Captain Doug’s New Smyrna Fishing Charter

Warning!!! Do not book. Will stand you up!
Booked for Friday, 1−1−16. Stood us up. No call, no text, no email. Would not return calls that morning. Had to call another captain that referred him to get him to call back. His excuse was that there was a small vessel advisory. This was for 6pm and we were scheduled to be back at dock at 2:30 pm
This was a Christmas present for my 3 nephews who were in from Pennsylvania. Thanks Hicks!
This was the ocean Hicks was scared of:
Found another captain to take us out last minute and the weather was perfect. Sea was calm as glass and we caught 21 mackerel, 1 fifty pound barracuda and some bonita fish.
Recommendation: Do yourself a solid and find another captain. One who likes to fish and who isn’t afraid of the water.
This is the captain that saved our day:
Highly recommend this captain.
This was our catch:
Captain Hicks, please find another hobby. One that you are good at.

I highly recommend using Captain Doug if you want to catch some big fish. He was a good guy and we had a lot of fun on his charter. He knew the area very well and tricks to catch the big ones.

We had a great time with captain Doug. We caught fish, big fish. It was well worth it. He took care of us when our original guides boat blew up. I would highly recommend him as a guide.

Beware! Captain Doug is unprofessional, dishonest, and a very poor businessman.

My wife booked me a chartered fishing trip for my birthday. While researching charter Captains on Unilocal,she was led to Captain Doug’s website. My wife’s inquiry to Captain Doug resulted in her booking a trip on his 22 foot flats fishing boat (the one that is featured on his website). Captain Doug told my wife that he would provide her with details on when and where to meet for our trip 48 hours in advance, since his charter relies on the tides.

When the day comes for Captain Doug to provide us directions to the dock and the time that the charter would begin my wife hears nothing from him, so she calls and leaves a message. 24 hours out and still no response, my wife calls and leaves a message again. Finally, at 6:00 pm the night before, Captain Doug returns her call claiming that he had been in an area of poor cell reception and could not make or receive calls. My wife’s questions about where to meet and the time that our trip was planned to start were met with a lot irritation and annoyance by Captain Doug.

On the morning of our scheduled charter, Captain Doug met us at the dock on time, asked for us to wait, and stated that he would be right back. He never returned. After 15 minutes of waiting, another Captain shows up and informs us that Captain Doug had boat problems, from the night before, that he needed to take care of (something that he failed to mention the night before when he spoke with my wife). Our new Captain takes us out in his project 17 foot boat that is made of an OLD hull pieced together with a mish-​mash other boat parts. This boat seemed more conducive to crab fishing than flats fishing.

Overall, the birthday fishing trip turned into a terrible experience. During our 6 hour charter, we caught one fish, which admittedly happens. We requested to switch from plastic lures (which our new captain swore by) to live bait several times, but the new Captain insisted we stick with the plastic lures.

After our charter I decided to call Captain Doug to voice my disappointment with our trip and the way he handled our experience. I could not even get through my second sentence before Captain Doug became defensive and belligerent. He admitted that he never had boat issues (with the 22 foot flats boat he told my wife we’d be on), rather he didn’t want to charter a boat for my «rude» wife. I guess insisting on knowing the meeting time and place for a fishing trip when you have to travel from out of town is considered rude. The attack on my wife was unprovoked and very unprofessional.
Be warned of this guide. There are plenty of other reputable guides out there.

Same review as Cheryl R. Captain stood us up just in May 2013. He had good communication on the phone prior to the event but never showed on the agreed time/​location.
This is completely unacceptable way of doing business. If you are to miss the appointment, at least have the common courtesy to place a call. Whatever the reason but you do not just ignore repeated calls and not replying to voicemails.
I question the positive reviews on this site as I suspect it’s fake. We are hard working people and had to take money-​making time off from work to make this day. To get this kind of treatment, it’s just not right.
Perhaps you don’t believe in karma, but it will get you at the end.

If this is the Captain Doug Hicks that we booked a trip with, hedidn’t bother to show up or call even though the trip was confirmed the day before and we were from out of town. He refused to answer his phone or return calls all that day. When contacted on facebook that night he indicated he had «engine trouble» and would make it right, but due to his lack of communication skills and disregard for customers, we decided to forgo a repeat performance.
When a co worker called that day and left a message that he wanted info on booking a trip, the coworker received a return call right away so we know he was available to take our call; just chose not to. We told him we would have understood if he would have just placed a 2 minute call to communicate with us. Not sure what his deal is — but it was a wasted four hour commute and wasted day off.

Best trip ever! I’m so glad we decided to charter a boat with Doug. He had every thing we could have thought of a things we never would have thought of needing for us. All we had to do was show up and enjoy. He brought us to a great spot where even the kids got a little action. It was a great way to spend the day and totally worth it.