[choppinlow]

Fishing out of Santa Monica/Venice, CA area (Marina del Ray) in the dark Pacific waters. I have fished quite a few places in the US and world even, and am always amazed that charters between LA and Ventura are some of the cheapest anywhere. I have been on 12 hour charters for $30. This one was a whopping $60 for 9 hours. Rock fishing was poor so the captain put us on a few kelp beds to live-line for calico bass. Last spot was the last spot for a good reason. For about 3 hours straight bass would hit every cast, was just a matter of hooking up and not getting wrapped up in the kelp. Not sure how many dozen I caught with 80% being about 1/4" shy of 14" keeper size, but they were super fun. I broke out some light gear which made fighting them in one after another a lot of fun. Decided to keep a few that were legal and not too big for a local joint to cook for us - not bad at all. Good time and a whole lot of catching for sure!

 

[Alchemist]

Curious why is it so cheap per hour? Is it because they can fish (and keep) all year long and have a large population base like LA and San Diego to fund operations year round?
Seems here in Florida, my guess would be because of the short seasons and maybe lack of demand would mean higher prices to cover expenses in a short period of time. If red snapper, grouper, triggers, and AJ... season was year round or at least significantly longer to keep, I would suspect our price per hour would go down significantly.



Ironically, I received my second notice FWC reef fish survery asking how many fish and days did I fish offshore in May only. Whopping ZERO. Why are they asking about May? Seems to me that people would buy the reef endorsement is for red snapper season mainly.

 

[choppinlow]

I really couldn't say how they come up with pricing. I can say that where ever I go, pricing from one charter to the next is relatively similar within the area. But from region to region a lot of variation for sure.

You know, it is sad and almost crazy out there.....but with so many people and so much money, there are much fewer charters and much fewer folks lined up to go. This past trip was a 3/4 trip and leaving the marina and the whole day I only saw one personal fishing boat (CC), 1 SUP, and zero kayaks. Saw close to a dozen of those little rowing crew boats. The same waters in AL or FL would be a traffic jam with personal boats, SUPs, and all sorts of crazy non-sense.

One thing is similar.......that 1 personal boat I saw.......came about 30 yards off the stern with 5-6 casting in that same direction........there is a whole body of water and everyone has to run up on you no matter where you go!