Hi Folks,THANK YOU !
This last year was another busy year for the Capeshores Charters and the new 34 foot “Marilyn S”. This is all due to you, my customers, and I thank you all for the business. It helps a lot though, to have beautiful clean waters and plentiful fish to catch right close to the harbor too! Having a much larger, safer and roomier vessel to do charters from has been everything I would have hoped for. With the “Marilyn S”, I now have the capability of offering a competitive charter for the really fantastic bluefin tuna fishing we are having just a few miles to the east of Chatham. By leaving from the Chatham Fish Pier, I have an advantage over boats coming from the more western ports of Hyannis, Dennis, Harwich, and South Chatham. Those boats have a further distance to run to the tuna grounds, have a longer duration trip, burn more fuel to get there and back, and therefore must charge more money for the trip. Fuel costs continue to increase and although I tried to keep my costs down, I have had to increase the rates for the tuna charters (and the longer bass trips) by $50 for each trip. My rates are $900 for the 8-hour, and $1100 for the 10-hour school bluefin tuna charters. The 5-hour bass trip is still $500, but the 7-hour bass trip is now up to $700. I was hoping our little oil price spike would be a temporary thing, but with the growth boom in overseas countries, I think we are facing higher fuel prices for a more long-term duration. Improvements to the boat in 2007 are mainly tuna related. I have added steering, throttle and shift controls to the stern, so I can be in the stern with you to fight the fish and maneuver the boat at the same time. The addition of over 25 new squid trolling bars in multiple color variations and sizes, allows added fish enticement capabilities. I had already purchased several new SHIMANO 50 wide reels at the beginning of the season. Over the next off months, I plan to add several more reels in a larger size. Our 50’s are sufficient to catch the 60 to 200 pound fish that we are consistently seeing, but I would like to have on hand some larger setups for the days when we can see the 400 pound fish swimming under the boat with the smaller ones. I had intended to add some of the new Shimano butterfly jigging techniques and gear last year, but just never got it done with all of the preparations for the season. So that is again planned for this year as well. Ok, here is the list of the good small tides for morning tuna trips. Small tides are generally better for tuna and large ones generally best for bass. Some of these dates are better than others due to height of the tide, timing of the slack tide, and day of the week. Some days are more crowded or uncrowded than others. Perhaps you should call or email me to work out which days would be best for your party to go. July 14, 15, 16, 27, 28, 29, 30 August 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 24, 25, 26, 27 September 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 21, 22, 23, 24, A 10 hour tuna charter will be $1100. An 8 hour tuna trip will be $900. Bass trips are 5 hours for $500 or 7 hours for $700. A combination tuna and bass trip will be a minimum of 10 hours. The rate will be $1100. If tuna fishing is non productive, we can then go after the bass, providing I have the time (10 hours) and the latter morning tides are running strong enough. In booking a tuna charter, remember Saturdays and Sundays are crowded on the water. Weekdays generally are not. Departure times will be quite early in the morning so we can be there at dawn. Travel times to the tuna spots average from 1 to 2 hours. Let me know what you wish for as far as trip duration and cost and then the rough dates you want to go, and I will reply with the departure times of the trips. I will need a one third deposit to reserve the date and times, Thanks again very much,
Capt. Bruce & the ”Marilyn S”
