Southern Cross or Saltwater for me. Tonnes better if you can get out on a mates boat though, means you can get away with PE4 gear and not cop stink eye from everyone haha

Just went out with Craig at Saltwater.  Check out the photos think the results speak for themselves. Really good and the boats not fully packed either.

would be a good idea to support the site sponsor mate, I'll be going out on Saltwater this year

Hey Tom, I tried to get a booking with saltwater but couldn't get a booking so I've organised one with Nebraska:

http://fishwrecked.com/forum/nebraska-samson-jigging-sesh-saturday-13th-november-2010

There's still 3 spots if you're keen mate

what's the $$$?

mills

Would be $180 if i had 12 people, but decided to cap it at 10..

I did mention FW, but that was the best price they could do.

of anything worse, I wouldn't want to jig with anymore than 12. Gee you hear some bad things about Mills and Blue Juice, I wonder if they'll lift their game this year?

Just received a very friendly message from Nebraska crew. Price is $180 for FW members!

provide appropriate jigging gear or is it BYO gear?

Would recommend asking for a deckie spot on a FW members boat, easier when you only have 2 or 3 lines over the side! Also cheaper ;) It can be fun being out with a big group of guys on a charter but yeh. Yesterday I saw 2 boats out there with only 1 person on them, and I know atleast one of them (Just1Morecast) was lookin for a deckie!

saltwater or nebraska. I went with mills years ago no chance again.

still operational on most weekends so give kim a call. We are all at work currently so hard to organise full time experienced skipper.. If no luck I highly recommend craig at saltwater charters aswell. 

PE4 gear Schecky....hahaha ya cheeky bugga. More like PE2 gear and 4 lb drag setting!!!

Like Goodz said, why not try asking if there is a deckie spot available, most of us blokes with a boat really like meeting new guys, I have met some terrific fellas over the past few months from FW. Justonemore cast would have had to cough up the whole fuel bill on Sunda as he was by himself and someone made hiim go out to the outer barge.....for no return!

Still, the boys on Saltwater really looked like they had a good time and I have had fun on good charters before.

Next time Schecky......lets hope we need the heavy gear!!!!

guys, for all those people bagging out Mills, I want to put something straight! Yes, there were some bad crew members in the past, but these have been culled! Mills have now spent a great deal of time and money in training up new crew, and one of the big focus points was the jigging. Myself and another member on here have been called down to run the new crew through what IS GOING TO HAPPEN OUT THERE and the way it should all be done. We are heading out tomorrow for a last training day to make sure all the crew are up to speed on what has to happen. As for the numbers, on the jigging trips we only take out a MAXIMUM of 18 people and run it in a rotation basis where 8 people (I am pretty sure this is the number) jig at any one time to minimise the tangles. (Those with their own gear can jig as much as they want). And we also provide all the jigs on the boat (almost every other charter company only provide you with one then you have to buy others if you lose them, OR STOP FISHING.

So rest assured that the incidents that have occurred in the past are exactly that, IN THE PAST! I know actions speak louder than words, so if you dont believe me, come out with us and let us prove ourselves. We are still the biggest charter company in Perth, and the most successful, which i think speaks volumes.

Ok, rant over, NOW LETS GO AND DO SOME JIGGING!!!!!!

a FW member discount?

ummm, im not sure about that, but I am planning on speaking to the owners and mentioning that they should become a site sponsor here, and maybe offer a discount to FW members. If anyone is interested/keen, I have organised a boat going out on Sun 5th Dec with mills, cost will be about $220 each, maximum of 15 people. (I have booked the whole boat). This might be a chance to come out and meet myself and the other member on here who is an expert in jigging and have an awesome time out on the water.

18 is still too much! Why should someone pay $200+ to wait for their turn to fish. I think 15 should be an absolute max.
Regardless of that I do acknowledge the effort gone in to making changes, I hope you guys earn back a solid rep

even 15 people is too many i reckon, i wouldnt want to go on a charter jigging with more than 12 people at a max imo, hopefully mills does do better this season.

