could contact another guide to see if he can hook us up on a replacement trip to which he makes a disparaging remark that any guide who would be available would be "the bottom of the barrel." This guys name is Steven Boyd. His web sites are:
www.floridabassadventures.com and www.orlandobassguide.com It should be obvious I provide the websites not for an endorsement but to alert others.

At that point we bid Steven good bye and good riddens and I called BassOnLine.com who set up my first trip. They were awesome and told me if I was willing to hang around the Orlando area, they could hook me up with a later afternoon trip with one of their guides, John Leech. As promised John was at the launch at 3:00 waiting for us to board. He told me the artificial baits weren’t producing well and suggested we scrap that approach in favor of live bait. At this point I just wanted to catch some fish and readily agreed. It was supposed to be a three hour trip. After hearing what we’d gone through earlied, John kept us out for 3 and a half, no extra charge. In fact, he gave us a discount on the cost for the bair as well. I landed 7 bass in the 3 and a half hours and had a couple gar on before they like the pickerel up north bit through the line and got away. I almost landed one which was well over 30 inches but once he saw the boat he took off and finally jumped completely out of the water before being able to turn his head enough to bite through the line and get away. The best of the bass from the trip which came at the end was this 8# 8 oz beauty.

The largest by far I’ve ever landed!

Here's one with my guide.

If you’re ever in Central Florida and looking for a GOOD charter I’d recommend BassOnLine.com. They have about 60 guides that work for them throughout the state of FL and my two guides were first rate fisherman and classy individuals as well.

CTBASSIN · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 175 Location: Southbury, CT

Nice report. Sorry to hear about the bad but the good sounded real good. I have been dying to fish for Fla. large mouths. Nice pics.
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DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Nice fish!! Congrats!

sboyd · Joined: 19 Mar 2011 Posts: 2

like most stories there are two sides and this one is not close to being accurate.

First off, when you booked the trip it was supposed to be an instructional trip with a few hours of guiding first. You asked if your wife could come along for the ride. I said I would rather not do that for one on one instructional trips and definitely did not feel comfortable with someone sitting reading a newspaper while we fished. Thought I made that very clear, hence the "who is we" question at the ramp.

Second, you were late. Not a couple of minutes but 15. You got directions that take you to the exact location which is under construction and does not allow you to go anywhere else. At that location are 4 boat ramps and parking. Seemed pretty obvious that is the spot but you were questioning everything I did even though because of the construction you couldn't have ended up anywhere else.

The guide that called me asking if I was at the ramp and told you I was waiting there had one word regarding you and your wife. "strange"

I did send the directions and even had him on the phone while I sent them a second time and he still didn't get them until he provided an alternate email address. Seems this guy is perfect and there is no possibility his email provider wasn't working in Florida.

I was having motor problems and have a bill to show the work I had to have done immediately after ending the trip. But of course why believe someone who ends the trip because it is unsafe, refunds your deposit and apologizes repeatedly. It's not like I got paid that day.

This guy has a problem blaming others. But how do you blame braid for constant backlashes? Oh, I forgot your perfect! You can't cast into the wind, can't hit a target and can't take instruction. Goes back to the directions issue.

He also complained that I didn't give him the rod with fluoro back. Both of my fish came on speedworms using braid. Which is what he had on the braid. Why would I take what is working on my rod away from him? Pretty simple, solve your casting issue and you may have caught a fish. He is also leaving out the fact that we were fishing in the middle of tons of vegetation. No matter where he was in the boat there was cover that I wasn't fishing that he could cast to. Unlike the Harris Chain where it is fishing down a weedline. I also told this guy that the Harris Chain wasn't in prime season when he booked but obviously he didn't listen to my advice. Are you sensing a theme here?

This is the only person on the planet who would ask a guide to catch a fish and then expect him to give the client the rod. It's a cardinal sin and it is offensive to give an adult a rod with a fish on it and go "here you reel it in". But with anything there is always that 1%.

Now for the "slowing down" coming into the ramp. My motor was not letting me get any speed. Almost acting like it was blown or down a cylinder. Top speed was 32mph and he is asking why I wasn't slowing down? That is slow in a triton with a 225! And it is impossible to make a ride comfortable with 2 foot waves all the way back to the ramp. Another reason not to have the wife in the boat if the expectations are for a pristine ride.

This is where I call Pappy a liar! He says we came back to the ramp 90 minutes into the trip. But says in his post that we fished the first spot for 90 minutes and then says for "the remaining hour I do fine". We came back to the ramp at 9:50, 3 hours and 30 minutes from the time we launched. Like most desparaging, one sided stories they are laced with bullshit and lies.

