Mark Nichols

Mark Nichols is the founder, owner, and inventor of D.O.A. Lures, the Florida company behind the original D.O.A. Shrimp. He started in his garage in the early 1980s and built a soft plastic line that anglers trust for redfish, snook, seatrout, tarpon, and bass. Nearly every design comes from his own time on the water. In his In The Spread videos, Nichols teams with Capt. William Toney to teach shrimp rigging, dock and mangrove skipping, and seasonal lure selection for speckled seatrout.

Instructor's videos

Mark Nichols did not set out to build one of the most recognized names in inshore fishing. He set out to fool fish. Working in the corner of his garage in Martin County, Florida in the early 1980s, he kept adjusting a mold until he had a soft plastic shrimp that moved and looked like the real thing, then sold the first ones by walking the piers, beaches, and tackle shops near home. That bait became the original D.O.A. Shrimp, and it changed how serious anglers think about artificial lures.

Nichols is the founder, owner, and inventor behind D.O.A. Lures, still made in Florida. What sets his work apart is where the designs come from. He does not copy trends or chase what sells. Nearly every D.O.A. lure, from the shrimp to the Bait Buster, the TerrorEyz, the C.A.L. series, and the PT-7 topwater, started with something he watched happen on the water and then reproduced in plastic. He considers time on the water mandatory to building a lure that actually catches fish, and it shows in a product line anglers trust for redfish, snook, seatrout, tarpon, and largemouth bass.

He is also a conservationist. Nichols has long promoted catch and release, and he built teaching into the company from the start, taking the time to show anglers how to rig and fish his lures correctly rather than just selling them a package.

That teaching instinct is what makes his In The Spread videos so useful. Nichols sits down with Capt. William Toney, who has run the Homosassa flats his whole life, and the two of them break down exactly how to fish D.O.A. baits: multiple rigging methods for the shrimp, skipping presentations under docks and mangroves where snook and redfish hold in bright light, and seasonal lure and color selection for speckled seatrout. When the man who invented the lure shows you how to work it, you listen.

https://doalures.com/