15 can be a bit many but i am sure a few people do get tired/sore after a few 30 kilo plus sambos if they are not use to it.

you are right guys! 15 would be too many to fish at once. imagine if 15 people hook up all at once. you then have 15 fish on the boat to deal with/try to keep in good health. with fishing 8 people at a time, it gives each person a bit of a rest in between fish and makes life easier on the crew and increases chances of fish survival. The system that we have on Mills works well. Remember, most people that come out with us and on other charters are not as used to this kind of fishing as the rest of us, so after 3 or 4 fish, they are pretty knackered. Hope that the sledging of Mills will cease and that people will gradually see what a good charter company they are (remember we have the highest catch rates continually when we get back to the jetty).

Mills mostly copped it for failing to use release weights, a few times. Lets hope they actually did something after it came up a second time in just two weeks, especially after they were so rude to the guy that brought it up the first time.

read good reports from people who have fished on a Mills Charter than read glaring endorsments from a paid deckhand. Also i would have thought that if you have double the number of fisho's on board you may be able to keep your $per head lower than your competitiors?

(remember we have the highest catch rates continually when we get back to the jetty).

Who has the stats on that???

ummm, we do. come down to the jetty any day and compare our catch rates to the others. Sambos do not count in my opinion in the catch rate. I am talking about dhuies, pinkies, baldies, reds etc. all the good fish. I am not in charge of the business, so I dont know the overheads etc. remember they do have an office at the marina, which i would imagine would not be cheap to have. I used to fish many times on mills before i became a decky with them. the reason I chose to become a part time decky is that I just love being out on the water and seeing customers faces when they catch their first fish, or a PB, or something they have always wanted to catch. Yes i am a paid decky, but I can honestly say that this is one of the best charter companies out there now. If i didnt believe in them or endorse the changes that have been made, I would not be working for them. I value fish stocks a lot more than I do a bit of extra cash in my pocket each month. All I am saying is that what has happened in the past has hurt the companies reputation, there is no denying that but changes have occurred and this will be proven in the coming months.

gents i will be trying Mills charters for a Sambo trip over chrissy as my old school mate is working on there so Motty i look forward to securing a "team" of guys to come out near xmas, might be looking for a few more if people are keen.

As mattmiller said they should definately lower there price per head if they are going to have 18 people aboard.

who would that be bruce? Not Pashy by any chance?

no Chris Saunders

ah yes, chris. dont believe him when he tells you how i tried to spike a dhuie caught just behind 3 mile on his tinny on the bow section of his boat. I really was gonna let it go. hahaha

i think the only way to sort this out is Have Mills Give FW members heavily discounted Jigging and bottom bashing charters(when is season).  

though unlikely

haha or even just free for f/w members

Come on Marco we at least have to chip in for fuel!

Thats "MarKo" haha. I cant wait to own my own boat, can go where i want when i want.

sorry "MarCo" :P

Having been in sales and marketing all my life I think Miils Charter has a huge problem.

I went out with Mills Charter only once and vowed that I would never go again.  Six years later and I have stuck to that pledge.

Motty as a paid employee of Mills you are doing a wonderful job in promoting Mills however as you and your management can see by the responses these days words just don't cut it.

If the Management is fair dinkum about their reputation then they should invest further and turn a negative into a positive.

"Yes we acknowledge it has been a shamble however we would like to invite Fishwrecked Members to a days fishing at a discounted rate to to test our facilities and our new Crew".

I think that would shout everyone up and show some goodwill. Maybe win some brownie points along the way.

fair enough abledog, but where would it stop? There are ALOT of FW members here, and the company still needs to make money and cover costs. This might sound a bit nasty, but the members on here make up a VERY SMALL percentage of the client base. Now I am not trying to be nasty, I am just stating a fact. If we gave out a discount to all the FW members, people could just sign up to the site (which is free) and then come out on the boat just to get a discount and never contribute to the site at all, and so it goes on, and on, and on. I guess you will just have to trust me that the changes and improvements have been made, and if you dont, well then I am not going to waste my breath. I have been out on other charters out of hillarys, and one of them we caught 2 fish for the whole day and we drifted over the same spot for over 2 hours despite not catching a single fish on it. All it takes is for it to be a bad days fishing and someone doesnt catch a fish and all of a sudden they are the worst charter company going around. But at least at mills we constantly try to find fish, and I think if the customers can see that we are trying, then there is not a lot more we can do except ensure the customers have a good day with exceptional customer service. As I have said, the changes have been made. It is not my decision what the owners want to do in regards to discounts etc. All I can do is when I am working on the boat, ensure that an enjoyable time is had by all.

