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Capt Doug's Info Capt Doug's Bio
My Charter Info Directions to docks I use <---
Charters I Offer Wade Fishing Surf Fishing
Other Flats Fishing Info Capt Doug's Fishing Tips
Stuff to do in Cocoa Beach
Cooking Your Catch
Fishing links What you should expect and what your guide expects from you
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Capt. Doug's Style of Fishing the flats Everyone has their own way of doing things. Weather they are washing their car or cooking shrimp. Everyone has their own style they have developed from experience. The same is true with fishing. This is not to say that my way is the only way. It is however, the way I was learned from years of experience. My History When I was a kid I grew up fishing redfish and trout on the Indian and Banana Rivers. I spent just about every day fishing. I can remember sitting there with my dad with a 6 inch live mullet on my line waiting for a big red to come by and take me for a ride. When I turned 5 my dad had a 3 foot cast net made for me. He worked with me every trip teaching me to throw it. Once I got to the point I could throw it, it became my job to catch bait. A few years latter my dad gave me a book called "The Saltwater Fisherman's Bible". The book was full of tips on lures and techniques for catching redfish, trout, snook and tarpon. My dad had already taught me how to "walk the dog" and how to work a trout tout, but this book had these great pictures of people catching the same fish we had been catching but with light tackle and fly rods. By this time the lightest line I had fished was 17 pound test. Over the next year or so I started dropping the size of the line and noticing something incredible. I went from casting 60 and 70 feet with my light rods to casting 100 to 150 feet. As the distance in my casting improved so did the size and number of fish. Next I started to incorporate all the tricks my dad had showed me about stealth and matching the hatch. I was hooked. I would go out with my friends and catch 3 an 4 times the fish they caught sitting and waiting with their bait for something to come along. Before long many of my friends were joining me working the flats. We caught everything and had a blast doing it. By the time I was a teenager I had caught every fish we have in our waters on artificial lures. I had boated reds upwards of 50 pounds, Trout up to 15 pounds, a 100 pound tarpon and snook in the mid 20's. As an adult my passion for fishing top water became more seasoned. I loved to fish but I found myself having a better time teaching my friends how to do what I had been doing all my life. It was around that time I started to guide and try to help people experience the same thrills I had on the water. My Technique Most of the fishing I do today is all sight fishing with lures. I say most because some of the fish we catch are caught "blind casting". Redfish and tarpon are the two fish we spend most of our time sight casting. Trout and snook can be sight fished but that can be harder than sight fishing bone fish. I Also feel at this point I need to address the subject of fishing with bait. I do not fish with live, dead or any type of bait, most of the time. I have to say that because I will throw a live bait at tarpon if they wont eat anything else (for more in this red my Tarpon Technique page). Most people that don't or haven't fished with lures is because of one reason, confidence. People have a tendency of fishing with what they know works and for most that's bait. You will find that this also applies to the type of lures people fish with. I was and still am one of those people. When I was younger all I fished with was a spook. To me there was no other lure on the market. Today if you read many of my reports you will see I am a big fan of High Roller Lures. This is not because they will catch fish and all the others are a waste of money. It's because I have caught so many fish with their lures I see no reason to use anything else. They are also one of the longest lasting lures I have used so they save me money in the long run. I use lures for a number of reasons;
Here are a few links with a short brake down of how I do it.
Printable Business Card
Copyright © 1998-2008 [Indian River Adventures]. All rights reserved. Revised: 10 July, 2008
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Capt. Doug Blanton
Copyright © 1998-2008 [Indian River Adventures]. All rights reserved.
Revised:
July 10, 2008
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