Charter Fishing in Port: Fish Doctors Offer High Doses of Adrenaline

It's said that becoming a parent changes a person, and for The Fish Doctor's charter fishing Capt. Geoff Grainger that fatherly element played a hand in his career path.

Grainger, a Sturgeon Bay native who moved to the area about 12 years ago, said he had held the "typical corporate job," for many years, working for Harley-Davidson.

Then, his young daughter got sick and "we almost lost her," he said. "I had a big priority reset. I had always been motivated to be my own business owner."

Five years later, Grainger is still doing business on the water. He decided to open a charter fishing business because of what he explains as an almost genetic predisposition for a love of fishing.

"How do you explain why your hair is brown and your eyes are blue?" he said. "I've caught thousands and thousands of fish on this boat, but it's always an adrenaline rush." 

His favorite thing about running a charter is getting to spend his days outside, as well as introducing people to fishing. The past two years his business has really taken off, which he attributes to both excellent fishing conditions as well as a slowly recovering economy.

"This is very much a word-of-mouth business," he said.

The Fish Doctors run 5-hour charters at a rate of $450 with up to six passengers; evening charters, what they call "nite-bite" tours, cost $350. An additional hour on any trip costs $75.

The business also has packages such as the "Intensive Care" charter package, which is five hours of fishing in the morning, and five hours in the afternoon, a total of ten hours for the "intense fisherman," the website says.

Contact Grainger by calling 262-618-5060 or sending an e-mail via the website.

Editor's note: This feature is a part of our series on charter fishing businesses in Port Washington. Others in this series include: ; ; ; .