18 fishos X $220 (fishing part time) , Id say Mills are doing allright !!

If I was run running Mills (which I aint....so words are cheap) I would take abeldog's advice.....set up one and one only charter specifically for FW members, maybe invite Honsu and his merry men, at cost, and demonstrate the improved performance of Mills and their new approach. Word of mouth (or chat site like this) is worth a lot.  

Whitey in Jurien has obviously gone out of his way to set up his operation and attracts real fisho's, and runs a great boat. He takes his fishing seriously, and takes looking after the fish even more seriously. He always encouraged people to put the fish back in good shape where possible, and applauded us when we decided ti maintain Perth rules with regards Pinky size limits, nit Jurien rules, and instructed everyone immediately to pull lines when we had a blackarse floating out back  after it was released but floated up, so we could re release it. That is the sort of stuff we watn to see, a proactive approach but still fisho orientated. 

Charter operators need to be leading the way with regards fishing for the future. I hope Mills takes the challenge, I am sure the FW guys would respond favourably.

Cheers

John

Well said John, how hard would it be to organise a charter at cost only. No one loses any money and The Companys reputation has a wonderfull oportuninty to be restored.

Not to mention the fact that Honsu and his merry men, ( pissing myself here ) get to compare their experience with Whitey's immaculate set-up.

Just Dhu it Mills

That is a very narrow minded view point and obviously something that your management need to address, if Mills are serious about want to improving their reputation in the market.

Have you ever heard of word of mouth advertising? For any business this can be an extremely useful or detrimental marketing tool.  The theory behind it is people talk and share information. The information is shared is based on the individuals experience, whether positive or negative.  

Now if someone has a negative experience say like what has happened in the PAST at Mills, the person is going to talk.  Studies have shown that information based on bad experience is spread faster than information based on positive experiences.  Given the modern social networking sites (face book twitter ect) and plethora of online forums, it has never been easier to share information.

Whilst you deem fish wrecked members to make up a small market share I bet you we are a lot more influential.... I mean look at the number of members that work in tackle shops.  Imagine this. A client comes up and asks Honsu or Brody (who both work in tackle shops) “I’m thinking of going on a charter who would you recommend?” I bet you there answer would have a considerable impact on who they chose wouldn’t you say? The other scenario is a colleague asks a fish wrecked member “You’re in to your fishing. Have you been on a charter?” “I’m Thinking of taking my father/dad/Son/ Father in Law out any one who you would recommend?”  

I realise you can’t offer everyone on the site a cheap charter. So why don’t you offer say one or two? first in best dressed..... Fish wrecked members get a cheap day fishing. Mills get a chance to set the record straight. Then you might see a more favourable response in regards to Mills Charters.  

Ben

Why are we even having this discussion.

Salwater Charters are our only Sponsor so they should always get the first crack.

People like Mills and others want to push their own barrow on the back of a free ride.

Motty's comments says it all.

So let's not give these groups anymore air.

By the way I have no affiliation with the sponsors or FW Iam just a member.

Fair call 'dawg. Lets support our sponsor.

wat about 1 point i cent off so all the proper members get discounts

a $2.20 discount is going to attract anyone?

a 20$ will

hmmm, 1 or 2 charters might be worth a mention to the owners. Sorry abledog, I think I mistook what you were saying. I took your comments to mean offer EVERYONE who is a member a discount on the boat. 1 or 2 charters is not a bad idea. I will mention this to them and let you all know what the outcome is. Sorry again for taking your comments out of context mate.

