The Beginnings of Doxey Lures

Doxey Lures hold a special allure for Capt. Ryan Doxey, the renowned owner of Doxey Lures and Doxey Tackle in Kemah, Texas. Known for his high-end, handmade trolling lures, Doxey crafted his first lure at the age of 19. “It was molded off a Bob Schneider Yapp,” Doxey recalls. “I made the mold using latex and gauze reinforcement. That lure turned out okay, but I don’t believe it ever went in the water.”

Early Fishing Influences

Doxey started fishing offshore as a kid with his dad, Capt. Mike Doxey, and uncle, Capt. Kenneth Doxey. His dad had several charter boats, first a 27-foot Tiara named Head Hunter and later the 36-foot Hatteras, Extra Effort. Ryan often accompanied his dad on charters when the boat wasn’t full. His first memories were of catching red snapper and kingfish.

“Most of my childhood was spent walking the dock of our surfside lot, throwing a cast net and crabbing while my dad worked on the boat,” Doxey said. “He sold the Hatteras in 1990 and we went a few years without fishing offshore much. A little later my uncle began running charters for other boat owners and I was able to make my way back out to sea. I worked on several charter boats with my uncle during the summers starting at age 11. The next year, I saw my first marlin caught aboard the Misty Lady, a 35-foot Henriques. My mindset changed forever.”

First Steps into the Lure-Making World

Doxey fished his first billfish tournament at age 16 aboard the Pass-It-On, a 45 Hatteras. Later, when he was in the business program at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he decided he was better off out fishing than in a classroom. He worked on different boats based out of the Bridge Harbor dock, in Freeport, Texas. His first private boat job was on the Jammer, a 54 Bertram, run by Capt. Bob Richter and owned by Jim Floyd. It was while he was still a teen that he made those first two lures.

Challenges and Breakthroughs in Lure Making

“The first time the Big Ugly went out it caught a 143-pound yellowfin,” Doxey said.  “That was the start of my addiction. From there, I ran into resin issues and my journey was halted for a brief period. That lure, the Big Ugly, is one that didn’t get pulled much later on, as it was big, crude, and while it did get bit, it was ugly!” Doxey set his sights from this time forward on becoming a lure maker. He bought different lathes and experimented with a variety of resins. The biggest problem he ran into was a lack of information available about lure making. It was all trial and error for him in the early 2000s.

“I had hit a stall because I had produced some shapes that were consistently catching fish,” he explained. “For example, I had some smaller lures that were egg-shaped with a cut face like what we call Pewee now.  But I had no clue how to make a mold that would yield a replica like the original.”

Learning and Innovation from Australia

In 2010, Doxey traveled to Australia to fish the Great Barrier Reef aboard Capt. Brett Alty’s 50-foot custom charter boat, Mistress. Almost immediately, the two started talking about lure fishing for blue marlin. Ryan stayed at Brett’s house for a week while they got the boat ready to go up the coast. During this time, Brett showed Ryan his molds and talked about his lure-making process. He didn’t use brass tubing, which is the basic starting point for most lure makers. Instead, he used plastic tubing and a different process and removed the lure cleanly every time.

Building a Business and Brand

“When I returned to Texas, I immediately went to buy more resin and began my journey where I had left off,” Doxey said. “I made about 20 heads, and then took a job running the Over-Ride, a 56-foot Viking. It was a new operation that I built and ran for seven years. There, I was in more control of what we would pull and able to do more experimenting with my shapes.”

Doxey spent part of the season on the Over-Ride in Venice, Louisiana. He ran into an old friend there, Davis Hardesty, whom he had met traveling earlier in his career. Davis made lures, his long-time Boscoe brand, and the two collaborated on types of resins, mold design, and materials. “As I continued with my captain’s job, I grew restless with being on someone else’s schedule,” Doxey said. “Eventually, I decided to pursue lure-making as a full-time career.”

Freelancing and Tournament Fishing

That’s when he dove hard into freelancing fishing. He fished the Gulf Coast tournament circuit: The Orange Beach Billfish Classic, Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic, Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic, the Billfish Pachanga, the Lone Star Shootout, and the Texas Legends Billfish Tournament, and sold his lures out of a backpack. Eventually, he bought a Sprinter van so he could carry more of his lures to each of the events he fished.

Establishing Doxey Tackle

My business grew enough so I could move it from my garage into a building space,” Doxey said. “This is when and where my career started to take a different path. I found a space that was not perfect for building lures, but was a great location for a brick-and-mortar tackle shop. In January of 2021, Doxey Tackle opened, and Doxey Lures took a back seat. While the COVID era provided me with a lot of time to pour lures, I left many unpolished heads sitting on the rack to make ready as needed over the next few years.

The Return to Lure Making

“In 2023 I decided it’s time to start pouring again for the first time in several years!”

While the Big Ugly isn’t in the  Doxey lures lineup anymore, it’s the lure that started Ryan’s professional journey from a deckhand to a business owner. The only thing that his lures continue to have today since resin molds and materials used to build them are different, is that they are keel-weighted.

“Many great lures are being built out there today,” Doxey said. “One of the most important things for a lure to be great is balance. If it swims through the water without spinning, then eventually a fish will eat it. There are subtle ways that each shape, weight, and angle change the action to make fish prefer one lure over another. The other big challenge in lure making isn’t to make one lure that catches fish well, it’s to make the same lure that catches fish well repeatedly.”

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