Boca Grande 2020 tarpon Season

Wow! A lot has changed in the last several weeks, everyone’s lives and everyday routine has completely changed, including mine. I want to update all of my clients that have booked tarpon fishing charters with me for the 2020 tarpon season in Boca Grande, I would have made a post to update everyone sooner but I made a decision about 2 months ago to have my website completely updated so this is the first change I have to make a new post on the updated site.

Let me start with everyone who has a tarpon trip booked for April. Basically April is going to be a wash for me, the state is still in a lockdown and hotels and rental homes have either canceled future reservations for guests or at the very least stopped taking future reservations. Most of you that have trips booked in April have reached out to me and either canceled your trips or have rescheduled your trips. I will only take reservations for the remainder of April from guest who can drive to Boca Grande/Charlotte Harbor to fish with me. There isn’t any point in trying to plan a fishing trip with me if you have to get on a airplane and fly here and try to find a place to stay, you will be better off trying to book a later date.

I do not know what to expect for May 2020 yet. I hope that all is back to “normal” but I have a feeling it won’t be, we haven’t even began to deal with the financial repercussions of the entire country being shut down yet. May is my busiest month by volume, the weather and long days allow me to fish day light to dark every single day, so I know there are a lot of you guys anxiously awaiting for your fishing trips. As of now, the Inlet on Boca Grande is still planning on honoring their reservations but they are at the liberty of state officials. As of today we are still allowed to run fishing charters but if this gets worse than I’m sure the state will shut down all fishing guides as well.

With that said, I have taken deposits for all my tarpon charters for the 2020 season, as you know I take a $100 per charter to secure your trips. My cancelation policy has always been fair, if you cancel your day and I rebook your day I refund your deposit. I have never been in a situation where I have had to refund 30 to 60 days worth of deposits, especially when I’m not currently working as well. If you have to cancel your charter due to travel restrictions I will refund your deposit if you can not re book for a later date. However, I will not be refunding any deposits until July 15th 2020 assuming I’m able to back to work sometime in May. I can not survive on deposits to pay my bills but refunding upwards of $6,000 worth of deposits is something I can not do without the luxury of bringing home a paycheck. Losing income from April is bad, if I lose all of May then I’ll be negotiating with the bank to make arrangements for business loans that I have.

The good news… I strictly target tarpon from April through October, a lot of you fish with me in the late summer/early fall and your trips hopefully will not be effected. The tarpon fishing is great all 7 months of my season, September is actually my second busiest month these days. I will have plenty of availability to move spring trips to the summer. I will honor all request to move trips to 2021 as well without penalty, your deposit from 2020 will carry over.  Stay healthy and I hope to see all of you soon, if you need to reach out to me please feel free to contact me at your convenience. Take care- Chuck