Regarding my "bottom of the bucket" comment. It was 9:50 and the guides who are busy are all working at that time. It's our busy season. Anyone who isn't working is someone who is part time and not a recommended guide. If I had known they were willing to wait 4 hours at the ramp I could have found somone but they asked for someone that minute. Imagine if I had set this guy up with some part timer and things didn't go perfect. I'm sure that would have ended up here as well with me getting blamed for giving them what they wanted. Why didn't bass online provide a guide right at that minute?

Funny, I begged this guy to do live bait and he demanded we do artificial lures. Why is it funny? Because John took him to my spot that I have been shiner fishing! Had he come off his ego his trip in the morning would have been totally different.

Moral of the story. If you insist on fishing artificial lures in 20mph winds when the guide recommends live bait and you have a tough day there is only one person to blame. When the guide has motor issues and doesn't charge anything, you got a free ride. It's all about perspective. My perspective was you were difficult, unwilling to follow recommendations and have a very large ego. All of which make a guides job very unenjoyable.

I'm happy you found bass online. I hope you continue to fish with them. I wouldn't wish you on anyone. But I would consider removing your post before I sue you and the moderator of this forum for libel because it is filled with lies.

DickVanPike · Joined: 29 Sep 2010 Posts: 150

OOOH SNAP SON!

Crest Daddy · Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 994

Vudak · Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 66

Well, now that I've heard both stories, it's safe to say I will definitely never book a charter with you, sboyd. That was one of the most unprofessional tirades, and the worst costumer service resolution skills I've ever seen displayed.
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sboyd · Joined: 19 Mar 2011 Posts: 2

[quote="Vudak"]Well, now that I've heard both stories, it's safe to say I will definitely never book a charter with you, sboyd. That was one of the most unprofessional tirades, and the worst costumer service resolution skills I've ever seen displayed.[/quote]

JP - the last thing I was doing was soliciting business with my reply. But if defending myself against lies designed to hurt my reputation offends you, then I wouldn't want you in my boat.

I would be more concerned what a judge thinks when I follow through with legal action.

Flipper · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 347 Location: Enfield

The fact that you are even talking about sueing over this shows what kind of guy you are.
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Vudak · Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 66

hoppy · Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 393 Location: congamuck

this is good reading!!!!!

there are always two sides to a story but often we only get to hear one side. sounds to me like both party's could have done things better.

Fish-head · Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 82 Location: Lancaster, SC

I've got another one to STAY away from in the Orlando area. http://www.swannysbassguides.com/

This was a few yrs ago, but still my worst guided trip EVER. I have done the Disney bass guided trips but they are WAY expensive, $250.00 for 2 hrs.

We were down at Disney for a week and I told my wife I wanted to do some bass fishing. Found this guy online and talked to his wife. She was very nice on the phone, told her that it would be my son and I fishing. We needed to be picked up and dropped off at the Pop Century resort. No problem she said. Extra $50.00

Well this guy picks us up late..like 15 minutes late. We then drive to the lake, one I hadn't heard of but there are T's on it. He smoked in the car which should have been a warning of things to come. Launched the boat and off we went. Once we got to our 1st spot, this guy lights up a cigarette. Now being a non-smoker and being a PAYING customer I asked him to not smoke. He said it was his boat and that it wasn't that bad. Well he had the front of the boat and pointed it into the breeze. One after another, this guy was a chimney. Both me and my son were not happy at all.

The he complained he hurt his back, like 50 times. Sorry you hurt yourself, but maybe cancel and give me my $ back?

We were fishing live bait and artificials. As soon as we would get a few fish in, he would say it was time to go to another spot. No big fish, 3lbers. Then he let it slip he was fishing a T there tomorrow! Hurt back and all. He was using us to pre-fish for his T. Had him say to me I don't know how to fish a few times. Say what?

He took some pictures and was supposed to e-mail them to me. I sent 2 e-mails to his website asking for the pics. All I heard back was was crickets.

It was time to go back to Disney. We arrive back at the resort and I told him to park in the back of the parking lot, away from where the buses drop off. No cars at all in the lot. Told him 2 times. Where does he park, yep right where the buses drop off. A Disney employee comes over right away and asks us to move. I think she could see the flames in my eyes, and I told her we would be a minute. This guy actually had the audacity to ask for a tip! Nope no tip buddy. Probably why I never got my pictures!
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