First time poster here.

We had an offshore charter this weekend. Trip was great and captain tried a bunch of different spots to find the fish. Charter included gas, captain, gear, fish cleaning and bait. Captain brought two deckhands with him.

Question though is, should we have tipped? We ended up tipping $150 (10% of the charter). Is that about right?

That's a little light IMO.

That's gonna be split 3 ways.

Y'all went off shore obviously, so you gotta think that each deck hand should/maybe get $50 each and then the captain.

For $1,500 all in that's a REALLY good price unless you only caught two snapper each.

That would be my question, is how did you do? Trying a bunch doesn't sound good.

We caught about 50 of all types of snappers BUT at least half of them were under the 16" so we couldn't keep them. Ended up keeping 18 of them which were just at 16.5".

So, is tip then based on "keeper success?" Serious question because I was clueless on what is customary.

I'd say 10% is a minimum regardless of catch, unless the crew members were jerks or unhelpful. If y'all did well (which is sounds like), if the crew was friendly and helpful , and if they clean the fish all come in to play for extra tip.

Some will say otherwise, it is always good to have keepers, but bent poles to me is the most important thing.

9 people on the boat?

20% for a good trip. A good trip is effort, knowledge, and attitude. Can't always catch.

I am a full time charter Captain.
People ask this question all the time. My advice is always tip like you normally do at a restaurant. If you are a 15% tipper start there. If you are a 25% tipper start there. Adjust up or down for good or bad attitude and service. If they did a great job and you enjoyed yourself then consider bumping them up. But always at your discretion never expected. If you decide not to tip I pay the deckhands out of my own pocket for their day working for me. Deckhand is a volunteer position and works only for tips as they earn their sea service time trying to work towards Captian.....generally.

Don't define the success of the trip by what's in the box. If the crew worked hard for you then they have done their job. Fishing is always fishing. If the boat has to move spots a lot the Captain is working to get yall better fishing success or not.

As far as what is split, as Captain, i dont take any of the tip..... the deck hands work for the tip and that's what they get. If it's $50 or $500 then that is all for them i wont take any if it. Some folks tip better than others and you take the good with the bad day in and day out. I make sure the deckhands that work for me make at least $75 and will square them up out of my own pocket.... AS LONG AS THEY WORKED FOR IT. If they didn't earn it then they deserved the under and they won't work on my boat again period.

If the crew worked hard for you.... that's it. The catch rate or size fish is irrelevant to how hard they worked to keep your lines fishing.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll be better prepared next time.