Yep Saltwater charters all the way! been on them and the boys do a great Job.

If Mills wants to change their reputation by getting the word out and it seems by this thread that one of their deckies is doing something about it, why don't they put their money where their mouth is and become site sponsors.

Saltwater have put up their money happily to support the site and I would like to say have had a lot of support from the Fishwrecked members thorugh it. Mills have just had a heap of free advertising at the expense of Saltwater and the other sponsors so why not bite the bullet and sign up .

But as I outlined above.

We need to support operations such as SALTWATER CHARTERS that support us.

Without the support of the sponsors then things like this website are not possible.

Yes there is always a commercial descision of sponsors to sponsor this or that however we should have a moral obligtion to do the right thing by them.

I get approached on a daily basis to sponsor local country events.  Initially I sponsored most however over time I started withdrawing from sponsoring events where I felt that we didn't get the support back. I can only spend a marketing dollar once so in my opinion that dollar should be spent where there is a mutual benefit (Win, Win)

As Carnarvonite has pointed out, Your Employer doesn't need to offer a discounted trip or two but rather bite the bullet and become a sponsor, then everyone here would benefit.

That coupled with good pricing and service and you guys have turned the corner.

It's not rocket science, just getting back to basics.

very good points abledog, and I will raise them tomorrow with the owners. Ultimately it is their decision, as it is their livelihoods on the line. I am really trying my best to lift the name and rep of the company back to the old glory days, just seems every time I say something, I get shut down in spades. I agree with you about supporting site sponsors, lord knows the only 2 tackle shops I visit now are Oceanside (I live NOR so its a fair drive) and All Boat which is 2 minutes from my house. It is for this reason that I will approach the owners again and even point this thread to them to see the conversations. I am only trying to do what is right by the people on here and also my employers. Its a very small world this marine/fishing industry and as I said to the owners, its a lot harder to get a good reputation back than what it is to lose one.

That's the beauty of this great country Motty, we can all say what we like, have a difference of opinion then go and have a fish and a beer.

Unlike other parts of the world.

Abel, I see where your coming from with the whole support the sponsor stuff but too be honest I think Saltwater get the Perth business regardless of whether they sponsor or not because they are simply a top operator.

Mills, if you wanna have a look at a perfect charter operator, go spend some time with Whitey and even Saltwater. Whitey never crowds his boat and always lets the group decide what they want to do.

On the subject of FW being a small part of the client base, have you considered that may be it is a small part of your client base because real fisherman do not enjoy your operation? Also, I am sure not everyone storms on the boat proclaiming their FW membership - it is hard to tell exactly how many people are FW members on your boat

hmmm, maybe if people who have had bad experiences on a charter with Mills can post up what their bad experience was and then we can try and nail down what the problem areas were? All I am seeing is a lot of ranting and raving about Mills being bad, with no mention of why and People talking about saltwater and mentioning all the reasons why they are so good. As I said, I am really trying hard to lift the rep, but without knowing the problem areas, its not easy to do. I am sure pretty much all of the problems have been fixed now, but if I know the bad experiences people have had, then I can tell you if they have been fixed or still need addressing.

try the search engine Motty

Schecky,

I have been on lots of charters however Saltwater Charters are the FULL MONTY.

Not only did Craig cook a great breakfast,  give commentary to where we were going, move from spot to spot to put us on fish but also gave away a dhuie he caught to people that had not caught anything.

In my opinion Saltwater Charters are the Full Monty when it comes to working out of Perth.

I use other charters in different parts and over time I have weeded them out.

Saltwater Charters have set the benchmark for me.

Motty, I have been with Mills more than once and my main rant was the overcrowding which I understand is being revised and acknowledge that.

Abel, I totally agree with you, Saltwater are by far the best out of Perth IMO and god damn that brekky is good. haha

One of Craigs Bacon & Egg Burgers after a Big Night Out.

Washed down with a Panadol and Coke at 6.00am

Hmmmmmmmm Gooooooooood

Motty just let them decide. They might be surprised :-)

yeah doush, maybe youre right! ;)