I mate on a charter out of Deale, and while we have never been skunked on a paying charter this year; we have been close. So yes it does happen. We mainly troll. We have found pods of small (16-17 inch) rock. Left that school only to find more small rock. While it's lots of action, it's not what the customer wants. We have even stayed out past our allotted time just to find a school of bigger (23-25 inch) fish. Once we find the right school, we can fill a limit in two or three passes. We usually make another couple runs for C/R action and head for the barn.
We only run one trip a day, so we don't have another group standing on the dock at 12 pm. We can stay out untill we find the fish. A Captain who runs two a day doesn't have that option.
It can be tough in the summer. If you feel the Captain and Mate did their best to find fish, that's all you can ask for. My Captain is on the cell phone constantly when we need fish. If your friend was skunked; it may have just been a very bad bite that day.
Charters are difficult to come by these days (economy) and anyone fortunate enough to have a paying charter probably did his best to put you on fish.
Better luck next time. I hope your charter out of CB is a good one.
5th
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