I understand the idea of tipping your captain and deckhand but now I hear a suggestion of tipping the "dockmaster" and "director of fishing"? Just wondering what your thoughts are on the subject.

Where are you fishing? In Hawaii I tipped the Cpt and them mate, but they were the only two. In USVI I generally only have the guide. In Mexico, I tip the driver that picks us up, the guide, and the shuttle bus driver (brings us from the hotel to the boat launches).

I've only ever tipped the mate, because the boats I've been on were captained by the owner. I also tip the guys at the dock who clean the fish.

Only necessary to tip the mates if you are on a charter. If you are fishing near shore and the Captain is also the mate tip him. Fifteen to twenty percent is industry standard. If you have two mates on a charter boat they would split the 15 to 20 percent. No need to tip anyone else at dock.

Ridiculous!

One tries to find a reasonable charter, and then have to fork an additional 20%!

I really HATE the culture of tipping!

It has gotten out of hand.

Originally a "tip" is supposed to be a show of gratitude by the customer for a job done well above what is expected, because you have already paid for the services provided.

And it was never a percentage of anything, whatever you feel like giving.
I do give tips, and probably more than some.

But, I absolutely refuse to give anything if the service falls below what I expect, and I make no ones about it, by telling the reason.

I used to work on private offshore fishing boats and charter boats.

In the USA deckhands on a charter boat get minimal boat pay. I would say 90% of their income comes from tips. Getting a boat ready and cleaning one up after an offshore trip is a bunch of work and it has to be done between other trips.

When I worked on private boats I got paid by the week and would get tips from time to time from the owners friends. Working on a private boat was a lot more laid back except fishing tournaments.

If you don’t catch much it is usually not the deckhands fault (or captain for that matter). The deck hand still has to work and he does not get any fish cleaning money if you don’t catch much.

Tipping anybody besides the captain and the deckhand is not customary anywhere I have fished excluding drivers. The boats I worked on always caught fish so the captain got a tip.

quote:

Originally posted by 243ackley:
I used to work on private offshore fishing boats and charter boats.

In the USA deckhands on a charter boat get minimal boat pay. I would say 90% of their income comes from tips. Getting a boat ready and cleaning one up after an offshore trip is a bunch of work and it has to be done between other trips.

When I worked on private boats I got paid by the week and would get tips from time to time from the owners friends. Working on a private boat was a lot more laid back except fishing tournaments.

If you don’t catch much it is usually not the deckhands fault (or captain for that matter). The deck hand still has to work and he does not get any fish cleaning money if you don’t catch much.

Tipping anybody besides the captain and the deckhand is not customary anywhere I have fished excluding drivers. The boats I worked on always caught fish so the captain got a tip.

This is extremely sad.

People should get paid for the job they are supposed to do.

Not rely on handouts.

Nothing is free, if trip is run of the mill or hap-hazard, wouldn't pay a dime extra. On the other hand of crew goes out of their way tip accordingly. Last 3-day I was on the crew was up the entire night fileting everything as well as I've ever seen done, wrapped and bagged to all I had to do was throw it in the freezer. Everything was even well labeled. I tipped well above what I believe they expected... a few years later they remembered me by name. As has already been said, most of their income comes from their tips. Some working their way through school. One of those mates is a captain now, after going on to spending 6 years in the Navy.


When my late wife and I went on our 3 week guided cruise and land tour of Alaska, when parting I handed out 2k in tips. Girl we had as our guide was a beautiful Alaskan girl going to school and on the verge of getting married. Didn't matter what time or where we were, she was near by. We didn't have to lift a finger to do anything. She had a couple assistants, and with the personal attendants on the ship... it was great. Gave her 1k as a tip and wedding gift, her assistant 2 hundred, room attendant 2 hundred, cook 2 hundred, and 1 hundred a piece to the four room workers and our waiter. Was funny really, the night before parting she asked if we didn't mind and as a suggestion only that we hand out cards to everyone with $10 or $20. Hell my wife and I had already made out the cards day's before, stopping by the ships bank and getting a bunch of $100 bills. Was the best money I ever spent, and a trip we never forgot.

Side note, that damn ocean up around Prudhoe Bay is too damn cold to go swimming in more than once!


Phil