Had a fantastic day of fishing on the Jewel of the Bay ... started off with great communication leading up to the day of the trip. Started fishing promptly upon meeting at the boat ramp, with all the bait and tackle prepared for the day. Fished 4 different spots, and ended up with over 50 total fish and 14 different species caught!

Started at the dredge hole off the beach, and pulled in as many spanish Mackeral and Kingkfish as we could handle — filling up the cooler for dinner. Also wrestled in 3 Bonitas and 4 sharks. Witnessed an awesome show by a spinner shark, breaking our line, and fought a 7+ ft black tip for nearly 30 minutes, watching it surface just before it finally defeated us as well.

We also fished one of the artificial reefs in the bay for some grouper and snapper, and spent about an hour at a very hot Snook spot, before heading back for some expert fish cleaning by Captain Doug.

Would absolutely recommend him for anyone coming to the area, looking to have a great day on the water.

Capt. Doug got us on some Mangrove Snapper out at Eggmont Key first thing. My 8 year old caught about 13 of our limit of 20 for the day. Then we went back inshore where the Snook were biting. Those were lots of fun to catch. Capt Doug knew right where to go and was very nice and friendly with the whole family. We thought the weather was going to be an issue, so we had to push our start time back a couple of hours, but he was more than willing to wait on the conditions to improve before we started our trip. He was especially accommodating of my 4 year old that was more interested in the bait well than fishing. We had a great time and even got a big surprise by a manatee that swam over right before it was time to head back. I would give him a 6th star if I found out he had that manatee trained to swim over. It was a great experience.

My family and I chartered an in shore fishing trip with Captain Doug after reading many wonderful reviews about him and his trips. He had a really cool Vintage boat that got us to his favorite fishing spots fast and comfortably. We wanted to eat our catch so he first took us to hook on some red drum underneath some docks. Within an hour or so we had caught our limit of 25 and released at least another 25. We then tried for some mackerel but they just weren’t biting and quickly moved on to catch some snook, of which we caught plenty. This all but my wife’s first chartered trip and we had a wonderful and memorable experience. Doug was so patient with our 4 year old (he wanted to play in the live well more than fishing) and did a great job keeping our lines in the water. He was quick to move spots once the fish weren’t biting and he went way above and beyond keeping us out several hours past our time so we could catch more fish. I don’t think we could have asked for a better fishing guide than we got with Doug, between his friendly personality, his knowledge of fishing and fishing spots, his boat, and the memories he helped our family make. We will definitely be using Captain Doug again and would highly recommend him to anyone fishing near Bradenton/Anna Maria.

Captain Doug provided our party of 6 with a great day out on the water!  We caught a ton of fish including shark.  He is knowledgeable, personable and an overall great guy.  There is no wonder that he has all 5 star reviews

Captain Doug is an excellent ommunicator from the start.  He is flexible and a true pleasure to be on the water with for the day!

Captain Doug took me out with or daughter-in-law and our nine year old grandson. Having fished with Doug several other times, I knew that he would do his best to make the day exciting and to make sure that we kept lines in the water. He put us on fish at several spots, always checking to see if we wanted to push on to another location if the bite slowed down. One highlight was the look on my grandson’s face when he hauled in several large fish. Another was the epic battle our daughter-in-law had with a large ray that she hooked, which was quickly released once we got a picture of it in the water next to the boat. We came home with enough mackerel for several meals, all the fillets expertly cleaned by Doug with nary a bone to be found.