To all members of the Texas Fishing Forum

We at Texas Outdoor Organizers have had a wonderful 13 years of planning, implementing, and organizing charters for the members of the TFF. With 13 consecutive years of GOM tuna charters on the TFF, we figure the TFF Tuna charters are about the longest running Internet charters of this type for Gulf of Mexico Tuna fishing.

There have been imitators, copycat'ers, and johnny-come-lately's that have tried to copy what has been happening for the last 13 years, but the facts are T.O.O. has the unique privilege seeing these TFF charters become so successful largely due to the TFF'er's trust with T.O.O. make these charters happen. That is an honor and a privilege we don't take lightly.

That said, we know better than anyone that trust and confidence only goes so far. One limit to success is cost. Cost of goods, gear; cost of trips, etc.
We recognize the fact that these long range tuna charters cost a lot of money. T.O.O. strives to keep prices reasonable and we have always tried to keep in mind the need to spread out the cost of these trips. That is why we have tried to help those in need of selling a spot, or making payments over time, or other situations. We know what is like to have to work out things over 10-12 months.

Because we didn't want to explain things on the "Official TFF Catorce Tuna" thread and distract/muddle up the postings, we decided to post a separate thread explaining these changes as they are a fairly big change from the established way T.O.O. has worked the TFF Tuna charters over the years. We feel the TFF is entitled to know why these changes have been made as the TFF has trusted us to best work for them the last 13 years.

Starting with the 2015 TFF Catorce Tuna charters we have had to adjust our positions on payments; deposits, refunds, time frame of payments, etc.
We hope all TFF'ers understand by now that T.O.O. is a business, not just someone looking to go fishing for free. As such, we charge for our service. If our charge and service is acceptable to the members of the TFf we remain in a position to continue to work for the TFF. If our fee and service is sub-par, it becomes possible that we lose the option to work for the TFF tuna charters.

In exchange for our fee, the TFF members get unlimited support from T.O.O. on the charter they are paying for. That includes fronting the payment of each person and collectively, communication and implementation of the charter individually and collectively, as well as other events and situations that might and do occur on these charters. We believe our fee is reasonable and is worth the cost in return for the support and service each TFF tunahead gets on each charter.

With the above being said, here's what we want to make sure the TFF understands is happening regarding changes to Catorce Tuna and any future TFF tuna charters that depart on the Scat Cat.

Simply, Fisherman's Wharf has changed their policies on these long range charters and T.O.O. has had to adjust our business practice to fit F.W.'s policies and still make these TFF Tuna charters happen as in the past. We will not debate or discuss F.W.'s policies over the Internet. We will explain what their policies did to make us change the way we work for the members of the TFF as well as other changes we had to make on TFF Tuna charters that use F.W. and the Scat Cat, starting with Catorce Tuna.

1. F.W. changed their policy to require a security payment up front to secure any long range trip. It's not huge, but it is 4 figures and large enough that we had to increase the security deposit we collect to cover this security payment. Catorce tuna's security deposit covers that security fee from F.W. as well as our fee to work for the TFF on the Catorce Tuna charters. We were told it was not due to the TFF charters or T.O.O., but fact is the security deposit is in place with F.W. and it has to be paid.

2. F.W. went up $50 per person on their 56 hour charters. T.O.O. has to pass that cost along to the members of the TFF Catorce Tuna charters. Our fee, as mentioned, has not changed in the last 4 years. Cost of living and doing business has increased just about everywhere but we have held at the same fee and will try to do so for as long as we can.An open 56 hour on the Scat Cat is $800.

A spot on a 2015 TFF Catorce tuna charter is $810. The $10 difference will hopefully be looked at as insurance. For those wondering, we believe there is another forums doing Scat Cat 56 hour charter for something less than the $810. It might be well to inquire if they have spots available and if not feel free to get on standby or whatever is offered. T.O.O. stands by the cost to make this charter happen and everyone having the knowledge of the implementer not bailing on the group going on the charter.

we are fully aware on the upper cost limit folks are willing to spend to fish on a party boat for tuna. We can't control actual costs, but we do work for the TFF on these charters and we try to do better on the service end for those spending the money.

3. The T.O.O. security deposit of $150 includes a $60 non-refundable amount to all members signing up for either TFF Catorce Tuna charter. This cost can be applied to any future hunting or fishing trip implemented by T.O.O. in the future.
This a big change from previous years. T.O.O. has been very relaxed in refunding all monies to those that have had/wanted to sell their spot. We have seen a huge increase in people taking advantage of that "customer service" the last few years. A security deposit is pretty much self-explanatory, and T.O.O. will hold firm on this policy.
Now if a person needing to sell their spot sells it own their own without T.O.O., then the full amount can be paid as long as both parties fulfill the transaction between themselves and communicate the sale of the spot to T.O.O. after the sale.
So a person doesn't lose their security deposit it just gets moved to a future trip through T.O.O. if you have to sell a spot through T.O.O.

4. 2 spot limit on each TFF Tuna charter was implemented due to discussions we've had with TFF members. We've concluded it's not fair to those that may not see the sign up thread for a few days to find out someone grabbed 5-7 spots or more. The TFF Tuna charters are for all members of the TFF and for someone to grab 25%+ of the spots is not fair. The TFF allows T.O.O. to do these charters and we want everyone to have a chance to fish a TFF Tuna charter. Besides if you have the need to grab 6 spots, you have enough to hire us to make the charter happen and when you hire T.O.O. to fill the boat and you'd then be in charge.

Our apologies for the long post, but we feel that the TFF and T.O.O. are at the tipping point of the cost/value balance and "secure then withdraw" situation regarding TFF Tuna charters. We wanted to make clear the changes and events that have changed for the members of the TFF that have and want to continue to fish the TFF tuna charters.

We hope this clears up the changes made to the 2015 TFF Catorce Tuna charters on the Scat Cat. We'll add more to his thread as needed, and anyone that asks a question on here we'll do our best to get it taken care of right away.