gulfgreyhound
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2007
- Messages
- 6,196
I just watched a guy release a steelhead on one of Uncle John's cameras. Nice to be able to see what happening in Erie. Water looks great.
GG
GG
drakeking412
Member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2019
- Messages
- 528
+1 for johns. I stayed there with some friends in their camper recently and they were nothing but nice to us. offered free snacks and gave us a box of protein bars nobody seemed to like (including me) but what a kind gesture. and putting those cameras up has probably helped out thousands of folks.
R
Rollingdog
Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Messages
- 86
That guy is a fraud and a crook..
never give him a dime
never give him a dime
D
D-nymph
Member
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2006
- Messages
- 175
I will tell my Uncle John's story. I used to help host a large group trip to the tribs. It started as about 25 people, the biggest year there were 45 people from 3 countries. We did this for 4 consecutive years. We rented cabins, the bunkhouse & trailers from Uncle John's. We'd book for the following year before leaving at check out.
3 of the 4 years Uncle John double booked multiple cabins. What would happen is, guys would be out fishing & other guys who thought they had rented any particular cabin or multiple cabins would arrive expecting to check in to find their cabin occupied by my group. Guys who traveled from hundreds of miles away would have to leave the creek after getting a phone call that pi$$ed off campers had arrived & to move their stuff out of the cabin. You can imagine if you had come from Michigan or Tennessee to fish & have to cut your day off because this clown double booked your cabin, you're going to be upset. The guys wanting to check in are also upset. Uncle John would give this aw shucks routine, shuffle his feet around & leave us to sort it out among ourselves. I'm not sure how fist fights did not happen, but they were really, really close to happening multiple times.
The final year, we had 40 people. Uncle John had "accidentally marked us down for the wrong week" & the entire place was double booked. 40 people from like 10 states & Canada that year. They had nothing for us. We only learned of this when the Canadian arrived first & they told him our group was next week. We ended up renting some RVs, he brought two dirty construction trailers & put us in those sh!thouse railroad cars by the front office. Myself, I was placed with two other guys into an RV that was parked on site. There was a half smoked joint on the RV counter. Guess who showed up the next day highly agitated? THE OWNER OF THE RV! Uncle John did not own that RV. He did not have permission of the owner to put me in that RV. He did it anyway. Can you imagine if that was YOUR RV?
DO you think there was a price break on our stay? No, there wasn't. Not a penny. Our bill was well over $2,000 each year. Screw Uncle John forever, total piece of trash human who is nice to your face if he thinks you're going to spend money. He can also stick his cameras somewhere dark & dirty. F that guy.
Do you get the picture now? And I'm not casting aspersions at will, I'm not saying anything I didn't say to his face.
3 of the 4 years Uncle John double booked multiple cabins. What would happen is, guys would be out fishing & other guys who thought they had rented any particular cabin or multiple cabins would arrive expecting to check in to find their cabin occupied by my group. Guys who traveled from hundreds of miles away would have to leave the creek after getting a phone call that pi$$ed off campers had arrived & to move their stuff out of the cabin. You can imagine if you had come from Michigan or Tennessee to fish & have to cut your day off because this clown double booked your cabin, you're going to be upset. The guys wanting to check in are also upset. Uncle John would give this aw shucks routine, shuffle his feet around & leave us to sort it out among ourselves. I'm not sure how fist fights did not happen, but they were really, really close to happening multiple times.
The final year, we had 40 people. Uncle John had "accidentally marked us down for the wrong week" & the entire place was double booked. 40 people from like 10 states & Canada that year. They had nothing for us. We only learned of this when the Canadian arrived first & they told him our group was next week. We ended up renting some RVs, he brought two dirty construction trailers & put us in those sh!thouse railroad cars by the front office. Myself, I was placed with two other guys into an RV that was parked on site. There was a half smoked joint on the RV counter. Guess who showed up the next day highly agitated? THE OWNER OF THE RV! Uncle John did not own that RV. He did not have permission of the owner to put me in that RV. He did it anyway. Can you imagine if that was YOUR RV?
DO you think there was a price break on our stay? No, there wasn't. Not a penny. Our bill was well over $2,000 each year. Screw Uncle John forever, total piece of trash human who is nice to your face if he thinks you're going to spend money. He can also stick his cameras somewhere dark & dirty. F that guy.
Do you get the picture now? And I'm not casting aspersions at will, I'm not saying anything I didn't say to his face.
wbranch
Well-known member
Hmm, I guess you and your crew won't be going back to UJ's anytime soon. Sorry you had such a bad experience. He told me he is going to sell the entire operation. Maybe the next owner will be more careful about his lodging management.
hooker-of-men
Well-known member
So you're saying you got half a joint for free? Party.
Bocianka1
Member
I had mixed results at Uncle John's two years back when i went up for my first Steelhead fishing trip. I liked the location, so i called to reserve a spot for a small pull-behind camper. The lady who answered the phone said "sorry, we don't take reservations."
OK. So I'm supposed to just drive 5 hours and show up in the dark and HOPE your have a spot for me? Is that how this works? The lady said, no i should call the day of and check if there is space. That felt like a risky way to plan a fishing trip, but i went along with it. So i called the morning of my trip and they said they should have a space for me.
I drive up for my fishing trip with my wife. we arrive Friday night just as it is getting dark and when i stop at the counter, the lady at the counter (same voice as on the phone) says "do you have a reservation?"
what?! NO, I called, twice, and was told you don't do reservations.
There's this awkward pause and she says "oh, right." let me see what i can do. in the end, they were fully booked, but since i had a small pop-up A-frame trailer, they managed to squeeze us in at the trailhead to the water by the port-a-john in what was clearly not meant to be a space. we plugged into the power supply for the notice board.
It worked out in the end and we had a great weekend. some of the fellas i met were the nicest you could imagine, sharing their spots they'd claimed on the water and helping me to understand all the things i was doing wrong. One fella worked hard to make sure i had a chance to hook and lose a steelhead before i had to leave. The fishermen i met were the best.
Uncle John's felt like it was run very haphazard. I want to go back because i like the location of his campground, but i've been hesitant because it feels like it's just a terrible mishap waiting to happen. I was not surprised at the double booking stories. I also heard he was looking to sell the place, but who knows if or when that will happen.
OK. So I'm supposed to just drive 5 hours and show up in the dark and HOPE your have a spot for me? Is that how this works? The lady said, no i should call the day of and check if there is space. That felt like a risky way to plan a fishing trip, but i went along with it. So i called the morning of my trip and they said they should have a space for me.
I drive up for my fishing trip with my wife. we arrive Friday night just as it is getting dark and when i stop at the counter, the lady at the counter (same voice as on the phone) says "do you have a reservation?"
what?! NO, I called, twice, and was told you don't do reservations.
There's this awkward pause and she says "oh, right." let me see what i can do. in the end, they were fully booked, but since i had a small pop-up A-frame trailer, they managed to squeeze us in at the trailhead to the water by the port-a-john in what was clearly not meant to be a space. we plugged into the power supply for the notice board.
It worked out in the end and we had a great weekend. some of the fellas i met were the nicest you could imagine, sharing their spots they'd claimed on the water and helping me to understand all the things i was doing wrong. One fella worked hard to make sure i had a chance to hook and lose a steelhead before i had to leave. The fishermen i met were the best.
Uncle John's felt like it was run very haphazard. I want to go back because i like the location of his campground, but i've been hesitant because it feels like it's just a terrible mishap waiting to happen. I was not surprised at the double booking stories. I also heard he was looking to sell the place, but who knows if or when that will happen.
gulfgreyhound
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2007
- Messages
- 6,196
I flipped on the cameras and watched someone at the pipe fighting a fish. I'm bummed. GG
D
D-nymph
Member
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2006
- Messages
- 175
uncle John has been looking to sell that place for years. He was telling us that back 6-10 years ago.
Double booking is the way he makes sure he's booked up. With the weather around there a lot of people probably cancel last minute. So, he intentionally double books & figures these guys want to fish real bad, so we'll just work something out when they're here if I'm double booked. He's trash.
Double booking is the way he makes sure he's booked up. With the weather around there a lot of people probably cancel last minute. So, he intentionally double books & figures these guys want to fish real bad, so we'll just work something out when they're here if I'm double booked. He's trash.
J
jkc140
New member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2017
- Messages
- 12
I had a poor experience with him too but I do know of a group who is always booking with him and hasn't had problems.
win some lose some.
win some lose some.
salmonoid
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2007
- Messages
- 2,721
I stayed there one time and only one time. My brother lives within an hour of the tribs, so I don't remember why I didn't stay with him, but maybe it was during a period of time when he wasn't living in the area. I had booked a cabin ahead of time; I was asked if I wanted a heater, to which I responded in the affirmative, since it was late fall. I arrived after dark, had a difficult time finding the cabin, as it was up on a hill away from everything else, with no lights on inside or any sort of dusk to dawn light outside. I eventually found it but suffice to say, I spent the night shivering in a cabin that did not have any heat, was actively being worked on/repaired and repaired, and the whole cabin was about 10 to 15 degrees out of level. There were no apologies when I checked out and I spent the next few nights at the Green Roof Inn. I won't ever stay there again.
R
Rollingdog
Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Messages
- 86
Same experiences as others
- the "cabins" are pretty much utilitiy sheds with propane heaters.... that have giant burn marks - fire just waiting to happen
- the double booking thing, or we've had a point where I showed up and been told our reservation (3nights) is 2 nights in one cabin and 1 night in another... with the same "oh well" attitude others experinced
- there is a large cabin that he put us in one time, our group only filled some of the bunk beds.... we came back from fishing one day to find out he rented out the remaining beds in the cabin to strangers, without telling us
- the "cabins" are pretty much utilitiy sheds with propane heaters.... that have giant burn marks - fire just waiting to happen
- the double booking thing, or we've had a point where I showed up and been told our reservation (3nights) is 2 nights in one cabin and 1 night in another... with the same "oh well" attitude others experinced
- there is a large cabin that he put us in one time, our group only filled some of the bunk beds.... we came back from fishing one day to find out he rented out the remaining beds in the cabin to strangers, without telling us
